Padraic McKinley on The Weight

<p>Welcome back to Following Films. Before we jump in today, do me a quick favor: if you&#39;re enjoying the show, hit that subscribe button, leave us a quick review on whatever app you&#39;re using, and share this episode with a friend. It really helps get the word out.</p><p>Today on the show, I’m talking with director Padraic McKinley about his new film, <em>The Weight</em>, which lands in theaters nationwide starting today.</p><p>Padraic directed the film from a screenplay by Matthew Chapman and Shelby Gaines, based on a story hatched by Matthew Booi, Leo Scherman, and Chapman. It’s got a massive team behind it, produced by Simon Fields, Nathan Fields, Ryan Hawke, Jonas Katzenstein, and Maximilian Leo, alongside a heavy lineup of executive producers including Andreas Rübo, Klaus Dohle, Frédéric Fiore, Céline Dornier, Ralf Berchtold, Peter Jarowey, Rich Goldberg, and Peter Block. Plus, the cast is stacked: Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe lead the charge, alongside Julia Jones, Austin Amelio, Avi Nash, and Sam Hazeldine.</p><p>The setup is pretty grim. It’s 1933 in Oregon, and a guy named Samuel Murphy, played by Ethan Hawke, gets ripped away from his daughter and tossed into a brutal work camp. The warden, played by Russell Crowe, offers him a way out: smuggle a haul of gold through a completely deadly stretch of wilderness for an early release. Naturally, the crew he&#39;s stuck with starts rotting from the inside with betrayal, and Murphy has to figure out just how much of his own humanity he&#39;s willing to trade off to actually see his kid again. It’s a desperate, messy story about desperate people, and Padraic and I break down how it all came together. Here is my conversation with Padraic McKinley.</p><p><br></p>