Charlie Plummer Steve Buscemi Chloë Sevigny
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LEAN ON PETE a FILM by ANDREW HAIGH CHARLIE PLUMMER STEVE BUSCEMI CHLOË SEVIGNY PRESS NOTES SYNOPSIS A B O U T T H E PRODUCTION From acclaimed flmmaker camaraderie at a local racetrack equal measure, but never lose Andrew Haigh (Weekend, 45 where he lands a job caring for their irrepressible hope and For his fourth feature flm, of their epic journey across Years), and based on the beloved an aging quarter horse named resiliency as they pursue their British-born writer-director the modern frontier, the pair novel by Willy Vlautin, comes Lean On Pete. Te horse’s gruf dream of fnding a place they Andrew Haigh (45 Years, develops a profound bond. Lean on Pete —a deeply moving owner Del Montgomery (Steve can call home. Weekend, HBO’s “Looking”) Haigh discovered the novel story about love, loneliness, Buscemi) and his seasoned turned to an adaptation by the in the months leading up to family, and friendship, told jockey Bonnie (Chloë Sevigny) Featuring an incredible breakout Oregon-based novelist Willy the U.S. release of his 2011 through the unique prism of one help Charley fll the void of turn by Charlie Plummer Vlautin, whose works include breakthrough feature Weekend, boy’s connection to a very special his father’s absence — until he (Te Dinner, King Jack, Ridley Te Free (2014), Northline which — like Lean On Pete — racehorse. discovers that Pete is bound for Scott’s forthcoming All Te (2008) and Te Motel Life examines themes of loneliness slaughter, prompting him to Money in the World) and (2006). Vlautin’s 2010 novel and fnding connection in Fifteen-year-old Charley take extreme measures to spare memorable supporting work Lean On Pete, set in Portland, unexpected places. Seeing Tompson (Charlie Plummer) his new friend’s life. Charley by indie stalwarts Buscemi, Oregon and across the Western cinematic potential in the arrives in Portland, Oregon and Pete head out into the Sevigny and Steve Zahn, Lean United States, tells the story of novel’s emotional bonds, wide- with his single father Ray great unknown, embarking on Pete is a compassionate and a teenage boy who befriends open spaces and insistence on (Travis Fimmel), both eager on an odyssey across the new heartrending look at the desire an aging quarter horse while hope and resiliency in the face for a fresh start after a series American frontier in search of for love, family, and acceptance working at a racetrack, hitting of struggle, Haigh through his of hard knocks. While Ray a loving aunt Charley hasn’t that drives all of us. the road together when the big-screen adaptation of Lean descends into personal turmoil, seen in years. Tey experience steed becomes marked for the On Pete creates an American Charley fnds acceptance and adventure and heartbreak in slaughterhouse. In the course odyssey for the ages. 03 THE SOURCE MATERIAL Vlautin’s novel centers on a for his own adaptation of the horses but I also get crushes on lonely, self-reliant 15-year-old novel, Haigh began to consider them and fnd myself wondering who is continually let down Charley’s indefatigable resilience what happens after they stop by the world but who refuses in the face of constant struggle racing,” admits Vlautin. “I wrote to give up in his search for and setback, particularly during Lean On Pete as a way of fguring stability, connection and a the novel’s second half, as he out my relationship with horse loving home. While he searches roams the American countryside racing, but it’s also about being the Pacifc Northwest for an in search of a home. 15 years old — Charley’s age in estranged relative, Lean On Pete the novel. He’s so close to having locates profound grace in the “Lean On Pete is a story about independence, whether it’s a job, friendship and bond between its a kid trying to fnd stability a car or simply a voice, but he protagonist Charley Tompson and a sense of belonging,” says fnds himself hitting the road in and the titular quarter horse he Haigh. “He wants to be cared order to save this horse he loves.” cares for while working for Del about and cared for. As the story Montgomery, the gruf horse progresses, and he becomes less Lean On Pete in its second racer who hires the teenager to safe and less stable, it becomes half becomes an odyssey sweep the stalls and care for Pete a perilous journey about fnding documenting Charley and between races. those essential things. Willy’s Pete’s journey across the frontier novel is heartbreaking but never and serving up vivid snapshots “Willy brings alive the reality of sentimental, and Charley’s of the side roads, byways and daily life at the local track in his relationship with Pete reveals the rural strivers in a hardscrabble novel,” says Haigh. “Tis type of inherent kindness of this kid — American West similar to place is not like the top tracks. and his deep understanding that the one depicted by Steinbeck, Te purses are low and nobody we all share a very basic need to Raymond Carver and Sam makes a lot of money. Tey’re feel protected.” Shepard. One of Steinbeck’s just getting by. But there’s also a most enduring works remains community behind the scenes — Vlautin himself found an Travels With Charley: In a family almost.” unexpected home at the Portland Search of America, the writer’s Meadows racetrack, which came 1960 travelogue detailing an Vlautin — who grew up in to fgure prominently in Haigh’s unforgettable road trip across Reno but moved to Portland 20 adaptation of the novel. Over the the U.S. with his beloved years ago — prefaced his novel years, Vlautin became friendly Standard Poodle. Vlautin’s novel with an epigraph from John with the fgures at the track, swaps Steinbeck’s formula for a Steinbeck, America’s foremost including the jockeys, handlers boy and his horse on the road novelist and essayist of the and gamblers that inspired him together, fnding poetic grandeur Western experience: It is true to create indelible, nuanced in their struggle to endure on that we are weak and sick and characters like Del Montgomery. their own in the wilds of the ugly and quarrelsome but if that He even went so far as to adopt Pacifc Northwest. is all we ever were, we would an aging quarter horse named millenniums ago have disappeared Meritable Dash, which planted from the face of the earth. Using the seed for the fctional Lean the epigraph as an inspiration On Pete. “I love gambling on 05 FROM NOVEL radically diferent from Europe.” One of the most striking TO SCREEN aspects for the flmmaker in this regard was the country’s rich cultural and geographic diversity. “Te personality of Utah is very diferent from Colorado,” he says. “Portland itself feels miles away socially and politically from Eastern Oregon. It was sometimes shocking while traveling around to see the intense patriotism some Americans have for their country, even when faced with intense economic difculties. For Haigh, it wasn’t simply A strong through-line in Haigh’s People still seem to believe in Lean On Pete’s distinct world work is his humane approach to the American Dream, even as it of small-time horse racers and characters and their struggles. continues to fail so many.” gamblers that made the novel In Lean On Pete, Haigh feel cinematic — even more warmed to Vlautin’s distinctly Lean On Pete adopts a wistful, palpable and immediate was its non-judgmental approach to nostalgic and peripatetic sense of yearning and loneliness, his own characters, whether the approach to its story of dovetailing with the tenor and young protagonist Charley or friendship and survival on themes of his own work. In supporting characters like Del, the road. In the simplest Weekend, two strangers come Bonnie and Silver, the drifter terms, it’s a love story about together for a 48-hour period Charley meets in Laramie, a boy and his horse trying after meeting in a discotheque, Wyoming during his travels. Portland to meet with Vlautin spending three months driving the locations described in the to hold on in an unforgiving fnding unexpected intimacy “Willy does not vilify any of his and begin adapting the Oregon around at least gave me some source material; capturing the but resilient America. “Te and friendship in their brief characters, even when they act writer’s third novel. idea of the world Willy writes local and national truths of story is contemporary but it’s encounter; in 45 Years, a married in less than admirable ways,” about in his novels.” the novel became important to more connected to the classic couple grapples over the course says Haigh. “He is acutely aware In Portland, Vlautin showed both producer and flmmaker. American movies of the 1970s of several days leading up to that these are people struggling him some of the locations that He sent drafts of the script to “Tis is a deeply personal story like Midnight Cowboy,” adds an anniversary celebration of to keep their head above water inspired his novel, including Vlautin, who replied with his about one boy searching for a producer Goligher. “We don’t their nearly fve-decade union; and that has a profound impact nearby Portland Meadows, thoughts on Haigh’s slightly home and a family, but it also see these types of human dramas in the HBO series “Looking”, on how they act. In many ways where Charley meets Del, abridged version of the novel, has an epic scale with political much anymore.” which he helped write, produce the novel is about the need for Bonnie and Lean On Pete.