A few years ago, while on a train coming back from a month long Solar Eclipse photography adventure with the incredible photographer Garret Suhrie.. My long time acting coach Sharon Chatten asked for my resume & reel. “Vincent’s doing a western and I told him I was going to send your stuff along.” 2 weeks later I was cast as Billy Wilson. I owe a lot to Sharon. A good human. Showed me a lot of myself.

This led me to the incredible opportunity of working with Vincent D’onofrio, Ethan Hawke, Leila George, Dane DeHaan, and Ben Dickey in this really solid western… if I do say so myself.

A blur of a few weeks.. my first day on set chained to Dane & Chad Dashnaw, the cool as a cucumber Stunt Coordinator playing the role of Dave Rudabaugh, watching Dane Dehaan, who I widely consider one of the best millennial actors, and Ethan Hawke.. who, I mean, is Ethan Hawke.. be directed by VINCENT D’ONOFRIO?! While I sat there pretending I wanted to escape.. I couldn’t have wanted to be anywhere more. What a first day.

The most unique part for me, other than the out of body experience, was Billy Wilson was another Arkansas native. A man captured along side the infamous Billy the Kid when Pat Garret tracked them down. A real life outlaw, albeit a confusing history mishmashed of two men… like so many of the side characters of history, he may have taken on the traits of a few. But one of those men was from nearly an hour away from where Charlie grew up on a farm. Stepping back in time, I got to experience a pretty rad first big step inside the circus tent.