JACKSON REINVENTED
Grim role in Cold Pursuit
Tom Jackson calls it the Alison test. Often it applies to his wife giving her opinion on his music, but she also reads the scripts he’s offered.
So the Calgary-based musician and actor knew he had a winner when he heard Alison Jackson’s exuberant reaction to the screenplay that would eventually become Cold Pursuit.
“In our wonderful home in Alberta, we have a large main room that echoes,” says Jackson, in an interview from a tour stop in Nevada. “If you’ve never heard Alison laugh, then you’ve never really heard laughter. When she read the script, she was belly laughing. That was the one thing that convinced me that I have to take this script seriously. That’s what turned me around the corner to commit myself to it.”
The plot synopsis of Cold Pursuit doesn’t really suggest the sort of film that would induce belly laughs. But it’s undeniably funny, even if the humour is of the darkest sort.
Liam Neeson plays Nels Coxman, a seemingly mild-mannered snowplow driver in Colorado. When his son is killed, he sets off on a bloody campaign of revenge against the gangsters he holds responsible. Along the way, he also accidentally sets off a war between two factions of drug dealers, including a group of Native Americans led by Jackson’s character, ruthless leader White Bull.
Co-starring Laura Dern, Emmy Rossum, Michael Eklund and Calgary native Wesley MacInnes, Cold Pursuit is Norwegian filmmaker Hans Petter Moland’s English-language remake of his own dark comedy, 2014’s In Order of Disappearance. Shot on Fortress Mountain near Kananaskis, Fernie, Victoria and Vancouver, the violence is set against a frigid backdrop of mountains and snow.
For those who know Jackson as First Nations leader Peter Kenidi in the long-running drama North of 60, or perhaps Billy Twofeathers on the children’s series Shining Time Station, watching him play a violent gangster may seem a bit surreal. But, like Coxman, White Bull is actually on a fairly noble mission, at least according to the rules of Hollywood action movies. He is also out to avenge the death of his son, which has him targeting the same gangsters Coxman is after.
“I didn’t see him as a villain,” Jackson says. “That wasn’t the kind of approach I took when I was trying to determine what White Bull would be or what he wouldn’t be.
“It’s interesting that we shot the film, at least my segments and my storyline, in order. So the first thing that happened for me as an actor on the side of the mountain was my son hanging from a sign. What would you do? What wouldn’t you do? You have to take yourself out of yourself, you have to look at the character that you’re hoping is believable, and what would they do in this circumstance? Who is he? Where does White Bull come from? I think he believed what he was doing was right, and he was going to use all of his power with his gang to make sure that his will was carried out.”
Still, the villainy of White Bull was at the centre of a controversy when the film was in pre-production. In 2017, it was revealed that Parks Canada denied the production permission to shoot in Banff, Lake Louise townsite and Columbia Icefields. At least part of the reasoning was that Jackson’s character was an Indigenous gang leader.
A spokesperson for Parks Canada said “commitment to reconciliation and respect for Indigenous peoples was an important factor in the agency’s final decision in this matter.”
This was despite a letter of support for the film sent by Jackson himself. The Metis actor, activist and Order of Canada recipient wrote that he didn’t feel the screenplay or his character insulted his culture.
So, while parts were shot in Alberta, producers took the film — and an estimated $4-$5 million they were to spend locally — to British Columbia.
Jackson says the incident is “water under the bridge,” but still expressed disappointment.
“I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus, relative to the position that Parks Canada took,” he says. “What I do know is that I’m glad that somebody was paying attention, but I’m just a little disappointed in that somebody made an arbitrary decision that influenced a lot of lives, and I don’t believe that they read the script and I don’t believe that they asked or consulted with any First Nation (people). So, just the way the decision-making took place seemed a little unfair.”
(Note: This interview was conducted before another controversy erupted over Cold Pursuit. On Monday, Neeson made headlines after he told a journalist for the Independent newspaper that he contemplated carrying out a racist revenge attack himself after someone close to him was raped by a black man.)
While Cold Pursuit is far from a political film, there’s at least one moment when the screenplay seems to address the topical issue of appropriation of Indigenous culture. When White Bull and his gang are at a posh ski resort, he’s shown looking at the manufacturing label of an Indigenous shawl. It says: “Made in China.”
“I think there’s a statement to be made about authenticity in our world now, and about inclusiveness and diversity and legitimacy and all those important things that we have to be very aware of,” Jackson says.
“Again, I think that’s all very healthy. We’re learning as we go. We’re not a perfect world. But if we spend time on this project and other things maybe more important than film, collaboration may not make us perfect, but it will make us better.”
Born on the One Arrow Reserve in Saskatchewan and having survived more than a few desperate years on the streets of Winnipeg as a teen, Jackson has proven to be a bit of a Renaissance man over the years. He recently released The Essential Tom Jackson, a two-CD set that covers his 30-year recording career. This year, he’ll also be seen in recurring roles in the dark crime drama Cardinal and the fantasy-drama Outlander. He’s also shooting the second season of the APTN series Red Earth Uncovered, an investigative series he cohosts with Shayla Stonechild that looks into archaeological discoveries and ancient myths and how Indigenous people played a role in historical events.
Each year, he also leads the Huron Carole Tour, which he created 30 years ago with his wife to raise money for local food banks and other charities.
It’s estimated his efforts as a philanthropist have helped raise $200 million in cash or in-kind donations for food banks, disaster relief and other charities. He’s also Canadian Ambassador for Red Cross.
Cold Pursuit is in theatres on Friday.
I didn’t see him as a villain . ... I think he believed what he was doing was right, and he was going to use all of his power with his gang to make sure that his will was carried out.