Charlie Plummer was raised around dogs and cats. He figures he had been atop a horse just once before signing on for the lead role in Lean on Pete, a tale of companionship involving two lost souls — one a wayward teenager, and the other a downtrodden racehorse.
So before the cameras began rolling, Plummer spent a couple of weeks at an Oregon stable forming a bond with the equine actor named Starsky. The teen rode him a few times, walked him around, and even cleaned his stall.
“They’re so kind and so intelligent. It took a couple of days to just feel comfortable and confident standing next to a 1,500-pound animal. As soon as I did, it felt like we were good friends,” Plummer said during the recent South by Southwest Film Festival. “We were in the middle of nowhere, so we had to be buddies.”
Plummer (All the Money in the World) stars as Charley, who endures plenty of socioeconomic hardships while living with his troubled single father (Travis Fimmel) in the Pacific Northwest. He spends the summer working for a thoroughbred trainer (Steve Buscemi) and finds a connection with Pete, a washed-up horse who likewise can’t seem to catch a break.
“I felt such a deep connection to the character and his journey,” Plummer said. “His battle with a sense of home — that was a big thing for me. My family moved around a lot growing up. He’s driven by compassion, which connects him with so many of the people he meets.”
British director Andrew Haigh (45 Years) adapted the screenplay from a novel by Willy Vlautin. The filmmaker said that despite budget constraints, filming on location was essential. He traveled around the region for four months prior to production, scouting locations and getting a feel for the terrain.
“Environment is so important to me, to give it a sense of reality and keep it grounded,” Haigh said. “There was no question that we wanted to film there.”
One of the key locations was Portland Meadows, a working-class racetrack that allowed Haigh to bring a different perspective to a sport in which the humans could have easily been portrayed as animal-abusing villains.
“It’s important that you try and find sympathy for people, especially in the horse racing industry,” he said. “It’s a tough life. They are barely making any money, and it’s certainly not glamorous. When people are struggling in really difficult economic situations, you’ve got to have sympathy for those characters.”
Plummer, 18, said he responded to that sincerity and humanity through his character’s eyes.
“It doesn’t even attempt to manipulate the audience into having a perspective or feeling a certain way, other than just sitting with these characters and watching them live their lives,” Plummer said. “As a young person, it’s a helpful reminder that every person you meet has a story and has experiences you’ll never know.”
Meanwhile, Haigh emphasized the importance of avoiding coming-of-age clichés, or traditional heroes and villains, for the sake of authenticity.
“I realized that it isn’t actually a coming-of-age movie at all,” Haigh said. “Charley’s almost looking for something more primal. He’s just looking for safety and food on his table, or somewhere he can just start to live his life. The end of the film is the beginning of his coming-of-age story.”
