When he’s not making music, Jason Isbell likes to watch strangers on the street try to set him up. “You can see the wheels turning,” the 45-year-old six-time Grammy winner tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “They think, ‘I just saw this guy’s face real up close, but I don’t know where’.”
More recently, the answer tends to include his portrayal of Bill Smith — a former horse thief who married into the Osage tribe — in the Oscar-nominated film Killers of the flower moon, which he auditioned for and landed during the pandemic. Isbell admits he was “terrified” when filming began, as his biggest contribution to the industry had previously been related to soundtracks. (He wrote the song “Maybe it’s time” for 2018 A star is bornstarring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga.) Sharing scenes with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro left Isbell, at least temporarily, with a case of imposter syndrome.
“For the first few days I was like, ‘What am I doing here? That’s funny. I’ve never been in a movie before,’ recalls Isbell. “But when I stopped focusing on what could go wrong and thought about what had already gone right, it led me to [conclusion] I was there for a reason. If you’re too concerned about why you’re there, then some part of you questions the vision and abilities of the people who work around you.”
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Something that gave the “Cover Me Up” singer peace of mind was his director: legendary director Martin Scorsese. “I thought to myself, ‘Marty’s not going to let me destroy his $200 million picture. I’ve never seen any of his movies and thought, ‘That was great — except for that one villager,'” jokes Isbell. “So I decided that what I should do is do the best I can and be grateful for it. Everything opened up from there.”
Isbell, who enjoys the musical process of collaborating with his band The 400 Unit, revealed that he admires Scorsese’s technique. “It was pretty hard for me to watch the way Marty works. I went into it thinking, ‘Okay, this guy is the greatest director alive, so he’s either going to be there and run everything, or he’s not going to be there at all. But he finds the perfect medium. I pitched a shot one night and he shot it. He listens to people and takes ideas and everyone does their job and no one can get their feelings hurt.”
Isbell adds, “That was inspiring for me. I went back to Nashville and made a record [Weathervanes, Grammy winner for Best Americana Album] with the thought that you can keep your vision intact and allow everyone to participate creatively in the process.”
Martin Scorsese defends the 3.5-hour running time for Killers of the flower moon: ‘Respect the cinema’
Colleagues and audiences alike agree that Isbell’s debut was a success. “Jason saw who Bill was, what he could be capable of and how to hide him in plain sight; with polite deflection and garish piety,” Isbell’s Killers of the flower moon costar Lily Gladstone tells PEOPLE.
She adds: “Jason is an incredible judge of character, and his ability to translate that into performance and to articulate Bill in such clear layers in a relatively short amount of screen time was wonderful to watch.”
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Best Actress nominee Gladstone says she first met Isbell through his music: “I first met him from Drive-by Truckers [Isbell’s previous band, which he left in 2007] …so when I saw the casting announcement, I came back [to his music]. ‘Last of My Kind’, ‘Letting You Go’ and ‘If We Were Vampires’ all made me cry on first listen and are now definitely in my regular rotation.”
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The affection is mutual. Isbell of Gladstone says, “I’ve had friends who were on a fast upward trajectory, but I’ve never seen [one like Gladstone’s]. And she is the person best equipped to handle that kind of rocket to fame. I don’t think it’s possible to change who Lily is. Whatever fame and celebrity comes her way, she’s just going to use it to do great things and help tell people’s stories.”
Find out more about Jason Isbell’s life and career in this week’s issue of the magazine PEOPLE.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education