Ain't Them Bodies Saints is a 2013 American neo-Western romantic crime drama film written and directed by David Lowery. The film stars Casey Affleck as Bob Muldoon, Rooney Mara as Ruth Guthrie, and Ben Foster as Patrick Wheeler. Bob (Affleck) and Ruth (Mara) are a couple who become involved in criminal activities and are caught, with Bob taking the blame and going to prison. The film follows the events after the criminal activities as Ruth gives birth to their daughter, and the two live comfortably. When the child is nearly four, Bob escapes from jail and goes looking to reconnect with his family.
The film debuted at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Cinematography Award in the U.S. Dramatic Category and got nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. It was selected to compete in the Critics' Week section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. It was released on August 16, 2013, by IFC Films.
The film received positive reviews overall, with critics praising its original take on the Bonnie and Clyde archetype, and commending its style and western iconography influences. It garnered numerous critical awards and nominations and was listed in the top ten films of 2013 by many domestic and international film publications, but ultimately under-performed at the box office.
Plot Ruth Guthrie walks across a field and is followed by Bob Muldoon, who tries to dissuade Ruth from leaving him to return to her mother's. Ruth is adamant and reveals that she is angry because Bob told Freddy that he was going to 'strike out on his own'. Bob says this isn't the case. Ruth reveals she is pregnant, and they reconcile.
Later, Bob and Freddy commit a crime while Ruth waits in the getaway car. The police, including Patrick Wheeler, pursue them to a farmhouse. In the ensuing gunfight, Freddy is killed and Ruth shoots Patrick. Bob takes the fall for shooting Patrick and the crime committed earlier so Ruth can avoid jail. Bob and Ruth surrender their weapons. They are apprehended and Bob jailed. Ruth tells Skerrit, Freddy's father, that she is going to wait for Bob. Bob writes several letters from jail, promising Ruth to be back with her and their child. Ruth gives birth to their daughter, Sylvie.
Years pass. Ruth and Sylvie live a normal life in the small town of Meridian, Texas. Patrick, who does not know it was Ruth that actually shot him, notices Ruth and Sylvie around town, but Ruth avoids any contact with him. One day, Patrick makes a visit to Ruth's residence and tells her that Bob has escaped from prison. The local detective questions Ruth as to Bob's whereabouts, and Ruth tells him that Bob has not come to visit her. Meanwhile, Bob is traversing Missouri to escape the authorities. He makes it to Texas and obtains help from his friend Sweetie. Meanwhile, three bounty hunters, led by an individual called Bear, visit Skerrit's hardware store and make general inquiries about the town.
Patrick visits Ruth to return her letters the police looked over after Bob escaped. He tells her that she should move to a safer place, which Ruth takes to mean as until Bob is caught. Bob visits Skerrit at his hardware store, where Skerrit tells him there are many people who want him dead and that Bob needs to stay away from Ruth and Sylvie. Patrick visits Sweetie's establishment, asking if he has seen Bob. As they go upstairs, Bob narrowly escapes but leaves behind a photo of Ruth and Sylvie.
On the day of Sylvie's birthday party, Patrick gives Sylvie a guitar. While talking with Sylvie at the party, Patrick learns that Ruth has been planning a trip with Sylvie. Bob arrives at the house but notices Patrick and subsequently leaves. Bob returns to the original shootout location and encounters the bounty hunters. They shoot at him, and he kills one during a struggle, but he is also seriously wounded. He gets away but is chased by the third. Bob coerces a driver, Will, to drive him back to Ruth's house. Will tries to tell Bob that he should be taken to a hospital but Bob refuses, insisting to be taken to Ruth's house.
Sylvie wakes up to find her mother sleeping on the sofa in Patrick's arms. They are startled by gunshots outside. Patrick runs out to investigate and finds the third bounty hunter in a shootout with Skerrit. Patrick shoots the bounty hunter dead and finds that Skerrit is fatally wounded. Ruth and Sylvie are taken to the police station for questioning and safekeeping. When Patrick returns them to their home, they find the front door open and Patrick goes in to investigate, finding a grievously wounded Bob. Ruth follows Patrick into the house and stops Patrick from approaching Bob. Ruth tends to Bob, and Sylvie enters to see her father dying in the arms of her mother. Patrick takes Sylvie back outside and comforts her, while her parents exchange a few last words.
Cast
Production Development Concept David Lowery began writing the film in 2009 while on the festival circuit promoting his film St. Nick. At the time he was only able to think of a concept of a man breaking out of prison. What attracted him to the story was the thought of writing an action movie after having done a very quiet movie like St. Nick. However, he could not think of a compelling way to tell the story based on the concept so he left it.
Script
Lowery revisited the concept in 2011, where he added more ideas to his original concept. His initial draft took 6 months to write, and he had planned to shoot the film immediately after writing. However, production was delayed since Lowery and his production partners submitted the script to the Sundance Institute Producing Lab, in early summer 2011. The institute encouraged Lowery to submit the script to their screenwriters lab. In December 2011, it was revealed that Sundance had selected a screenplay by David Lowery as one of 12 projects for its annual January Screenwriters Lab. Lowery worked with the Sundance Lab Artistic Director Scott Frank and his associates to develop the script.
Lowery wanted to capture the feeling of the actions and write a script based on that in the vein of 1960s and 1970s movies and folk songs. He said specifically that he wanted to "make a movie that felt like a folk song". Working on this concept, he thought about American folk mythology dealing with outlaws, developing into an outlaw who broke out of prison, then set in place the reason for the breakout being his wife and living in Texas he decided the setting would be Texas.
The script's title, which Lowery also chose to evoke the feeling of a folk song, is based on his mishearing the lyrics of a country song a friend played for him, and is unrelated to the plot or characters.
Financing and initial production After the initial script had been written, Lowery and his producers had a start date for the production. But they were advised by producers such as Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen and Amy Kaufman to aim for a bigger production, with Lowery being told "doing the micro budget version is a great plan B, and you know you can do that, but why don't you just spend a little bit of time formulating a new plan A and see if you can make it for just a little bit bigger".
In April 2012, Lowery officially announced that he had written a contemporary story in the vein of Bonnie and Clyde and that he would direct the film, named Ain't Them Bodies Saints. James Johnston, Toby Halbrooks, Amy Kaufman, Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy were announced as the producers, with WME and WME Global handling representation for the film, and Evolution Independent's Cassian Elwes handling the financing of the film. Sailor Bear, Parts & Labor, Paradox Entertainment, Lagniappe Films, and Evolution Independent assumed primary production duties for the film. In July, 2012 it was confirmed that the financing structure had been finalized with Evolution Independent, Paradox Entertainment and Lagniappe.
Pre-production Casting
Casting began while Lowery was participating in the Sundance Institute Writer Lab sessions in January 2012. The script for the film was being circulated amongst various talent agencies and Lowery was being contacted by Actors and Actresses wanting to audition for the role, two of those actors being Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck. Speaking on the casting of Mara and Affleck, Lowery cited their quality of being 'timeless in their own way' as the main reason he cast them. Lowery cast Ben Foster after having met him, and noted that he felt that Ben's natural qualities were 'exactly what his character needed'.
In April, 2012 Rooney Mara, Ben Foster and Casey Affleck were announced as the principal cast for the film. In July, 2012 it was reported that Nate Parker had joined the cast of the film, with no specific details given as to his role. On 24 July 2012 it was announced that Keith Carradine had joined the cast just as principal photography began. In November, 2012 Rami Malek announced on his Facebook page that he would appear in the film as 'Will'. Malek had auditioned for the role of Sweetie, but the role went to Nate Parker, however, Lowery was so impressed with his audition tape he asked him to play a small role at the end of the film. In early December 2012 Charles Baker announced on his Twitter that he would appear in the film
Rooney Mara cited the script as the main reason for why she accepted the role, saying that it "felt right", and Casey Affleck cited his meeting with and instincts about Lowery as a director as the reason he accepted the role. Nate Parker also cited the script as the main reason he joined the cast, describing it as 'raw and emotional', but furthermore went on to state that the opportunity to work with the D.P Bradford Young was also a motivating factor.
Crew Bradford Young joined the crew of the film after being recommended by one of Lowery's producers who had worked with Young on a film called Mother of George. Lowery familiarized himself with Young's work, describing it as "beautiful and incredibly rich and varied", and immediately set up a meeting, and proceeded to hire Young as the cinematographer for the project as a result of that meeting.
Daniel Hart Joined the crew of the film as the composer in December 2012. This was Hart's first foray into scoring a feature film. Hart had recently worked with Lowery on his 2011 short film Pioneer, and was given the script for Aint Them Bodies Saints in December 2012. Hart cited his previous experience in providing sound for Lowery's 2009 short St.Nick and 2011's Pioneer as the reasons for him scoring Ain't Them Bodies Saints, as he felt the film was "the right fit for another collaboration".
Craig McKay, who previously edited The Silence of the Lambs and 1993's Philadelphia, joined the crew as an editor, along with Jane Rizzo, who had previously edited the critically acclaimed 2012 film Compliance. Lowery noted that this was the first time he had hired an editor.
Veteran casting director Avy Kaufman and native specialist Texas casting director Vicky Boone handled the casting of the non-main characters in the film. Production designer Jade Healy joined the crew in April 2012. Skywalker Sound handled the sound recording and management of the film.
Filming Shooting and production schedule Filming began on July 9, 2012, in Shreveport, Louisiana. The main reason for basing the primary filming in Louisiana was 'huge tax incentives' on offer. The rest of the scenes were filmed on location in Meridian, Texas, and Austin, Texas. The film was not shot in chronological order but rather in a sequenced manner focusing on each of the primary actors. Affleck filmed his scenes first and then shooting moved to filming the scenes in which Affleck and Mara are together, with Mara's scenes being shot last. The conditions were very hot and humid, reaching 103 degrees most days, which fit with the tone of the movie.