Grain of truth
AT ANY PRICE | Zac Efron digs deep for his role in Ramin Bahrani’s rural seed saga.
Ididn’t want to make a corporate thriller,” says Ramin Bahrani. “I wanted a drama.” The writerdirector behind recent repossession drama 99 Homes is talking about At Any Price. Set in the world of modern agriculture and genetically modified seeds, his 2013 film – now finally getting a welcome UK release – stars Dennis Quaid as Henry Whipple, an Iowa corn magnate under investigation for patent infringement.
Researching the subject, Bahrani spent six months with farmers and seed-sellers in Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. “I kept hearing the same expressions wherever I went: ‘Expand or die,’ ‘Get bigger or get out,’” he recalls. “I thought: ‘My God, this is the philosophy of the world today.’ This is the banking crisis; this is the European economic disaster. So I started to wonder what happens if a family values this expansion more than their neighbours, their community or even themselves.”
At the film’s core is a strained father-son dynamic, with Zac Efron cast as Quaid’s offspring Dean, a tearaway with ambitions to be a stock-car racing driver. Bahrani was left impressed by the former High School Musical star. “Zac, he delivered,” he says, “in ways that no-one’s expecting. No-one. I don’t see how David Fincher could watch the movie and not say, ‘I have to cast this guy in my next film.’ He goes to some dark places.”
With Bahrani drawing from a diverse range of influences, from Arthur Miller’s Death Of A Salesman to Bonnie And Clyde, Efron also had his touchstones. “We looked a lot at Paul Newman and [ 1963 Texas-set drama] Hud,” he says. “That was a movie we watched repeatedly throughout.” He also looked to his 61-year-old co-star Quaid. “He’s got a magic about him,” Efron says. “I don’t know how he does it.” Bahrani agrees, with a chuckle. “He’s still got a six-pack!” JM
ETA | 1 January 2016 At Any Price opens in the new year.
‘What happens if a family values expansion more than themselves?’