‘The Hero’ Star Sam Elliott on Landing the Role of a Washed Up Actor: ‘My Luck Continues’ (Video)

Sundance 2017: “This is one of those opportunities that doesn’t come around, I think, more than once,” the actor tells TheWrap CEO Sharon Waxman

Sam Elliott takes a walk on the mild side in his latest film, “The Hero,” playing a washed-up Western actor who is relegated to making a living doing voice overs for barbecue sauce.

The film follows Elliott’s Lee Hayden, “a sad, lonely guy, who smokes a lot of weed and hangs out with his drug dealer and best friend, played by Nick [Offerman],” writer-director Brett Haley said of the role. Lee is faced with coming to terms with his “legacy” and what kind of mark he’s left on the world.

“This opportunity is one of those opportunities that doesn’t come around, I think, more than once,” Elliott told TheWrap’s CEO Sharon Waxman at the Sundance Film Festival. “I have been very fortunate in my career. My luck continues.”

Haley didn’t just score with casting Elliott in “The Hero,” he also scored with casting Elliott’s real life wife, Katharine Ross.

“[The] idea was to cast Sam and Katherine, who are a real life married couple, but she plays his ex-wife in the film, and they have a lot of great chemistry,” Haley said. “Obviously, with all the time they’ve been together and all the things they’ve been through, there’s a lot that can be said between them without saying anything.”

Watch the complete interview above.

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