ALL ABOUT HARRY DEAN STANTON’S LAST BIG ROLE
In ‘Lucky,’ the iconic character actor plays a version of himself
Harry Dean Stanton’s death was a shock to many.
Tributes began rolling in after the actor died at 91 this month: Fans knew him as a rugged character actor, friends recalled his favorite maxim (“You’re nothing!”) and Jack Nicholson famously carved Stanton’s initials into the set of every film he worked on. But the most personal tribute of all, a new film called Lucky, arrives this weekend (in theaters Friday in New York and Los Angeles, expands to other cities throughout October).
Lucky, co-written by Drago Sumonja and Stanton’s longtime friend Logan Sparks and directed by John Carroll Lynch, is a film based on Stanton’s own belief system, subbing cowboy boots and the dusty West for Hollywood streets. Here are five things you need to know about Stanton’s last major role:
1 A CLOSE FRIEND CO-WROTE IT.
Sparks calls Lucky “a love letter” to Stanton, whom he first met as a production assistant tasked with driving the actor to and from the set of HBO’s 2006 series Big Love. Stanton invited the twentysomething into his trailer for a smoke, and later, to a party. “He introduced me — and always did — as ‘This is Logan. We work together.’ We were peers to him.”
2‘ LUCKY’ IS BASED ON STANTON’S WORLDVIEW.
The actor plays a loose version of himself as a loner and an atheist who chain-smokes, hangs out in his underwear, does yoga daily and watches game shows.
Stanton’s life philosophy is paralleled in the movie. “He was deeply spiritual person who was 100% certain that there was no God and there was only a void and we were all going to disappear into nothing and no one was in charge,” Lynch says. “He was deeply committed to that worldview.”
3 IT’S HIS FIRST LEADING ROLE SINCE ‘PARIS, TEXAS.’
Though Stanton worked relentlessly, starring in more than 200 movies and TV shows in his sixdecade career, Lucky is his first leading role since 1984’s Paris, Texas. Stanton blew away critics in the American road film, which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Stanton knew he could have taken a different career path after that film came out. “He said: ‘I could have been far richer and more famous than I wanted. I just didn’t want to try that hard,’ ” Sparks recalls, saying Stanton told him he was approached by producers offering him the world on a plate after Repo Man and Paris, Texas.
“They promised me more money, more girls and more fame than I could possibly imagine. In the back of my mind, I thought it was a deal from the devil. So I turned it down,” Sparks remembers he’d say. “He had his shot and he didn’t want it.”
4 DAVID LYNCH IS IN IT.
Stanton’s longtime collaborator, who recently cast him in his Twin Peaks revival, plays a key role in the film as Lucky’s sweetly frantic friend who has lost his pet tortoise, named President Roosevelt. Casting Lynch “was Harry’s idea,” the director says.
5 STANTON HOPED TO MAKE IT TO THE PREMIERE.
Stanton fought off infection in the months before he died, Sparks says. Though he had been in hospice care, Stanton routinely rallied before his death. Though Stanton didn’t see the movie’s final cut, “I showed him the trailer, the David Lynch scene and the last scene. He loved it.”