Hank Bedford may be making his directorial debut with Dixieland, but he’s no stranger to a film set, having worked with Bennett Miller, Scott Cooper, and David O. Russell as an on-set assistant, and as an associate producer on Miller’s Foxcatcher. With Dixieland, starring Chris Zylka and Riley Keough, now arriving in theaters after debuting at the Toronto Film Festival, Bedford sat down with Miller to talk about the filmmaking process, hot-air-balloon adventures, and wearing shorts no matter the weather.

Bennett Miller: What drove you to make Dixieland? It felt like a risk. You have a lot to lose. You’ve got people whom you care about investing their money, their time, their labor, and their belief in you.

Hank Bedford: I couldn’t live with myself and continue to work in the industry that I dreamed of working in my whole life without doing it. I feel like it’s like when a woman says she’s ready to have a baby or something. It’s like an internal clock and if you don’t do this now, you never will. And you will never be happy the rest of your life. You’ll go off and be semi-successful at some job and be ashamed when people ask you what you do.

What is it about film and the notion of making a film that appeals to you?

I’ve always been drawn to the extreme challenge of it, the nuts and bolts of it. Secondly, we live in a world that is uncontrollable and in a small way making a film allows you to control the outcome. There is also a legacy portion of it. Your name being on this thing that you created that will be around for a long time. I think film is wonderful in ways [that are] different than other art forms. I love that it’s this combination of all of the arts into this one kind of opera.

Why didn’t you do it earlier?

For some reason I thought it was like saying you wanted to be a Major League Baseball player. It was something to dream about and not something to do. When I finally decided to give it a shot I wanted to have all of the ammunition to actually make a dent with it.

It was curious to me that you did wait so long to make a first film because you are such a daring person and an impulsive person. Remind me of the story of when you decided you wanted to find J.D. Salinger.

I’ve also always been interested in the idea of finding people who inspire you and having some sort of interaction with them. So I literally went for it on a whim. I mean, you know, it’s a very difficult thing to figure out. It’s like a puzzle because there was no real record of where he lived while he was alive. I bought a plane ticket and I read all these books about him, and they vaguely describe these landmarks. It wasn’t like I found the address and just drove there. It was more like I found a covered bridge. And then I found a red barn and then a tree that crosses another tree. And then I found it. You are right, that’s the kind of thing that I do.

It’s just amazing to me that you had the idea, and you got on an airplane and went across the country.

Yea. I’m capable of that sort of thing. Sometimes things happen in your life, and to be honest, the story that inspired Dixieland was one of those things, that remind you that life is short. If there are things you want to do, it seems pretty silly to not do them.


This conversation reminds me of your father when we were at dinner and he described his hot-air-balloon adventures.

Yes, we would go above a full cloud cover in his hot-air balloon. It’s really majestic. It feels like a different world that you are normally not able or allowed to see.

Was it not a little scary though?

It was, totally, terrifying.

What terrifying moment?

He had a situation where a plane came through the clouds; which is the reason it’s illegal. He definitely has influenced me though into just doing things. He demonstrated that when you’re kind of fearless about things, it’s incredible, the doors that open up for you and I experienced that making the movie.

One thing that really struck me that I learned about you while we were working on Foxcatcher is that you did not have health insurance.

That’s true.

And I encouraged you to take the very available steps to get health insurance.


But you resisted that idea, because why?

I kind of theoretically like to live without fear of something bad happening. I try not to play like I have a lead. You watch football games and a team gets up by 21 and they start playing kind of passively or safely and all of a sudden they are losing with 2 minutes to go.

I remember you saying that to hold a health insurance policy puts you in a kind of dimension that you don’t feel comfortable in.

You are exactly right.

I understood it completely. Where you agree and even pay to have the possibility hovering over you at all times.

Yes, exactly! Also you’re paying these people who are profiting tremendously off of the odds of nothing bad happening.

What was the most nerve-racking aspect of making the movie?

The responsibility to the actors. Knowing you have their fate in your hands is a tremendous responsibility that is just terrifying. There is always that doubt in the back of your mind that is like, ‘Do you know what you’re doing?’ You’re crafting this thing that they are going to be portrayed in, and they’re really bravely giving themselves over to you in a very soul-baring way. You are asking them to show their vulnerabilities. Thinking about it right now, it scares me.

Making the movie, what did you learn about yourself?

Well, I learned that I have a certain amount of resolve. I think you can go further than you think you can physically and mentally when you’re put under a certain amount of pressure. You’re pushed beyond your limits, and now I know I can handle that, which is exciting.

That is a lesson that scuba divers learn, when they run out of oxygen under the surface, and our minds tell us that we are in an extremely urgent crisis, and we can’t breathe, but the reality is that we all have a few minutes beyond what we think is the deadline to get a fresh breath.


How do you think you’re going to approach your next one differently—or will you?

I will, for better or for worse. I’m not sure which it is. There is a certain something about being naïve and just sprinting into it, which I think is beautiful and can create some really beautiful things. And then there’s the lessons you can’t ignore. I think I would vet certain departments more thoroughly. I would not be able to leave that knowledge on the table.

Can you tell me a story from when you were an assistant?

As you know, I run around a lot. People think it’s a little bit crazy, but I always thought … and it’s based on a lesson I learned from my dad. We would be doing the balloon stuff and he would be like, “What are you doing? Run!”



He was demanding and directors can be too … it’s not a personal thing … but because of the circumstances. I always had that stuck in my mind. If you do that, if you sprint … nobody can ever complain.

It’s a little bit of a joke. Not only do you always run, even if its 10 feet away, but you are wearing shorts.

That’s true.

And we were in western Pennsylvania in December and January. I think throughout the duration of the shoot (Foxcatcher), there was only one day you did not wear shorts.


So here’s my last question, you’re on your deathbed and you’re looking back over the years of your career. What’s what would have made you most proud?

There will definitely not be anything like making this movie. I think what will happen is I will try to top it. That is part of the drive, but I imagine that is a difficult thing to achieve. The sheer joy of it all. You know? I saw this clip of Brett Favre playing his first couple of games for the Packers, and he’s just running around like a little kid on the field with a huge smile on his face. That’s how it felt, you know. I can’t imagine topping that!