Great actors just don’t play roles, they morph in such a way to become the character. In some cases that means taking on characteristics completely alien to the performer while other roles require the actor to look inward.
With a production like “The Hero,” all Sam Elliott had to do was look to his own life for inspiration to become the film’s central figure. He mixes elements of his long and storied career with the powerful script by director Brett Haley and co-writer Marc Basch to give the role a deep, dramatic soul. In the process, the film reaches beyond being merely a tale of an aging actor facing monumental changes to become a tale relatable to anyone who has reached the point in their life where there are being judged by achievements.
Haley’s tale follows Lee Hayden (Elliott), a veteran actor who is only proud of one film in his long career, a much-lauded Western, “The Hero,” completed 40 years ago. Haley judiciously provides small glimpses into Hayden’s life but it’s clear his has been a journeyman existence that included a failed marriage and left him with an estranged daughter, Lucy (Krysten Ritter).
Hayden’s uneventful life is shaken by a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. He struggles with when — or slowly whether — he should tell his wife and daughter the news. His confusion is magnified by his own doubts about whether or not he’s going to battle the cancer.
