Lawmen: Bass Reeves Director Reveals The Emotional Moment That Made The Cast Cry - Exclusive
Taylor Sheridan is known for masterminding wildly popular TV series that have helped breathe new life into small-screen Westerns, such as "Yellowstone" and "1883." His primary focus has been on fictional stories rooted in realism, but his latest series, "Lawmen: Bass Reeves," takes on the true story of America's first Black man to become Deputy U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi River in the late 1800s.
An often-overlooked historical figure, Reeves, a one-time slave, was one of the most valuable deputies in the region, reportedly arresting some 3,000 criminals over the course of his 30-year career. As a series, "Lawmen: Bass Reeves" — now streaming on Paramount+ — hopes to shed light on an unsung American hero and flip the script on the narrative of the foundation of America.
Starring David Oyelowo, Dennis Quaid, and Donald Sutherland, the limited eight-episode series was initially touted as an offshoot of Sheridan's wildly popular "Yellowstone" origin story "1883," but in the end, the television mogul tapped rising star Chad Feehan to take it in its own direction as creator/showrunner. Feehan, in turn, relied upon other up-and-comers like Damian Marcano, who directed three episodes.
For Marcano, "Lawmen: Bass Reeves" is an outlet to show that history isn't so black and white, with the hope that it will help viewers open their minds and reassess what they think they know about the past. It was sometimes a momentous task, with the Trinidadian director admitting during an exclusive interview with Looper that he and the rest of the cast and crew often had tears in their eyes while filming.
'Our job is to turn the mirror'
While "Lawmen: Bass Reeves" is based on a true story, the series fills in some historical blanks with dramatic flair. Still, it's a great introduction to a real-life lawman for those who may be unfamiliar with him.
As an immigrant, Damian Marcano admitted he did not know much about Reeves until becoming involved with "Lawmen," saying, "There is a certain immigrant history, if you will, that I was given of this country, and that history is from a very wide lens. It says, 'This group of people was here, they did this to this group of people, and then this happened to the country as a whole.'"
Upon linking up with Taylor Sheridan to tell Reeves' tale, Marcano was given a new perspective on how that narrative could be amended. "[Taylor] said, 'Our job is to turn the mirror. The mirror doesn't make anything up — it just shows you the way that things are.'"
With that, Marcano set out with a purpose — but even he didn't know how powerful the story would become.
"We recreated some moments of history that ended up feeling so real," he said. "I'm not talking about the acting part — I'm talking about scenes that were nonverbal. We're standing somewhere at a settlement camp and we can't figure it out, but we all became emotional. We all have tears in our eyes. It was hard for me to direct because I was like, 'What is going on?' But the fact is that what we've recreated is larger than us. What we've recreated is a 4D version of our history, and it is going to be emotional to take it in."
"Lawmen: Bass Reeves" streams exclusively on Paramount+, with new episodes every Sunday. A special sampling of the series will air on CBS on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 9 pm ET/PT following an episode of "Yellowstone."