The Inspiration Behind the New Movie “News of the World”

PAUL GREENGRAS, WHAT MADE YOU TAKE ON A WESTERN FOR THE FIRST TIME?

WHAT WAS IT THAT LED YOU TO THAT PLACE?

WELL, I GREW UP WITH WESTERNS WHEN I WAS A BOY.

BUT MOST OF ALL IT WAS THAT I WAS LOOKING TO DO A FILM THAT WAS MORE ABOUT THE ROAD TO HEALING.

THAT WAS REALLY WHAT WAS IN MY MIND.

THE LAST FILM I DID WAS JULY ABOUT THE RIGHT-WING TERRORIST ATTACKS IN NORWAY BECAUSE I FELT THAT PROBLEM WAS GETTING WORSE AND WORSE AND SUBSEQUENT EVENTS HAVE SHOWN THAT TO BE THE CASE.

BUT WHEN THAT WAS OVER, I WANTED TO DO A FILM THAT WAS REALLY ABOUT THE ROAD TO OPTIMISM, THE ROAD TO HOPE.

WHERE IS IT IN A BITTERLY DIVIDED WORLD.

WHEN I READ THIS NOVEL, THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT THIS CHARACTER OF THE LONELY NEWS READER WANDERING FROM SMALL COMMUNITY TO SMALL COMMUNITY WITH JUST A SATCHEL OF OLD NEWSPAPERS.

ALL HE CAN DO, HE'S LOST EVERYTHING IN THE CIVIL WAR.

ALL HE CAN DO IS READ STORIES.

AND HIS STORIES HEAL THE WOUNDS OF THESE COMMUNITIES.

AND WHEN HE MEETS THE LITTLE GIRL, THEY GO ON AN ODYSSEY REALLY THROUGH TEXAS.

AND THAT JOURNEY IS REALLY THE JOURNEY TOWARDS HEALING.

SO YOU TALK ABOUT HEALING AND WHITE SUPREMACY AND ALL THESE THINGS ALL SORT OF BUNCHED TOGETHER IN THESE PIECES OF WORK THAT YOU'VE BEEN DOING OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS AND IT'S LIKE OH, MY GOODNESS, IT'S EXACTLY WHAT WE'RE GOING THROUGH AS A WORLD RIGHT NOW.

WE'VE JUST HAD AN INTERVIEW WITH A CONGRESSWOMAN ABOUT IMPEACHING PRESIDENT TRUMP FOR THE SECOND TIME.

HEALING, HEALING, HEALING.

YOUR FILM, 'NEWS OF THE WORLD' TAKES PART, TAKES PLACE IN THE RECONSTRUCTION ERA, RIGHT, IN THE 1870s AND IT'S IN TEXAS.

JUST GIVE VIEWERS A SENSE OF THE PLACEMENT OF THAT PERIOD AND WHAT WAS -- AND HE'S A CONFEDERATE, WASN'T HE?

HE'S A CIVIL WAR VETERAN, BUT TOM HANKS PLAYS A CONFEDERATE SOLDIER.

OR HE FOUGHT AS ONE.

YES, HE'S -- TEXAS WAS BITTERLY DIVIDED.

YOU KNOW, WE'RE FIVE YEARS AFTER THE CIVIL WAR.

AMERICA IS UNCERTAIN, YOU KNOW.

GRIEVING.

TEXAS ITSELF IS NOT AT THAT POINT, HAS NOT RATIFIED, IS NOT PART OF THE UNION.

SO IT WAS A DANGEROUS, DIVIDED, AND KIDD HIMSELF IS A GOOD MAN.

HE'S A GOOD MAN WHO HAS LOST EVERYTHING IN THE CIVIL WAR.

ALL HE HAS REALLY IS THE POWER TO TELL STORIES.

AND THAT'S WHAT HE DOES.

AND IN TELLING THOSE STORIES, THE LOCAL NEWS, THE FEDERAL NEWS, NEWS FROM FAR AWAY, HE TRIES TO DRAW HIS AUDIENCE INTO A RELATIONSHIP BECAUSE WE'RE THE STORY-TELLING ANIMAL.