James Hetfield is in The Thicket Because of Peter Dinklage
If you’re wondering why Metallica frontman James Hetfield is in a cowboy movie where he gets to go “bang bang” as a fuckin’ cop, then you only have one person to blame — Mr. Tyrion Lannister himself, Peter Dinklage. The legendary frontman explained how he got involved in the movie project during a recent episode of The Metallica Report.
In the episode (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), Hetfield said the first person to reach out to his camp was the Game of Thrones actor, who said he immediately thought of the musician to play a role.
“Peter Dinklage contacted me through management, just saying, ‘Hey, I got a part for you in something we’re putting together. And I just thought of you, and that’s it.’ It’s, like, ‘Okay, cool.’
“I’m not into acting at all. I mean, I act enough on the stage, like projecting. For us on stage, projecting big, it’s almost more like Broadway. When you’re in a movie, you do just a little thing and that’s, ‘Whoa,’ that’s enough. I like big projecting. So for me to be invited to be part of a film where I don’t have to go and audition or something, ’cause that doesn’t interest me, really. I’ve done that before, and it’s not my bag, really. But he invited me along. There was a couple of other things that I had done before. [Director] Joe Berlinger asked me to do something similar in the Ted Bundy doc that he put together. It was, like, ‘I got this part. You’d be perfect for it. Come on, let’s do it.’ And that’s kind of similar to what, I guess, Peter Dinklage or the director had in mind. Like, ‘Hey, this is a part. You don’t have to do anything, you don’t have to train, you don’t have to do nothing. Just be you.’ It’s, like, ‘All right, I can do that.’”
Hetfield later went on to describe the movie making process and how it both mirrored and contrasted playing a live show. The biggest point of contention, Hetfield said, was having to sit around and wait.
“While I’m sitting in a trailer, and it’s probably minus 10 degrees out up in Canadia [sic], we’re outside of Calgary and I’m sitting there in period clothing, 1800s turn of the century. I mean, the wool’s great, but the shoes [are] not so great. I’m sitting there with [my assistant] Ray. It’s, like, ‘Hey, you’re shooting today.’ And then the end of the day, it’s, like, ‘Ah, we didn’t get to you today.’ And I told Ray, I said, ‘Hey, next time I’m asked to do something like this, remind me to say no.’ [Laughs] But that’s how it was in the moment. When it’s all done, the work you put into it, it’s, like, ‘Ah, yeah, that was nothing.’ But just when you’re sitting in it and waiting. Music is not about waiting. ‘I got an idea. Hey take this down. Let’s do this.’ Practicing your line and waiting to say it five days later is, like, oh, driving me nuts.
“When I’m doing interviews or, like, ‘Hey, say hi to this,’ ‘Congratulations on blah, blah, blah.’ I just want it to be natural, one take, go. Let’s do it. I don’t know. Call it the Lou Reed method. ‘Well, why should we do it again? We already did it.’ That’s what I like. And the movies is not that — not so much. But it was fun being out there, being, obviously, in a Western, getting to wear a hat, carry a gun, have a badge on. And I don’t wanna give it all away, but period-correct clothing and riding horses and all that shit. It’s in my DNA. I love it. It’s just the other part, making a movie. But I’m grateful to be in it. I’m grateful I got asked to do it. I hope it comes out cool. That’s another one of those things. I’m just another dude there playing a part for the greater good. When we’re out here [on tour playing music], it’s, like, ‘Hey, this is all under our control,’ and out there it’s not. So, just trusting the process and having as much fun as I can with it.”
Hetfield said acting was “certainly not a career choice for me,” saying that it was simply something fun to do when he’s not on stage with Metallica. Still, he admitted, it was “very cool of Peter.”
The movie was by online streaming platform Tubi Studios and was shot in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Hetfield’s starring in the movie alongside Levon Hawke, Esmé Creed-Miles, Juliette Lewis, Peter Dinklage, Gbenga Akinnagbe, and Leslie Grace.
The movie is actually an adaptation of and shares its name with the Joe R. Lansdale novel of the same name.
