Padraic McKinley’s “The Weight” is a throwback to a bygone period of moviemaking, starring Ethan Hawke as a person on a mission to flee a piece camp in Nineteen Thirties Oregon and reunite together with his daughter. It’s crammed with viscerally thrilling set items that look far dearer than they really are, offering retro journey thrills on an indie scale.
Forward of the movie‘s Sundance premiere, McKinley and stars Ethan Hawke, Julia Jones, and Austin Amelio visited the IndieWire Studiooffered by Dropbox, to interrupt down the influences that formed one of many pageant’s most fun movies.
“It’s an old-school journey film,” McKinley stated of the movie. “It’s received loads of coronary heart, and hopefully it’s a throwback to the type of films all of us favored, analog action-adventure movies.”
Hawke echoed these sentiments, explaining that he needed to make a movie about unusual individuals doing extraordinary issues.
“I really like what Pat simply stated, it’s analog,” Hawke stated. “It’s not an motion film filled with superhumans, it’s an motion film filled with people going by way of actually human conditions. It’s quite simple. It’s the type of motion film I grew up loving, and we challenged ourselves to see if we may make one that easy and that basic.”
Which particular films impressed McKinley and the crew? Hawke offered a listing of journey classics and character-driven dramas, citing the work of filmmaking masters like William Friedkin and John Huston and legendary main males Steve McQueen and Paul Newman.
“‘Sorcerer’ is one we love to say, however ‘Treasure of the Sierra Madre,’ there’s elements of ‘Cool Hand Luke.’ I at all times cherished that Newman/McQueen motion hero that was an actual particular person, character-driven drama. A man who doesn’t must say an excessive amount of, however will get issues executed.”
You possibly can watch IndieWire’s full dialog with the crew behind “The Weight” within the video above.
Dropbox is proud to accomplice with IndieWire and the Sundance Movie Competition. In 2026, 68% of function movies premiering at Sundance used Dropbox throughout manufacturing. Dropbox helps filmmakers and inventive groups discover, arrange, safe, and share the content material that issues most to any challenge.