Developing a Western in 2024 carries the baggage of a historical genre. So many directors have found ways to explore complex themes within the confines of the American West that coming across an original story in this space is rare. Yet this is precisely what drew Erin Moriarty to the directorial debut of Stuart Gatt, Catching Dust, which opens on August 23.
As the two couples work out their differences against the backdrop of the frontier, their lies and pain come to light. Gatt’s debut features Moriarity as Geena – a young woman looking to understand herself in the face of total isolation. Moriarity and Gatt spoke to FandomWire about the experience of making Catching Dust and how to capture the emotion of the genre.
Gatt wanted to explore isolation and the desert.
Westerns were not traditionally the kind of movies Gatt made. “I just made my last short about the Libyan refugee crisis. It was very different.” However, he had an image that was hard to shake. “I had this idea to develop a story in the middle of the desert. I like the idea of creating a world where a character could be completely isolated, and find her way in it.”
To Gatt’s surprise, Pressman Studios – the studio behind American Psycho, one of Gatt’s favorites – picked up the screenplay. “That was kind of insane to me. I grew up watching American Psycho and Pressman’s name was the first name that comes up.” Early in the process, Erin came on board. Soon, his producer, Mark David, helped assemble a dream team for the cast, including Moriarty, Jai Courtney, Ryan Corr, Dina Shihabi, and Olwen Fouéré. “I’m a kid from a very working-class background in London. It was very interesting for me and kind of surreal.”
Moriarty loved the shift from formulaic filmmaking.
While growing popular on The Boys, Erin Moriarty has always felt connected to indie filmmaking. Moriarty laughs. “I wish I could say that I curated it intentionally. But the first one I did was a tiny film with a tiny budget, and we shot B roll on the weekends. Then we went to Sundance.” In many ways, Catching Dust provided a way back to small productions, and Gatt’s screenplay excited her to jump in. “It was the lack of formula, the lack of that predictable, formulaic, safe zone.”
In some ways, a smaller production allows Moriarty to step outside her comfort zone. “It allowed us to tell a story with the backdrop of a Western. It was very appealing to me to play a character from Texas when I’m from New York.” Moriarty does not say the word, but it’s clear that typecasting has been an issue for her in the past.
“Often as an actress or actor, you’re cast in roles that people can really you in at face value. I just appreciated that Stuart trusted me to not be a New Yorker in this thing as well.” This rings true in Catching Dust, mainly because the other couple (Corr and Shihabi) play New Yorkers who travel to Texas.
Moriarty understands that a slow-burn Western activates a very different side of your brain. “The fact Catching Dust was like escapism, compounded with the confrontational nature of the story – that dichotomy- I just want to see more as an audience member. That’s the kind of movie I would go see and that’s rare as an actress.” When she received the script, Moriarty was thrilled to join Catching Dust. “When you [Gatt] sent me the script, it was such an obvious yes.”
Gatt and Moriarty give each other credit for Catching Dust‘s emotional underpinnings.
Much of Catching Dust‘s power stems from the emotions within the story. Two couples fighting each other makes for quick comparisons to plays or dramatic showcases, but Catching Dust does so with grace. This also requires balance among the performers, and Gatt tried to give credit to Moriarty and the cast. “You do your best to try and create that balance on the page. But I have to say, the credit for that goes to these guys. They really were authors in this piece as well. It was a very collaborative experience.”
However, Moriarity does not let Gatt ignore his own talent. “The credit goes to you. You made sure that throughout it all, these moments were retained because they were a human need. I think you deserve the credit for that.” Again, Gatt pushes back. “I appreciate that compliment a lot, but I really believe people have watched the performances, and they are incredible.”
Gatt points to a moment that Moriarty and Courtney enhanced. “I’ll give you a small example I’d written in the script. So there’s the kiss that happens at the beginning between Erin and Jai when he comes back from hunting. I’d written that just she goes in to initiate a kiss, and he pulls away.” On set, Erin pitched an alternate take. “She was like, ‘No, this needs to be a proper kiss. We need to see the love between them.'”
Moriarty laughs as Gatt continues. “As soon as I saw it, it made total sense. That scene is better because of her idea. My ideas are the baseline, and if you just follow my ideas, I have a decent film. These guys brought so much that amplified my ideas. That’s really where the magic lies.”
Moriarity worked with Jai Courtney and wrote letters to develop their chemistry.
When asked about her co-stars, Moriarity praises Jai Courtney and Ryan Corr. Their relationships helped build the foundation of Catching Dust, and the actors helped bring the most out of her. In particular, Jai Courtney put in the preparation and actorly work. “Jai and I had this exercise we did before he started filming. We wrote letters to each other as Clyde and Geena.”
Moriarity thinks it strengthened their bond early. “He initiated, and I’m the prep fiend! He’s so much less neurotic than I am, so we’re such a yin and yang duo. I could not have asked for a better person to be around.” We asked what happened to the letters after Catching Dust wrapped. She smiles. “I still have them. It’ll be interesting to look back on those letters one day. They’re really,y really emotional.”
Despite her off-screen relationship with Jai going well, Geena and Clyde are a relationship fraying at the seams in Catching Dust. “We wrote the letters, and that’s when it started to tip into the heartbreaking component for me.” She explains that Geena is the first to realize something is off, not only in the relationship but that she wants more. “She’s a caged bird. Geena is someone who grew up in an entirely different environment and amongst different people, but I found so many parallels.”
This aspect of Geena comes out when Corr’s Andy arrives. Moriarity explains, “She meets someone who allows her to envision her life going in a different direction, which also allows her to feel her self-worth. Art is so important to her. We really need to feel that to step into a next chapter.”
However, Courtney’s Clyde is not that person for Geena any longer. “I think it’s very easy to look at Clyde as her first love. But this ends up suppressing her.” Andy offers Geena a way out, which she wants to take despite not knowing Andy well. “It’s like there’s this whole world out there. We all deserve to be informed and think it changes her life. I wonder what would have happened had she not met them.”
Moriarty’s Geena suddenly finds herself with a way out, but the situation remains complicated.
About halfway through Catching Dust, we finally see Geena away from her home. The scene could be liberating. Instead, Gatt uses it to explore the nuances of these situations. “At that point, she has been so suffocated in a way; she’d been so kind of drip-fed into it. Her freedom has been taken away. She hasn’t seen anyone for a huge amount of time. It’s a scary thing for her.” It becomes its own source of tension over the sequence, with Dina’s character pushing Geena to turn Clyde into the police. “Humans grow, but there’s always going to be resistance.”
Gatt wrote Geena in a way that is not solely logical but, in many ways, explores complex PTSD in a woman who has been essentially held hostage. “There’s also that right to hold fear. She knows that that freedom can lead to her severing the relationship and take her into a sense where she could be exposed as nothing.” He brings Moriarty into the answer. “You say everyone’s looking for self-worth and value if you’re not giving it. Sometimes, you internalize the idea that maybe you don’t have it.”
It’s not an easy answer and adds considerable depth to Moriarty’s performance. “You’re never going to be able to take those steps towards the freedom that she deserves. She says, ‘Wow, I’m back out in the world that I’ve wanted to be in. But this comes at a cost. And am I prepared to, you know, to lose this, to gain this?'” Catching Dust might not be a true neo-western, but it confronts the roles we all hold in relationships as if it is one.
Moriarity loves The Boys and blockbusters but wants to protect indies like Catching Dust.
To close out the interview, we asked about how working on Catching Dust compares to blockbuster filmmaking and television. Moriarity explains that it’s all about the crews. “So the King Kong director – Jordan Vogt-Roberts – he worked with me on Kings of Summer, which was so special. Then little films turn into big films, like Captain Fantastic.” She chuckles as she thanks her father for helping her love small but poignant movies. “I credit that to my father because he loves those kinds of films.”
Of course, a smaller production comes with different challenges, but Moriarity wants to work on challenging movies and TV to keep things fresh. “The Boys defies genre. It’s a superhero show about superhero fatigue. To me, there’s a gray area where independent film lies. The Boys lies in that area.” Moriarty does not take it for granted that she can work on complicated projects. “I feel very fortunate because I don’t know how I’m ever going to be able to work on anything like that again.”
In the meantime, she hopes to continue building a career in indie films, in part because they’re free to play with the genre. “I love independent films because they tend to prove that the whole concept of genre is antiquated. They’re so rich, and I love them. They’re what got me into acting, to begin with.” Since COVID, times have been tougher, but movies like Catching Dust keep finding the light of day. “I think that we need to make a really strong effort to collectively make sure that they remain present. I was just happy to be able to exist in that world again.”
Read FandomWire’s review of Catching Dust here.
Catching Dust opens in theaters August 23, 2024. Vertical Entertainment distributes.
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