We’re getting into Oscar-bait season for movies. The big, ballsy blockbusters are winding down, and the cinema snobs are out in full force with their pumpkin spice lattes ready to view all the incoming drama-based films. Here at JoBlo, I think it’s safe to say all of us are fans of both blockbusters and Oscar-worthy dramas.
And along comes The Weight (read our review here) which made its debut at Sundance 2026 earlier this year and now makes its way to theaters this week, and to me, this is a possible movie of the year contender as Ethan Hawke puts on one hell of a performance in this 1930’s set thriller/drama that sees his character Murphy, help smuggle a bunch of gold across 100 miles of impenetrable wilderness not only in exchange for parole, but to be reunited with his young daughter.
So I was lucky enough to chat with Ethan Hawke, along with his co-star Julia Jones, as we talked about their characters and why they chose to do this film, but we really got to go into incredible detail about their fight with actor George Burgess towards the end of the movie.
In addition to them, I spoke with director Padraic McKinley (he goes by “Pat”) about the film’s “episodic” format and more. Oh, and he’s also a big NFL fan, as you will see at the tail end of our conversation!
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