Logan Huffman
Toronto Film: We Gotta Get Out of This Place
Interview by James Patrick Herman Photographs by Jeff Vespa
Do you have high expectations of Toronto?
“My mind was blown when I found out that the film got in. Because I know it will be seen by the best and the brightest in the western hemisphere — everybody who is anybody in this industry will be there.”
What’s the buzz about your film?
“It’s real cinema and everything a movie should be! I play a scary, crazy son of a bitch hunting down my two best friends who are cheating on me. So it’s sort of a coming-of-age-story about rural Texas. Some of the characters will go on to see the world—and others aren’t going to escape this world.”
What was your big break?
“I think it’s going to be this film. I’ve always wanted to be in a Western, so I can die happy now. I formerly did a show on ABC [V], but I played a whiny character that everyone hated. I love the character in this movie. B.J. is a boy who is really stuck: He thinks he’s stupid because he can’t read and doesn’t see much hope for a future. He’s afraid of everyone leaving him because his dad shot himself in the head. He’s dangerous but lovable.”
What actors do you admire?
“My mother raised me on black and white movies, so I dig Errol Flynn, Robert Mitchum, Buster Keaton and Don Knotts. The old stars weren’t afraid to be goofy and look ugly. There are too many pretty boys who only worry about their hair working in movies today. Nobody studies vaudeville anymore — that’s my newest craze.”
What would be your dream role?
“A great love story that takes place in the early 50s, a time that I feel more suitable for. I love A Place in the Sun, where someone can’t be with somebody because everything seems to work out the wrong way at the right time. You can’t get any better than that one.”
Where are you from?
“I was born in Noblesville, Indiana. It was a good place to grow up, but I left home when I was sixteen. I have a green thumb and I’m really into gardening. I grow all of my own food, including kale, bok choy, romaine, butter lettuce and cotton. I harvested over 150 types of wildflowers from the state of Texas while we were filming there. And I have 28 bonsai trees. Next I want to get some chickens, but I don’t have enough money for the wood to build a coop. I try to be the most primitive man I can possibly be.”
What was your first job?
“I worked as a tour guide at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. I was in the mysteries and histories section. I would have all these sayings memorized and rehearsed. I’d go: ‘This is a cabin from 1860. Before the pioneers were here….’ All that B.S., you know? But I had a good time. Once we found a lady riding a stuffed buffalo. She wouldn’t get off it. She had no teeth and she was just laughing and screaming.”
I can understand why you’re happy to be a full-time actor these days.
“Well, I still play the banjo and harmonica and panhandle on the weekends. How can you hold a banjo and never smile?”
Producer Bailey Reise (@BaileyReise)
Stylist Avo Yermagyan (@AvoYermagyan)
Groomer Erica Sauer (@ericasuaer) at The Wall Group (@TheWallGroup)
Fashion Credits:
Look 1: John Varvatos t-shirt, J Brand jeans, Joseph Brooks bracelet, vintage hat
Look 2: Sand Copenhagen suit, tie and pocket square