When Matt Barr was 15 years old, he “somehow” got from his hometown of Austin, Texas, to Dallas and into a screening of Kevin Costner’s 1999 film “For Love of the Game.” He walked up to the actor and told him, “Someday I’m going to grow up and play your son in a real movie.”
So it was a no-brainer for Barr, now 28, when he was offered the role of Johnse Hatfield, the conflicted son of Costner’s Devil Anse Hatfield, in History Channel’s three-part drama “Hatfields & McCoys,” which airs at 8 p.m. May 28, 29 and 30.
“I always legitimately idolized Kevin Costner. I grew up a boy in Texas and I wanted to make Westerns. You know Kevin’s a pro at that,” Barr said during a phone chat Wednesday. “And so I had always wanted to work with him. … Life has a way of going full circle.”
The six-hour miniseries recounts the true story of one of America’s most famous feuds. The bloody battles between the Hatfield and McCoy families started shortly after the Civil War in the backwoods where West Virginia and Kentucky meet, nearly sparked a war between the two states and claimed the lives of more than 15 people over 25 years. And it all started over timber rights, the ownership of a pig and a pair of star-crossed lovers.
The feud fizzled in 1888 but wasn’t officially ended until 2003 when descendants of the two clans signed a symbolic truce.
Johnse Hatfield was half of that 19th-century Romeo and Juliet who fueled the feud, a boy who fell in love with Roseanna McCoy (Lindsay Pulsipher), the daughter of his daddy’s friend-turned-deadly-enemy, Randall McCoy (Bill Paxton). As in the real-life conflict, their doomed love affair plays a major part in the miniseries, which draws heavily on historical accounts.
Johnse’s love for Roseanna crushed his father, who felt his son betrayed his duty to the family. Barr found that father-son tension fascinating, and not just because he was acting opposite Costner, an Oscar winner for his epic 1990 Western “Dances with Wolves.”
“I think no matter how much you disagree with your own father, you want him to be proud of you,” Barr said. “You want your dad to love you. People spend their lives trying to earn that sometimes from their parents. I just found that very beautiful and very tragic.”
Barr, who has starred in such series as “Harper’s Island” and “Hellcats,” didn’t get reacquainted with Costner until he got to Romania, where the cast lived together at a ski resort while filming in the Transylvanian Mountains.
Barr said he mentioned that they had met before, and that he still had the photo taken of the pair in 1999.
“We talked and talked for days about it,” he said, laughing. “It was pretty cool.”
Barr talked more about working with the cast that also included Powers Booth, Mare Winningham and Jena Malone, filming in Romania and why viewers should tune in to “Hatfields & McCoys” (It has something to do with skinny-dipping.)
I just finished watching the third installment and I have to say, that scene between you and Kevin at the fishing hole was quite intense.
Mm-hmm. That’s like one of those great, I think, great screenplay moments. When you read it you kind of go, “Man, this is what making movies is all about.”
What drew you to the project in the first place?
Really two things. One being I always legitimately idolized Kevin Costner. … And then I read this script, and I thought it really had everything that I love about a great story. It was tragic. It had action, adventure, romance, real specific characters that live even on the page, in the black-and-white text, and so specific. So it’s just everything that I love about this business, right here in that screenplay.
How was shooting in Romania?
I loved Romania. We spent a lot of time up in the Transylvanian Mountains. A lot of that area still feels like it’s stuck in the late 1800s. There are no power lines, a lot of the locals use horse-drawn wagons to haul their lumber and things like that through it. I really felt like we sort of went back in time and entered into that world. In addition to the whole cast living together in a little ski resort where you’re sort of isolated from the world. And we really felt like we were the Hatfields and McCoys.
Except not feuding.
Except not feuding, yeah. There was a rul, whenever we’d wrap for a day, you’d get back to the hotel and you all share a beer together.
I read a few things about people saying this being an American story it should have shot it in the U.S., but it looks pretty authentic on screen.
I had the same frustration when I first heard that. I thought this is the great American story. Let’s do it here, damnit. But once we got up there, and if you’ve seen it you know how extraordinary it looks. It really served that story and time period well. And so I think we all slowly jumped on the bandwagon and were happy to be over there.
Tell me about Johnse. What did you find interesting about him?
I love that, like any great character, there’s always that conflict within yourself where there’s the man that you feel you should be and there’s the man that you really want to be. The choices you make in your life are one or the other, based on one of those. And so I just like how Johnse was torn between the expectations that he was born into, being a part of this family and this feud and this sort of innate discrimination and hatred. But then there is his own organic instincts that he just didn’t have that [hatred]. And, hell, I mean he even falls in love with the McCoy legitimately. And so I think there’s always those two faces that every moment you’re struggling with.
You and Lindsay sort of played the Romeo and Juliet of the piece a little bit, don’t ya?
It’s exactly that, yeah. I didn’t know that was actually a true story. I thought that was sort of the Hollywood’s romanticized idea of the Hatfields and McCoys. I didn’t know that Johnse and Roseanna did exist and they did fall in love and have a child.
So that part is accurate as far as the broad strokes of that are?
Broad strokes, yeah. I would say that. The writers put a lot of emphasis on making it historically accurate. I think there are very, very few creative liberties taken. So they’ve told me.
Did you know anything about this beforehand? I sort of knew about the feud, but I had no idea it was decades long and almost started a war between these two states.
I thought the Hatfields and McCoys was a part of American mythology, something that is just this kind of great folklore that your grandpa tells you about as a kid. So I honestly didn’t even know it was real until I heard about the project and started doing my research and thought, “I’ll be damned. These guys really did get down and dirty over there.”
Did you do a lot of research?
I did, yeah. The producers gave us some material, but also it’s amazing that you can just Google or Wikipedia and even find photos and things like that. It’s really amazing. I didn’t know so much of that stuff would be accessible. But you do so much research until you start to get in your own way. You can’t ever exactly mimic someone’s lives; you kind of have to make it your own, and as long as that fits into the composition of the movie or the story that we’re making. I just had a good balance of it all.
I think you have to have a really good skeleton for the guy in the story. And then I think you flush it out with your own instincts and stuff.
Did you find some surprising things about your character that you maybe didn’t realize?
It was interesting the way that there’s a relationship between me and Nancy McCoy, who Jena Malone plays. I originally perceived it one way when reading it, but as we were workshopping our scenes together I started to revisit Johnse’s ambition with that whole relationship and why he’s invested there. I won’t get into detail, but that was a real surprising relationship. And it actually turned out to be some of my favorite scenes. I think that whole dynamic really evolved in an interesting way.
You’re a Texas guy, did you kind of grow up with the horse riding and hunting?
Oh my God. I grew up pretending that we were riding horses across the Tug River with guns and a cowboy hat. To actually do it, it was like playing cowboys and Indians on a million-dollar budget. The 8-year-old in me was onset every day. It was just the coolest thing ever.
Did they put you through some training or were you pretty familiar?
We did. I had a good foundation but it’s been a while since I rode, living here in L.A. So we all trained for about a month before heading over to Romania. And then when we got over there, we got to spend some time with our respective horses. I was lucky to get a really great horse who was spirited, but not too spirited, if you know what I mean.
Wasn’t knocking you off the saddle?
Yeah, yeah. It was great.
This cast has a good combination of veteran actors and younger actors. How was the vibe, and did you find yourself sort of watching very carefully?
That’s a great question, Curt. I found myself watching too carefully. I’d be in scenes where I should be engaged in the moment of the scene, but I would literally be watching Powers Boothe or Kevin Costner or Mare Winningham, performing these scenes and going, “Oh. Now I get how this job is done.” Those guys are awesome. Being, again, like Powers is one of my heroes, just been a great Texas actor and to me, the ultimate presence. It was like acting school every day. And that’s why I miss it so much. It’s true what they say. It’s like, if you play ball with Kobe Bryant, you might get your ass kicked but it makes you better. And I felt that way with those guys.
When you have this kind of experience, when you’re done do you have a mourning period of sorts?
I’m still in the mourning period. I still haven’t cut my hair. [Laughs.] I think part of me is still in Romania. Yeah, you’re right. It spoils you to work with that caliber of people. I just don’t think Hollywood’s making a lot of movies like these, or TV shows, whatever the format is. It doesn’t seem like they’re telling these stories. So I’m aware of that, and I hope that changes. But you just got to drink every last drop of it, and appreciate it for what it is. Hell, if they’re not going to go make them I’ll find the material and I’ll go get it made.
And you were always a fan of westerns, right?
Oh man, it’s my favorite. I really want to bring back the genre. I think Costner’s done a great job over the years of doing that a bit. I’ll carry the torch.
That’s cool. Do you have any other projects coming up?
I’m producing a film called “12 Mighty Orphans.” It’s another great true story about an orphanage in Fort Worth, Texas, during the Depression. And this sort of crazy visionary genius football coach [Rusty Russell] who comes there and creates a football factory. This team went on to become sort of the nation’s team. They were broadcast all over the country and they became sort of a Seabiscuit, when America was really on its knees and looking for some kind of inspiration. So it’s a great human interest story, and I’m excited for it.
I’ll have to look that up.
It was actually the Masonic Homes they’re in Fort Worth, Texas. And it’s based on the book by Jim Dent. When I read it when it first hit the shelves I said, “This is the greatest true story I’ve ever read. I’m going to see if I can go buy the rights to this.” I was dumb enough to believe I could do it and we did. [Laughs.]
Did you have a special interest because it was Texas? Or was it a good story for you?
It was, the big themes in my life [are] I’m from Texas and my father was a college football coach. You combine Texas and football and orphans and the Depression, it definitely gets such a textured era. I thought, “This is going to make a great movie.”
Who did your dad [Mike Barr] coach?
He coached at SMU and then originally at Purdue and then moved to SMU during the Ron Meyer, Eric Dickerson, Craig James years.
Give me your pitch for the people to watch “Hatfields & McCoys.”
No matter who you are, where you’re from, there’s one universal thing that we all understand. It’s like, what are you willing to fight and die for? And to me, that’s the big theme of this movie. And it’s just thrilling, it’s wonderful and it’s beautifully shot. And I get naked. You have to watch. [Laughs.]
There’s a selling point. Thanks for your time.
Thank you Curt. I appreciate it.
