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One of the most underrated duos in film over the past decade have been indie filmmakers Nick Damici and Jim Mickle.
The pair has been writing together since 2006’s Mulberry St, with Mickle also handling directing duties on all four of their films. Now they’re taking their talents to TV with Sundance’s Hap and Leonard, crafting an Odd Couple-like duo of their own in the form of a gritty 1980’s crime thriller based on Joe R. Lansdale’s novel. The series stars James Purefoy (The Following), Michael K. Williams (Boardwalk Empire, The Wire) and Christina Hendricks (Mad Men).
In advance of the series premiere, Nick and Jim chatted about Don Johnson, the everlasting appeal of buddy movies and their writing “marriage.”
You guys previously adapted Joe R. Lansdale with Cold in July. Now you’re back at it. What draws you to Lansdale’s work?
Nick: We just love his style. We pride ourselves on the fact that we take genre stuff and elevate it if we can, and blend genres, and that’s Joe’s forte. That’s what attracts us to his material. And it’s character driven too. That’s a big thing for us.
What appeals to you about 1980’s Texas as a setting?
Jim: Visually it’s a lot more interesting and all of our stuff has always been a little bit timeless in a way. I like things that take place in their own little world, and are frozen in their own time period. The 80’s seemed like a cool opportunity to do that, especially with a small town. On top of that, we get to explore things politically, socially, and while not being too aggressive with that, let that paint who the characters are.
Hap and Leonard are a great buddy pairing. Were there any classic buddies you looked at for inspiration?
Jim: I think Butch Cassidy and Sundance is a big touchstone. I know it was for James [Purefoy] also.
Nick: I’m a huge Sherlock-Watson fan. Even though it seems very strange to make that comparison, I always felt it was the standard. They were probably the first buddy duo to ever become popular. I think Hap and Leonard continues that tradition. It’s The Odd Couple. It’s Watson, who’s a salt-of-the-earth kind of guy and Holmes is this wacky intellectual drug addict. I think all good duos are people who don’t expect to be together but are together.
Jim: And The Hardy Boys too.
What do you think draws people to The Odd Couple as a story engine?
Jim: Joe [Lansdale] said, and I’ll badly paraphrase him: especially now, in a time of such great difference, opposing opinions and a big chasm between ideals and everything in the world and this country, that there’s something refreshing about two people who are completely opposite in so many ways, but they share a way of life that is stronger than all that and does unify. There’s something to that. Especially with these guys. They have this old-fashioned Western morality of simple nobility. There’s something gut level satisfying about that.
In your partnership together, which one of you is Hap, and which one is Leonard?
Jim: I have no idea.
Nick: I think you’d be the Hap and I’d be the Leonard.
How do you guys work together?
Nick: We’ve been together now 12 years or so. I lose track, 15. It’s a marriage of a sort. It has its ups and downs. But ultimately Jim is far more of an intellectual than I’ll ever be. I’m kind of a seat-of-your-pants, write-with-my-balls kind of guy. That balance is there. I tend to go over the top and Jim pulls me back. Sometimes Jim wants to hesitate and I want to push. We cover all the bases hopefully well together.
Jim: There are a lot of times I find myself overthinking stuff, and getting a sense of paralysis, whereas Nick is able to trust his instincts and push forward. There’s a difference but that’s what makes it work.
What has the experience of working on a show been like?
Jim: I think we all really dug it. It was the hardest thing, harder even than the movies we’ve done, because it’s just so fast. It’s going to premiere March 2 and March 20 of last year we were just going down to set. Less than a year and these six hours are already gonna be out there.
Nick: I loved the whole community of it; it was a family experience. It’s not something any one or two people could make. It’s a battalion putting this thing together.
But creatively having that space to tell a story and lead you down one way and go down another road is great. To do that in 90 minutes, it’s really rewarding, but to do that for almost six hours, there’s something really cool about that. I’m excited to see how audiences relate to that and have an ongoing relationship to it.
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If you weren’t filmmakers, what would you be?
Jim: We’re both country guys in a weird way. I grew up that way and Nick grew up in the city but we’re both country guys. I would be doing something with farming, which I’m really into. I planted a bunch of maple trees this morning to make maple syrup. That would be as exciting outside of television as it gets.
Nick: Film is what I always wanted to do. I’d probably still be working in a gym. I taught boxing and kickboxing for years, and I only retired two or three years ago, so I’d probably still be doing that.
Are you going to bring Don Johnson [who starred in Cold in July] in for a crossover?
Jim: We’re toying with that. That’s probably a decision that hinges more on Don Johnson than it does us.
Nick: I don’t think we’d have to hogtie him but…
Jim: You should call him and see if he wants to do it. That’s definitely something we’ve talked about, and something we hope for.
Deathly serious question: Would you rather freeze to death or burn to death?
Jim: Hmm…I think freeze.
Nick: Definitely freeze. Obviously there’s no way of truly knowing, but from what I’ve read, freezing to death is not so bad. You kind of just go numb and fall asleep. I don’t think burning is that nice.
Hap and Leonard certainly beats both of those options. The Sundance show premieres Wednesday March 2 at 10/9c.
[All images courtesy of Sundance]
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