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Tamera Jones
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Steven Weintraub
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[Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Train Dreams]
Summary
- Collider's Steve Weintraub talks with William H. Macy and Kerry Condon for Netflix's Train Dreams.
- Macy and Condon share when they first knew this movie would be special and Macy discusses delivering a gripping performance for an emotional scene.
- The pair also discuss the roles that most drastically changed the future of their careers.
From the creators behind the Academy Award-nominated Sing Sing, writer-director Clint Bentley and co-writer Greg Kwedar's Train Dreams is generating plenty of Oscar attention before even premiering on Netflix. Featuring a career-best performance from Joel Edgerton and an ensemble cast, Collider's Steve Weintraub had the opportunity to talk with stars William H. Macy and Kerry Condon about the moment they both knew how special this film was.
Based on the novella by Denis Johnson, the movie is set in early 20th-century America, during a period of rapid growth. Robert Grainier (Edgerton) is a stoic man whose devotion lies with his wife, Gladys (Felicity Jones), their daughter, and the humble home they've built from the ground up. Robert is a logger, working wherever the job takes him, keeping him away from home for extended stretches, and showcasing the natural wonder of the Pacific Northwest.
The evolving world creates a canvas for expansion, but Train Dreams also highlights the brutal nature of the physical labor progress demands. In this interview, Macy and Condon discuss capturing the more emotional beats of the story, as well as the stunning visuals of "the magic hour" on set. They also share the moment they both knew how special this adaptation would be, the roles throughout the years that have shaped their careers, and Macy discusses his Shameless decade and how it changed him.
'Train Dreams' Stars Had Faith from the Beginning
"I jumped on this thing as fast as I could."
Robert Grainier in layered clothing and a hat looking into the distance suspiciously.Image via Netflix
COLLIDER: You've both been in so many things. At what point in the making of this did you realize this could be really special?
WILLIAM H. MACY: When I read the script. The script was stunning. The script was the movie, and you don't get one of those that often. So, I jumped on this thing as fast as I could, and I was very pleased I got it.
KERRY CONDON: Yeah, I think the script was so beautiful. I remember thinking, “Gosh, if it moved me so much just reading it.” And then, of course, when I saw Jockey, Clint’s first movie. Then I knew it was the same DP he was going to bring, and I was like, “Oh my God, it's going to be shot beautifully,” which is half of how important it is, the movie, if it's going to be captured beautifully.
I was saying this to someone, and I don't mean this as a disrespect to Malick, but it's Malick-esque, but with a much better plot.
CONDON: Oh, that's okay.
Malick's made some amazing movies, but recently, and as a fan of his, it's very avant-garde, and this is more story-driven. But I want to specifically talk about the cinematography. There was a lot of shooting in the magic hour. Can you talk about what that's like when you have to wait for a certain time of day and you need to deliver?
CONDON: Well, that's our job, isn't it? So even if you're doing a teaser, you have to wait all day and then deliver. So, it's kind of your job. And trusting that you will deliver, it's no stress. You're going to be fine.
Professional.
CONDON: Well, I think when you do it a lot, right? In the beginning, maybe you'd be really nervous, but when you get older, it's not that you think it's going to be perfect, but you just kind of relax a little bit more. I mean, nobody's going to die.
MACY: None of my shots were dependent on magic hour or anything, but we shot it in 28 days?
CONDON: Yeah. Something like that.
MACY: Which is enough. It was never rushed. It was a calm, happy set, and contemplative. I would say it was quiet. It was a beautiful place where we were in Washington state, and it kind of makes you quiet when you're in a beautiful place like that.
CONDON: The crew, as well. Everyone was in it for the right reasons. Everyone just loved the script, and that's a great environment to be around. Everyone genuinely just loved the script, and with the same makeup artist who was on Three Billboards [Outside Ebbing, Missouri], so that was a real reunion.
MACY: That's right, I forgot.
CONDON: He's so talented.
MACY: This was a special experience. It was just great.
I completely understand.
Related
Joel Edgerton Always Has This in His Pocket, And Now So Does His 'Train Dreams' Director
The film is adapted by 'Sing Sing's Clint Bentley from the Denis Johnson novella.
Posts By Tamera Jones Sep 15, 2025'Shameless' Taught William H. Macy Invaluable Lessons
He spent over a decade on the hit series.
You've both been in a number of projects, and I'm so curious, was there one that really changed you as an actor or as a person that just had a profound impact on you?
CONDON: For me, for sure, this TV show I did with Michael Mann called Luck. It's about horse racing. It changed my life. Like, not me as an actor. It didn't change the dial that much in my career, but it completely changed my life because being in a Michael Mann [project], that was my first big job. That was an amazing thing to think that he wanted me. Michael Mann's an amazing, iconic American director. Also, I adopted a horse after the job, and I still have the horse. That horse changed my life. He's so cute. I love him so much. So, that changed my life.
It's also Michael Mann.
CONDON: Yes.
MACY: I don't have much of a life, so the things films have changed for me were just career things. Fargo, of course. Everything was different after that. But you know what? It's a mundane answer, but I got to do a series that ran 11 years, and I really learned how to act, just because I got my 10,000 hours, and I gave up a lot of stuff that I'd been carrying around. I stripped down. I learned how to be nicer, and I learned how to marshal my time.
CONDON: How long for 11 seasons? Eleven years?
MACY: Eleven years. Yeah, a decade.
CONDON: That would change you. It's a decade of your life.
MACY: I should have done it years ago.
It was also a pretty good show, just throwing that out there.
This 'Train Dreams' Death Carries a Deeper Meaning
"There better not be a sequel."
Arn Peeples stares into the distance in a hat and glasses.Image via Netflix
So, I don't want to do spoilers, but there's an emotional scene, a performance you have to give in a certain moment because of things that happen in the film. I'm so curious for both of you, if you have a big scene coming up, like on a Monday, Tuesday, whatever it is, what are you like the days leading up to that emotional scene? How are you as an actor, getting ready to be in the right headspace and deliver in that moment?
MACY: I'll go first, but I'm an outlier on this. It's never about emotion. Emotion is not something you can control. I think as actors, we just have to trust that if you do what you're supposed to be doing, the emotion will be there. In the scene that you're talking about… I die, by the way. That's what he's talking about. I think I die in the trailer, too. It gives me two thoughts: One, there better not be a sequel, and two, it's not a scene about dying. I think he's hallucinating a little bit, but he saw something, and it was about making him understand something. It was about communicating.
CONDON: I love it. It's so beautiful. And you can see the little flies and things in the air. It’s so pretty.
MACY: I don't know what he was looking at, but he wanted to share it. So that's what the scene was about.
CONDON: It depends. If it's dialogue-heavy, obviously, I'll know my dialogue, but most of the time I don't think about it until I have to think about it. I just trust that I'm going to know what to do at the right time. Overpreparing doesn't do, personally, me any favors.
What I love about talking to actors is how there's no right way to do it. I'm just about out of time, but I'm wearing a Kubrick shirt, and I do like asking people: do you have a favorite Kubrick movie?
MACY: Strangelove.
CONDON: Oh, really?
MACY: Genius. And it holds up. I saw it recently.
Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove smiling widely in Dr. StrangeloveImage via Columbia Pictures
CONDON: The Shining. Because you know what? I can kind of understand his frustration when she comes in annoying him when he’s at the typewriter, and he kind of loses it with her. I totally understood that.
MACY: In Strangelove, it’s Sterling Hayden, right? And Peter Sellers.
CONDON: I haven't seen that in years.
MACY: It's one shot. It must be an oversized mag. It's two guys on a couch, and it's got to go one shot, six pages. When I pointed out to people, they go, “Holy crap, you're right.” There was not a cut in that thing.
Train Dreams is available to stream on Netflix now.
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Train Dreams
Like Follow Followed PG-13 Drama Western Release Date November 7, 2025 Runtime 102 minutes Director Clint Bentley Writers Greg Kwedar, Clint Bentley Producers Ashley Schlaifer, Marissa McMahon, Michael Heimler, Teddy Schwarzman, Will JanowitzCast
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Felicity Jones
Gladys Grainer
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Joel Edgerton
Robert Grainier
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Train Dreams
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