VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: ‘Ozark’ Star Jason Butler Harner Reflects Meaning Of New Film ‘The Big Bend’

Ozark star Jason Butler Harner reflected on his experience filming The Big Bend in his new uInterview.

“I love doing ultra-low budget movies,” told uInterview founder Erik Meers. “I come from the theater, so the nature of communication and collaboration can be different on [low-budget movies].”

The Big Bend follows two families, the Prices and the Talbots, who meet in the remote Texas desert. During their visit, the boundaries of marriage, friendship and parenthood are tested in one of the wildest places in America. 

Harner honed in on the meaning of the film: “It’s about trying to be present. We do this all the time; we try to figure out how to be present every day as much as possible, especially after someone dies or something, and it’s just hard work.”

“So I think that was probably a little bit of my focus, how to take it in while being distracted so much,” he said. “lt was very welcomed heavenly, though not an easy place to live in.”

Harner reflected on the special moments he took away from his days on set, recalling a particularly magical take. “There’s a scene on a cliff very high up, that’s not CGI, it’s very real, where I’m trying to take my life,” he said. “So that scene was about seven days into the shoot; it was a really tough shoot; the elements are very serious in the middle of the summer, but we weren’t making our days at all, and that was a magical day where it was beautiful outside. We were up on the cliff, and Paul Atkins, who was the DP, said, ‘I’m just going to follow you, add maybe a couple things, and let’s just see where we go.’ I think we did two takes, and it was just like a magical synergy.”

He said, “And that’s also what you do in these movies, so you get to have this moment on a cliff in the middle of nothing – that’s why you do these movies.”

Harner remembered another memorable moment on set: “There’s a small little snippet of Virginia [Kull] and I on a hill, silent, and that came about because we lost a scene, and we were pivoting, and the sun was setting. It was beautiful, so we went up on this hill, and Virginia and I both came from the theater, so we said, ‘Okay, let’s think about this!’ And I look at that scene, and it’s so calm and full and such a shared moment that, for me anyway, speaks a lot. I don’t have any judgment of myself.”

The Big Bend is now in theaters in select cities nationwide.