Heather Graham was on board when it came to playing her gritty character in Place of Bones — including when it required her to go au natural on screen.
“The director, [Audrey Cummings], was like, ‘I don’t want you to wear any makeup in this movie,’” Graham exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting the upcoming horror Western. “I’m just wearing this kind of faded dress that’s not very flattering, and I just thought, ‘I want to go for it. I want it to be real. I don’t want to try to be this glamorous Hollywood actress. I just want to be the real woman during this time period who’s just fighting to survive and take care of her daughter.’”
The film, which premiered on Friday, August 23, follows Graham as Pandora, a mother fighting for survival with her daughter (Brielle Robillard), when a wounded outlaw seeking refuge brings a notorious bank robber and his ruthless gang, all desperate to reclaim a stolen fortune, right to their doorstep. Tom Hopper, Corin Nemec and Cowboy Cerrone also star in the action-packed thriller, which features a script by Richard Taylor.
While Graham was more than willing to portray her character authentically to the times, she still found herself battling self-consciousness when ditching the glitz and glamour that typically comes with Hollywood filmmaking.
“I was asking the makeup artist, I’m like, ‘Can I just get a little more eyeshadow please? It’s like, ‘A little more mascara,’ and they’re like, ‘No.’”
Despite any challenges she felt going into the project fresh-faced, Graham told Us she fell in “love” with the film’s script and the idea of portraying a strong female protagonist in a genre that typically lacks complex female leads.
“I feel like that really almost never happens, and I thought that it was just a great character,” she shared. “And I love the character of my daughter and I thought it was an exciting fresh take on a Western with a super surprise ending.”
Graham noted that she was “really excited” to play the role due to how “complicated” and layered her character becomes throughout the course of the film.
“She’s kind of angry and bitter, but she loves her daughter and she wants to protect her,” Graham explained. “And I just loved how smart and resourceful she is. And how she can try to outsmart these bad guys and that she is kind of smarter than all of them.”
Graham, of course, had to do a lot more than shed her makeup to bring Pandora to life, including learn how to properly shoot a gun. While the actress had shot fake pistols in “other movies” earlier in her career, it was costar Nemec — “he’s, like, a real cowboy” Graham explained — along with the other “cool stunt guys” on set who helped her hone her skills.
“It’s super fun to get in a western gunfight with these bad guys,” she said, adding that she was even able to do her own stunts for one sequence, which thoroughly impressed the crew.
“I had a scene where I did my own stunt and I run out and I’m shooting,” she explained. “The gun was really heavy, but I got to run and shoot and then fall over. So I did my own stunt and I got some claps from the stunt team. They were impressed that I did my own stunt.”
In addition to the fun costumes and exciting gunfights, Graham was also impressed with the movie’s ending, which she called “really scary,” but one that felt original and fresh for the genre.
“I was shocked and it was super disturbing,” she told Us. “But also I just thought, ‘I’ve never seen this story told before.’ I brought a bunch of friends to a screening and my friends were saying, ‘I had no idea where this movie was going. I had no idea how it was going to end.’”
Place of Bones is now in theaters and on digital.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
