Ethan Hawke Leads Convicts on Gold Trek in Depression Thriller The Weight

Ethan Hawke stars in “The Weight,” a gritty historical thriller set during the Great Depression, as Samuel Murphy, a World War I veteran and single father who is imprisoned after confronting corrupt police. To secure his release and prevent his daughter from being adopted, Murphy leads fellow convicts on a perilous wilderness trek to transport stolen gold for corrupt officials. The film draws on survival thrillers such as “The Wages of Fear,” “Sorcerer” and “Deliverance,” with Russell Crowe playing a calculating warden and the Pacific Northwest serving as a major influence on the story’s atmosphere, despite the film being shot in Germany. Director Padraic McKinley said the cast built the characters’ desperation through extensive discussions and the physical strain of hauling the packs, while production sometimes replaced the heavy loads with toilet paper; he also identified Murphy’s search for a teddy bear as the film’s emotional anchor.