Saturday Night Live (Colour)

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
Jackson Hole, Wyoming – 2025

It’s only when an adult bison head finds itself next to an adult human head that the enormity of the animal can be truly conveyed. This is not an easy trick in an open ranchland, never mind at a saloon entrance in the mountains of Wyoming. The bison is such an emblematic part of the American West and whenever we film them, either in the wild or on a set, I am drawn to the very big bulls. Why go any other way?

We know that in telling stories from the wild west we are on well-trodden ground - it is the oldest genre of them all - and that does mean we have a deep fear of the mundane. I feel the need to push some boundaries in my own revisionism whilst not being too serious about the whole crusade. We are looking to be playful long before we are looking to preach. There is a cartoonish element to the whole process and my characters tend to be stripped back to basic levels, as is the case here, with the cowboy and the saloon girl. Thank you always to Josie Canseco who looks the part, even in the extreme cold.

In most situations it is the creative idea that needs to be worked on rather than specifically the execution, but in this case, the execution was a formidable undertaking; the bison is not an animal that lends itself to placement or set direction.

Fortunately, we do know one bison that goes by the name of Clyde who has a wrangler and can - to an extent - be persuaded to perform to order.
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