If you were roped into a high-stakes hostage situation at a retro diner out in the desert, which character would you want to assume? The heroic waitress? The badass bank robber? The Last Stop in Yuma County centers on just that very idea, with these two characters in mind as a tense thriller plays out in real time against a throwback-Arizona backdrop. Veteran character actor Richard Brake (Game of Thrones) plays one of the robbers, and horror queen Jocelin Donahue (Insidious: Chapter 2) tackles the challenging role of the ever-so-traumatized hostess who runs the Yuma County rest stop.

We recently caught up with Brake and Donahue in separate interviews to learn more about their darkly comedic Western thriller The Last Stop in Yuma County, directed by Francis Galluppi and also starring Jim Cummings, plus a handful of other household names.

Unique Twists That ‘Keep You Guessing’
The Last Stop in Yuma County (2024) 4/5 Stranded at an Arizona rest stop, a traveling knife salesman gets thrust into a high-stakes hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers who will stop at nothing to protect their ill-begotten fortune.Release Date May 10, 2024 Director Francis Galluppi Runtime 1h 30m Writers Francis Galluppi Studio(s) Random Lane Productions , Local Boogeyman Productions , Carte Blanche Distributor(s) Well Go USA

It all comes down to the script, as they say, and you know you have a keeper when a seasoned pro like Richard Brake is thrown for a loop upon first reading the material. “I was really surprised, which is one of the big reasons I wanted to do it initially, before meeting Francis. And then hearing Jim [Cummings] was in it, that was another great reason,” Brake told MovieWeb, adding:

“I read lots of genre scripts, I do a fair number of them, and they send me a lot of them.
And often, I’ll kind of know where they’re going… but this one, I just did not know, I mean, especially that last 20 or 30 pages…
The
Barbarian
film I did a couple of years ago, I had a similar experience reading that. Both of those films, I think I read them around the same time.”

Donahue echoed the sentiment on Galluppi’s thrilling screenplay; it’s no wonder he has already been tapped to direct an installment in The Evil Dead franchise. “There are some familiar genre elements, but the script is so smart that it just keeps you guessing the whole time. And there are all these varied different characters who all do things you’re not expecting. And that just shows how much talent that Francis has,” said Donahue, adding:

It’s kind of hard to believe that this is his first feature, but he just executed on so many levels, but it’s all starts with the script. And it just really jumped off the page and was really special.

Related Francis Galluppi Talks His Evil Dead Spin-Off Film: ‘I’m Really Excited’ The director of The Last Stop in Yuma County recently revealed that it was the Evil Dead franchise that inspired him to make his own movies.

Richard Brake on Barbarian and Yuma County Directors

Since Brake was quick to mention his standout role in Barbarian, we had to ask what it was like working on Zach Cregger’s monumental horror achievement. “He was a fairly new director to me… and I just vibed off the guy, just like I did off Francis, from just chatting with him,” said Brake in thinking about production of Barbarian. “We had so much fun. We had two weeks together shooting that sequence, and just the collaboration with Zach is just so inspiring.”

Brake continued to detail the interesting parallel between the filmmakers behind Barbarian and The Last Stop in Yuma County:

“I must be the lucky charm because shortly after
Barbarian
opened, we had had a coffee in LA, and [Zach] had that look that you get when you’re like, ‘What happened?!’…
Now, he’s got more offers, and his whole life had changed overnight.
And Francis was saying he could barely get this film put together… And the next time I’m talking to him, his head is spinning because the phone doesn’t stop ringing.
I think of myself as a lucky charm
.”

Jocelin Donahue on How Mike Flanagan Also Combines Genres

Donahue, meanwhile, has worked with her own fair share of talented directors in years past, including Mike Flanagan on the hit film Doctor Sleep. “I’m a huge fan of his work, and he also does something of combining genres, of doing really poignant moving dramas in the horror world,” Donahue told us. “So whenever you’re kind of storytelling on multiple levels, it just shows the sophistication of the storyteller. And he’s such a lovely, wonderful human being, and his sets are a very warm environment.” She added:

He does this cool thing: You do the blocking rehearsal with the actors, usually just him and the DP, and then he’ll invite in the entire crew. And then he kind of just talks through what’s going to happen, so the crew knows emotionally what’s going on and the actors know technically what’s going on.

12:47 Related Jim Cummings on New Film The Last Stop in Yuma County and the Future of Cinema Cummings spoke to MovieWeb about his role in a new Western crime-thriller and announced his upcoming feature film, The Screener.

Is Yuma County a Horror Film?

In the vein of Mike Flanagan, The Last Stop in Yuma County has its own fair share of unnerving sequences that might just make you shield your eyes at times. “We’ve been joking that, with this film, you can tell that Francis loves horror films,” said Donahue. “And because so many of the actors, if you just looked at the cast, you might think that this is a horror film. But I think what it shares is kind of like this atmosphere with a constant threat of violence, which is always fun to play as an actor. And what’s cool about this film is that it crosses so many genres. It’s scary, but it’s also darkly funny and gorgeous. It hits a lot of levels.”

One character in particular who will certainly terrify viewers is fugitive-on-the-run Beau, played to perfection by Brake. “One of the things that I loved about it was that, particularly as Francis and I developed the character more and more, getting closer to the shoot, was that he was so still,” Brake told MovieWeb, adding:

“I’ve always wanted to play a character that was incredibly still. I did a character in
31
, who was still but not all the time, and I had some incredible monologues in that Rob Zombie film [31], some incredible stuff with Rob. But I wanted to do a character… that was very, very frightening because he was so in control. So it was fun to really experiment and work with that.”

Related 10 Movies to Watch If You Love Barbarian Looking for movies like Barbarian? Here are 10 similar films you can add to your watch list.

Looking ahead, Brake has kept busy in the scary-movie space, with a major role in the upcoming trilogy of The Strangers films hitting the masses starting next week. “I’m very excited for people to see it,” Brake said. “We shot them all at the same time, and it was a crazy shoot. And really, I think people are gonna love all three of those… I’m looking forward to seeing [Chapter 1].”

Donahue, meanwhile, has a particular filmmaker in mind who she’d love to collaborate with down the line: Karyn Kusama. “I love her work. I love The Invitation and Destroyer and Jennifer’s Body,” Donahue said. “And of course, Yellowjackets is really cool. It’s nice to see these darker pieces in the episodic world, too. So yeah, she’s someone I’d love to work with.”

From Well Go USA, The Last Stop in Yuma County is now playing in theaters and available on digital platforms like YouTube, Prime Video, Google Play, and Fandango at Home. Get it on Apple TV below:

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