Exclusive Interview: Bailey Chase Talks Far Haven, the Return of the American Western, and More

Actor and producer Bailey Chase is best known for the dynamic characters he’s brought to life in projects including Longmire, Saving Grace, 24: Legacy, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. He’ll next be seen leading the extraordinary cast of the Western, Far Haven.

In 1887, after serving two years in Yuma Territorial Prison, wrongfully accused Hunter Braddock (Bailey Chase), a virtuous man with a complex past, moves back to the Arizona town of Far Haven to start over with his two young children. But when his father-in-law is brutally attacked by an unidentified raiding party, Braddock must take on the corrupt forces strangling the town in order to protect what he loves most.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Bailey about Far Haven, the return of the American Western, and more.

Please Note: This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike. We stand in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA and the WGA, and will not be conducting further interviews until a fair deal is reached.

PC: How did you discover your passion for acting and storytelling?
Bailey: I was raised by a single mom. When I was a little kid, my brother and I would come back from school and watch quite a bit of TV. Clint Eastwood was always on TNT, so I adopted him as my boyhood role model. But I was too busy playing sports my whole childhood to pursue that. After college and when football was done, it seemed like the natural transition for me to drive out to LA with a dollar and a dream and give it a shot.

PC: Family is such a huge cornerstone of who you are. If your children wanted to follow in your footsteps, what advice would you give them?
Bailey: Don’t do it. [laughs] Right now, they want to be vets. They love animals. We just got a puppy. I’m all about that. I’m like, “Yes, please be a vet. That’s a great job. You get to work with animals all day.” You face so many hurdles in this industry. Productions have been shut down due to the pandemic. It’s given me a much deeper appreciation for what I get to do for a living. I’m more grateful now than I was ten years ago. If I would give advice to anyone who is starting out, it would be, “Soak it in and enjoy all the moments. If you’re grateful, people will feel that and you’ll get more jobs.”

PC: You recently got into producing. Have you found the work that you’ve done behind the scenes has impacted the way that you look at future scripts and your work as an actor and vice versa?
Bailey: I’ve learned a lot and I continue to learn a lot with every job that I’m lucky enough to do. The last project I worked on was called Sod and Stubble. It’s a lower-budget passion project. It’s based on a true story about pioneers who went out to the frontier in the 1880s. These are the types of jobs that I would have struggled with earlier in my career, to be completely honest. You get to a certain level and it pumps up your ego. I’m sure I had a bit of entitlement at the time. But going through these ups and downs and now being a father of three young children, it’s been incredibly humbling. I was able to handle this recent job much better than I would have earlier in my life. I appreciate the big budgets and getting to work with guys like Zack Snyder and working on shows like Longmire, but they all prepared me to handle the smaller jobs as well. I’ve learned to take any obstacle or challenge and fuel it to make my performance better.

PC: Tell us about Far Haven. What was about this particular script and character that attracted you to it?
Bailey: I love Far Haven. This is one of the best jobs that I’ve had in years. The director really took a chance on me casting me as the lead/hero. As people may know, I’ve often been cast as the other guy. [laughs] Maybe I play a pretty good villain, who knows? But that’s fun to play as well. It was nice to come full circle and play the hero—a flawed hero at that. I’ve been able to screen the movie and I hope what audiences will see in my performance is something that they can connect with in their own lives and that they can take that journey with me.

PC: This is the first period piece that you’ve worked on in your illustrious career. How helpful was it to jump on location and work with the costume department as you approached this milestone?
Bailey: The costumes were really important. The irony is I just did two period pieces back to back. [laughs] Costumes are really important and have a big impact on my performance, especially in projects like Longmire. I would put on those tight wranglers, the boots, and the hat and feel like a different person. When I got to do that in Far Haven, the costumer was great. We went through a lot of different options before we started shooting and settled on things that I felt good in and felt right for Hunter (my character). We went to this guy, Hat Man Jack, in Wichita, Kansas. He made these hats for me. As soon as I put them on, I felt different. I also sported an accent for this project. As an artist, the longer that you do it, the more confidence you have in yourself. You start stretching, trying new things, and taking bigger risks. I feel really liberated in the work that I’m doing now where I can throw a bunch of stuff out there and see what works.

PC: With this being such a special project, is there a particular scene that you’re excited for audiences to see?
Bailey: There are so many great performances from top to bottom, but there was something about getting to work with A Martinez so many years after the fact. We got to do a lot on Longmire, and then playing the roles that we did in Far Haven where we had each other’s back was so different from what we did before, yet there was that bond and brotherhood. He’s truly a brother of mine. That absolutely comes across on screen in the work that we did.

The American Western is back with the success of shows like Yellowstone, Longmire, and Justified. This is a dream that a lot of guys have. To see it on screen is a really nice escape. This is my favorite genre. I feel like I live in that world very well.

To keep up with Bailey, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Far Haven is now streaming on Cowboy Way Channel.