Jockey interview with Clifton Collins Jr., Molly Parker, Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley

Jockey debuted at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and won Best Narrative Feature. The film also was named one of the Top Ten Independent Films of the year by the National Board of Review. In addition, the movie is starting to gain traction upon its forthcoming release in theaters.

The film stars Clifton Collins Jr. as Jackson Silva, an aging jockey fighting to win one more championship before he rides off into the sunset. However, a young kid named Gabriel (Moises Arias) comes to town claiming to be his son and wants to follow in his footsteps, causing things to go awry.

Hidden remote had the pleasure of chatting with stars Clifton Collins Jr., Molly Parker, co-writer Greg Kwedar, and co-writer/director Clint Bentley. We talked about the film, where the inspiration came from, and much more.

You can check out the video version of the interview here.

Interview with Jockey creators and stars Clifton Collins Jr., Molly Parker, Greg Kwedar, and Clint Bentley

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity

Hidden Remote: Clint, in doing my research, I learned that this was a personal project for you, what made you want to bring this story to the big screen? 

Bentley: Well, my dad was a jockey and, once I became a filmmaker, I was working on the backside with my dad and this rich world behind the barns was something we hadn’t seen on film before, even though we have had a lot of horse racing films. So it came from that seed of wanting to tell the story of a jockey.

HR: You wrote the role for Clifton, what about Clifton made you say that was your Jackson from the beginning?

Kwedar: I would say — one, how he seemingly slips behind the curtains of the character he inhabits is the obvious thing. The other intangibles that we discovered with just being his friend was how much warmth he has that isn’t seen in a lot of his characters of late. Then, there is also a sadness there that has been tapped in some movies, but never in the duality of the warmth and sadness, the dance between those two things.

HR: Clifton, what attracted you to the role of Jackson? 

Collins Jr.: It was Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, and that process we have together in the collaboration that was first and foremost. So when they approached me and they said they wanted to write this for me, it was just the joy of working with these two people that was first and foremost, and the story was secondary.

HR: Molly, what attracted you to the role of Ruth?

Parker: When these guys came to me, they had a really good script together, they had shown me some images that they had shot a bit off the track and it was incredibly cinematic. I also knew that Clifton was playing the lead and I was a fan of his for years and years. And I thought it was a great part for him and I wanted to be there to see that happen. So it was really about those relationships and wanting to work with those filmmakers and work with Clifton. The film is about a world I know nothing about or knew nothing about. It’s certainly is unlike any racetrack movie I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen the backside of the track and what really goes on. It’s a real amazing community and world.

HR: Clifton, what was it like preparing for the role? 

Collins Jr.: You just want to be accepted by the people you are representing, and that would be the Jockeys. Everything I did was to gain their respect, love, and trust. Without trust, you can’t get any of this done. For me, personally, I wanted to get the actor-y stuff out of the way. There were some fans of certain films. So I said, hey guys, you can ask whatever you want, don’t be afraid, you’re not going to offend me, I don’t care what you say. I wanted them to know my guard is down and I’m an open book. Cause I just want to be a Jockey, so you get free work, consider me an intern on the way to be a Jockey, so as soon as that happens, it’s very easy to adapt the lifestyle, diet included minus flipping part, that’s probably the only thing I didn’t do. I just constantly want to be accepted by them.

Check out the video version of the interview, below:  

Jockey hits theaters on Dec. 29, 2021.