Sam Elliot: 'Off the Map' Actor Just Happy to be Working

Sam Elliot, left, confers with "Off the Map" director Campbell Scott on the set in Taos, NM. Photo by Rick Romancito


“It’s way out in the middle of nowhere, and the view from the land is where we shot the movie,” director Campbell Scott told Film Stew.com regarding the five acres he won as the Taos Land Grant Award recipient at the 2003 Taos Talking Picture Festival. “We were out there looking at this and now we own a piece of it.”

It is as ironic as the title of the film he made in Taos between August and October 2002 — “Off the Map.” Based on a stage play by Joan Ackermann, who also wrote the screenplay, the film opened here March 25, 2004 after a protracted delay in securing a distributor.

The independently-produced film stars Joan Allen, Sam Elliott and newcomer Valentina de Angelis. It was directed by Independent Spirit award nominee Scott.

In addition to winning the Land Grant Award, Scott was also presented the festival’s coveted Maverick Award.

The production of “Off the Map” helped make 2003 a “breakthrough year” for media production in Taos County, according to Jonathan Slator at the time. The Taos County Film Commissioner said “Off the Map” helped top out $2.5 million in revenue to the county during that fiscal year.

Since then, however, film production in the county has been somewhat sparse, partly due to what some have called political posturing on the part of certain town and county leaders who have, despite impressive numbers, reconsidered funding the self-established commission.

Slator, incidentally, is getting set to launch the second Taos Picture Show (March 31-April 3), a film festival that follows in the footsteps of Taos Talking Pictures which folded in late 2003. “Off the Map,” in that respect also described where funding went for TTP and led to its eventual collapse.

Since it was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival in what he called a “compromised version,” director Scott said Taos screening in 2003 was “its real world premiere,” made more appropriate because of its local connections.

The film tells the story of a life-changing summer for a 12 year old girl named Bo Groden (played by newcomer Valentina de Angelis), who lives with her mom and dad in an off-the-grid homestead north of Taos in the early 1970s.

Sacramento, California-born Elliott, who obviously had many female admirers here, said his role as a man consumed by clinical depression was rather different from his usual western characters. “I think anybody can be depressed,” he said, “whether they’re a strong human being and they’ve got things together or whether they’re somebody you might expect to be depressed for one reason or another. It was a well-crafted piece of material (by Ackermann).”

Elliott said he read that as many as 20 million Americans have suffered from depression. “I was happy to have an opportunity to play a part like that,” he said in his characteristic Texas drawl. “It’s an acting part ... you gotta dredge up a lot of old painful stuff to get there.”

Known for his down-to-earth style, Elliott eschewed many of the traditional movie star trappings during his stay here, even opting to shield his eyes from the spotlight during a Q&A in order to see clearly the people who were asking questions. “I’m an actor,” he said. “I say other people’s words.”

With “Off the Map” set to hit the nation’s theaters, we had a chance to talk to one of America’s favorite leading men from his home in Malibu, Calif. where he still enjoys fishing in the ocean from a kayak. Did we say the man is 60?

Q: So, what’ve you been up to?

Sam Elliott: Just got back from Australia last week. I was down there working on a film called ‘Ghost Rider,’ another one of those Marvel Comics. Nicolas Cage is starring. I was only there a few weeks, putting in a nice little part and had a good time, and got in and got out. Did the first part of an 80 day schedule. It’s a big one and it’s going to take ‘em a long time to get it done, the antithesis of our little picture back there three years ago.

Q: When you were in Taos I asked you what drew you to the role of Charlie Groden and you said something about having a personal experience with someone who was deeply into depression.

A: I remember that conversation. In fact, I’ve talked about that with a lot of people since. Yeah, I’ve got a close friend that’s bipolar, y’know, which puts him right there. I’m not sure that’s where Charlie was, but he was truly or obviously clinically depressed I would say. That was one thing that drew me to it, that was more of a personal thing, but there were a lot of other things that drew me to want to work on that picture.

Q: Such as?

A: Well, an opportunity to work with (director) Campbell Scott, and another opportunity work with (co-star) Joan Allen, y’know, that’s really the primary reason I was there. She was the one who suggested me to play the part. I’d worked with her years before in a picture that we shot that was supposed to be in Washington, D.C., but we actually shot it in Richmond, Va., called “The Contender.” We got along really well and I think had a kind of a mutual admiration society in terms of our work. I was happy to have an opportunity to work with her again.

Q: This marks the second film in recent years that you appeared in a movie set in New Mexico (the other was “The Hi-Lo Country,” which was adapted from a novel by former Taoseño Max Evans). Was that a coincidence?

A: That’s purely coincidence. One of the first films I did back in the early 60s was shot in Santa Fe and I’ve shot in Santa Fe a number of times over the years, back in the days when I was lucky enough to do a western here and there when nobody else seemed to be doing them. I first went to Santa Fe as a real young kid in the 50s with an aunt that came from El Paso and she took me up there to see that church. She was one of those gals that was captivated by that area and she introduced me to it at a real early age. In fact, I’ve continued to be intrigued with that whole Northern New Mexico area. I tell you, bein’ in Taos for the first time when “Off the Map” went there, I just boggled my mind on a lot of levels.

Q: Well, y’know (the original novel) “Hi-Lo Country” was written by Max Evans, who used to live in Taos. I thought it was interesting that you played Jim Ed Love, a character who was first played by Chill Wills in “The Rounders” (1965).

A: That’s amazing, huh? Time goes by.

Q: How did you like working in the Taos area?

A: I loved it because, number one, I felt like we had to be there, since the story was set there. It’s like, we talk about westerns, and a good portion of my career has revolved around westerns, not that this is a western, but the point being is that the setting, the country, in a western genre is every bit as important a character to the piece as the actors. I think that kind of bears out in “Off the Map” as well. I mean, that location was an integral part to understanding what that story was about and how living there affected the people.

Q: This wasn’t among the same kinds of characters you’ve played, although this is set in the west it’s ...

A: It’s a, I don’t know what they call it, it’s a “departure,” I think. It’s very interesting to have an opportunity to play some guy that, although at his core I think that Charlie is a real strong guy. I gotta believe that he was. I think that Campbell (Scott) was looking for that, somebody that had a strength inside. But the fact that he’s got a wounded psyche made him a real intriguing character. It also humanized him a little more, I think. Rather than playing him as a typical macho guy living alone and can do everything.

Q: Did being a father yourself help in any way?

A: No question. Yep. I mean, that’s a painful experience. It’s also the greatest reward I’ve ever had in my life, being a father. And whether it was a daughter or a son, maybe wouldn’t matter, but I think on some levels fathers and daughters, it’s kind of an age-old tale.

Q: You have a daughter too, don’t you?

A: I do have a daughter, and I vividly recollect those days when she was Valentina’s age. Yeah, I drew a lot of what I was doing from that relationship with my daughter. I think there was a certain amount of that that was responsible for Charlie’s problem. He knew that his kid was frustrated. He knew that she wanted something that he couldn’t give her. She was lookin’ to get into the big world, a place where he had no interest in dwelling at all. I think that was one of the reasons that Charlie was depressed.
Q: One thing that struck me about the story, and this is something that has to do with how a number of critics have reacted to the film, is that a lot of them have characterized this as a “hippie family.” To me, it seemed as though they could be up in the mountains above Taos at any time.

A: Yep, today as well as tomorrow. Or yesterday.

Q: Although it’s set in 1974, things have not changed all that much around here.

A: Not up there. I don’t necessarily know that that I would even, I mean you know because you’re there and you’re certainly aware of people like that, but I think there are people like the Grodens all over this country. They’re not hanging out in the key cities. But that’s kind of what Hollywood has always chosen to ignore, that vast majority in between, at least in terms of where they put their advertising and where they put their money and the kind of films that they deliver to the marketplace, I think.

Q: Among all the films to been in, do you have a favorite?

A: I don’t think so. I think that I’d name a handful of them, and they’re favorites for different reasons. I think, Rick, maybe early on in my career, I worked to work. But, over the last 20 years, I think I’ve just tried to be careful what kind of stuff I did, because that stuff has a way of hanging around to haunt you.

Q: Like “Lifeguard”? (a 1976 film that helped cement his sex symbol status)

A: Well, yeah, but that doesn’t haunt me. I’m proud of “Lifeguard.” We worked our asses off on that movie. It wasn’t what Paramount sold it to be. It wasn’t “Beach Blanket Bingo.” It was a coming-of-age story. Some guy doing what he wanted to do, as opposed to answering to the group of people around him that told him he had to grow up and do something real, like sell cars for a living, y’know. I’ve had some very interesting run-ins with different people having to do with “Lifeguard” that have made me think that, yeah, it was worth doing.

Q: In a documentary on the making of “We Were Soldiers” (2002), the focus was on “getting it right.” How important is that to you as an actor?

A: (Elliott starred as the real life Sgt. Major Basil Plumley in the film about the first major engagement in the Vietnam War) I think getting it right when you’re dealing with a historical perspective or truths, particularly the Vietnam War, those guys that went over there and laid down their lives for us in that war, I think it’s absolutely imperative to get it as accurate as possible. I met a lot of those guys that survived that particular battle and met a lot of families of guys that died in that battle. And I know that Hal Moore (played in the film by Mel Gibson) had a real personal commitment to getting that story right. I think that every one of threw in with him on that. I certainly know that Randall Wallace, who wrote and directed, that was his goal.

Q: How was working with Mel Gibson?

A: It was great. When you get an opportunity to work with guys of Gibson’s stature, y’know, it’s kind of the same way with Nic Cage, in Mel more so because of his other pursuits, the fact that he produces and directs and does it very successfully. That’s a lot for any human to carry on his back. I found Mel to be real accessible and real human. I think Mel’s got a lot of demons chasing him, like a lot of us, but he does it in great style. He’s a very smart guy.

Q: Back to “Off the Map,” how would you characterize the way Campbell Scott works with actors?

A: I think it’s Campbell’s intelligence that serves him so well. He’s got that creative thing in terms of the filmmaking business in his blood. When Colleeen Dewhurst is your mom and George C. Scott is your dad, those are daunting shadows to grow up under. And whatever brought Campbell along, he came fully loaded. He was well prepared.

Q: Thank you so much for your time.

A: My pleasure. Enjoy that snow.

Q: I will.