'Longmire' icon Bailey Chase: 'Homestead' hero bears weight of world on shoulders

Longmire icon Bailey Chase says he wanted to play a former Green Beret hired to protect a rich man's Rocky Mountain compound after a California nuclear attack in Homestead because the role was unlike anything else he has done.

"Obviously, the story is great. It's a great character -- different than anything I've tackled before -- so that was exciting and also a really healthy challenge," Chase, 52, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.

Directed by Ben Smallbone, the film adaptation of Jeff Kirkham and Jason Ross' Black Autumn series of books opens in theaters Friday.

It stars Neal McDonough as Ian Ross, owner of the well-planned compound, while McDonough's fellow Yellowstone alum Dawn Olivieri plays Ian's wife, Jenna, who wants to help as many desperate people as she can.

Jenna's generosity and welcoming nature often put her at odds with Chase's character, Jeff Eriksson, a highly-skilled security expert who is allowed to bring his wife, Tara (Walker actress Kearran Giovanni), and their teen son Abe (newcomer Tyler Lofton) to the walled-off, self-sufficient community's remote location.

Arrow and Batwoman actor Jesse Hutch plays Evan, Jeff's second-in-command.

"I've known Neal McDonough for a long time, so, just the chance to work with a buddy who is a great actor [was another reason], and then I'd just seen Sound of Freedom probably a month before Homestead came up on on my radar. I wanted to know everything I could about Angel Studios from that point forward," Chase said.

"I was developing another project that I thought would be perfect for them and then, the next thing you know, it felt like divine intervention when Homestead fell right into my lap. Now, I'm meeting all of these guys and working with them and we're going do that other [project] next year. It's fantastic."

Hutch, 43, said the script for Homestead "just connected with my heart" when he read it.

"It challenged me and pushed me to kind of dream a little more again, and then it also called me out on some stuff that, maybe, I hadn't thought of," he added.

"So, that, immediately out of the gate, just drew me to want to play the role, and as actors, I think part of our job is we have to explore the human heart and emotion and not shy away from it. This project allows us to do that in a very real way."

While these characters are doing the best they can in an extraordinary situation, they aren't perfect.

"I felt like we're really not pulling any punches," Hutch said. "There's a lot of people, and they've got their flaws. They've got their ups and their downs, and we're just bringing it all to the table. So, I was really intrigued by that and wanted to be a part of it."

Hutch said he also liked exploring the deep relationship Evan and Jeff have because they served together in the military for so long.

"They're already brothers. They've been through a lot together in the past," he added.

"[Evan] doesn't have his own family yet. But takes Jeff's family on as his own, and he's a guy who's kind of grounded, loves to sort of feel the earth under his feet and really wants to see people for who they really are and not necessarily the choices they make in the moment."

When the bomb explodes, Evan reacts much the way he would if he were serving in an armed conflict overseas.

"But, now I'm supposed to do it here, on American soil, with kids, with families, with spouses," Hutch said. "[You wonder] how do you still remain who you are when everything around you seems to be falling apart?"

Chase said Jeff feels completely responsible for protecting everyone who lives on the homestead.

"It's my job to keep everyone safe, and obviously, it's a different world after the first few minutes of the film. Jeff's a guy who who takes all that on willingly, internalizes everything, but at the same time feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders," Chase said.

"He doesn't feel like anybody else is taking this as seriously as he does, other than Evan, and maybe even [thinks], 'Nobody has seen what I've seen. They don't know the stakes. They don't understand that the world as they knew it is gone and this is what we're up against.'"

Jeff also has his family with him and has to learn how divide his attention between his wife and son and his high-stakes job.

"I want to be the loving father, husband, support them and let them do what they want to do, but like pretty much everyone else, they're just not getting it," Chase said.

"That's good storytelling. That's the conflict," he added. "So, it's great and it's a journey. We all start in a place, and by the end of the film, it's not just Jesse and me, but all the main characters in the film have a great journey to go on over two hours."

Chase said playing the complicated Deputy Branch Connally -- who goes from swaggering hero to obsessed, unraveling mess on Longmire over four seasons -- prepared him well for his future jobs.

"It just gave me the confidence to lean into the flaws, to not try to be perfect," he said.

"In the beginning of Longmire, that's exactly who Branch is, and you slowly get to see him deteriorate over time," he added. "It was such a rewarding performance as an artist."

Chase said he also still hears from fans that his depiction of Branch on the show, which remains wildly popular in reruns seven years after it was canceled, resonated with them.

"Meeting [viewers] over the years, it just gave me the confirmation that I needed that I'm on the right track. I'll go even further with Jeff, so I can't wait for the Longmire fans to see me now."