COLLIDER: Anson Mount HELL ON WHEELS Interview
by Christina Radish
November 9th, 2011
On the new AMC Western series Hell on Wheels, actor Anson Mount plays Cullen Bohannon, a former soldier hell bent on avenging his wife’s death. Cullen starts out as a fractured and broken man, as a result of the rape and murder of his wife and the loss of his homeland, but soon becomes torn between the cycle of revenge he has unleashed and wanting to end all of the violence.
During a recent interview, Anson Mount talked about creating a character with morals and values from the past, the joy of playing such a bad-ass, and how much fun it is to live out childhood fantasies of playing cowboys and Indians. He also talked about the decision he made three years ago to change the career path that he was on, that he’d love to work with David Lynch, and how he’d like to put on 35 pounds and play The Doors frontman Jim Morrison in the last week of his life...
... Question: When you’re creating a character with morals and values from the past, how challenging is that?
ANSON MOUNT: "Well, it’s hard to imagine. Growing up in the time that we’re growing up in, in the rich country we live in, it’s hard to imagine coming from a conquered nation. That’s what I have to re-imagine. That’s what I have to create. It’s this sense of coming from a place where martial law has been instituted in your home, and feeling like you don’t have a home anymore. I think that a lot of people are in the same boat. Common’s character is in the same boat, but for totally different reasons. Then Lily’s world gets blown apart, and she feels like that. That’s what puts us on the same plate, but for entirely different reasons. I would say that it is difficult to re-imagine the situation, the morals and the aesthetics, and the political bents of people from that time, but it’s the homework..."
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