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Ben Foster wont watchLeave No Trace.
I dont watch most of them, he says.
Will bucks under the pressure as Tombegins to adapt.
I read the script, and I just started crying reading it, Foster says.
Thats very unusual for me, I dont tend to get that rocked.
She and I had already been talking about being parents.
Foster talked to Vulture about being a new dad, and braving Graniks cinematic wilderness.
The weight of these questions, and the allotted time to ask them, was very focused and intense.
Its rare that ones own life and work have a coherence and play off each other in that way.
It was a very potent time.
You have to get up every day, because there is someone that is much more important than you.
And its what every parent says: I believe it changes you.
I think it kind of scrubs away a lot of your a lot ofmy nonsense.
Did you think about your own parents differently?Oh my God.
You were amazing, I was so lucky to have you!
Thank you, Im so sorry, Im so sorry.
May my daughter not take 37 years to figure this out.
Yeah, are you close with your folks, or siblings?
Im really close to my parents.
I gave a version of that apology after I saw the Greta Gerwig movie,Lady Bird.
I think thats what we get from your character inLeave No Trace.
Just experiencing it progressively.
I know at some point every parent has to let go.
And I imagine thats very hard for someone you love.
We dont know much about Wills history, but he was a soldier and is suffering severe PTSD.
I didRampart, but that characters homelessness was different, and this isnt an addiction story in that way.
There is a sense of struggling with being out of service.
Hes slipped through the cracks.
Will has slipped through the cracks.
Your performance is so silent, and youre saying so much with your face.
Was that something you were particularly conscious of?This movie, in particular, yeah.
When I read the line, Is it a want, or is it a need?
If he doesnt need to say it, he shouldnt.
So lets just go through every scene, every line, and ask that question.
What we found was that we could say a lot less.
So she and I just took a red pen and started crossing out lines.
I dont need to explain it.
We dont need to talk about backstory about wife we dont need to.
We can say a lot less.
How was the wilderness training for you?
I heard thats when you and Thomasin first met.Yeah, we met there.
To Debras credit, we didnt do a traditional rehearsal.
That is definitely up my alley, just avoiding that, and doing your own prep work.
Just really basic things created, I think, a safety, and a shorthand together that was lovely.
This was extreme, though, and it was great.
If anybodys like,What should we do this weekend, go to the woods.
Take a private lesson of wilderness appreciation.
Theyre the gossips of the forest.
Theyll tell you when theres something coming.
Its like waking up.
You just tune into your space, and that feels wonderful.
Were so stuck in our machines that were all craving, I think, something eternal.
Debra noted inan interviewthat theres no traditional villain in this movie partly in response to Trumps election.
And it is celebrating that these are really scary times.
Really scary, in every which way.
And none of it does.
Instead, its just,Someone gives you a ride, someone gives you some food.
I think its very optimistic.
Thats the spoiler of the movie.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
