Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Apache Junction’s Scout Taylor-Compton

Scout Taylor-Compton is one of Hollywood’s most sought-after leading ladies. She’s best known for the dynamic characters she’s brought to life in projects including Nashville, Charmed, Halloween—just to name a few.

Currently, she’s starring as big-city reporter Annabelle Angel in Apache Junction.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Scout about Apache Junction, what she hopes audiences take away, and how the film is reinventing Westerns.

PC: Tell us about Apache Junction and your character in the film.
Scout: Apache Junction is my new film. I play Annabelle Angel, who is a big-city reporter. She’s coming into a dark place, Apache Junction, which is home to outlaws, thieves, and cold-blooded killers. She’s coming into this town to make a name for herself and to write the truth about this place. She surprises herself when she befriends Jericho Ford, who is an outlaw. She ends up realizing that the story that she originally thought she was going to write about this town turns out completely different.

PC: You’ve done it all in your career. What was it about this particular project and script that stood out to you?
Scout: I grew up watching a lot of Westerns. Not a lot of Westerns have a strong female lead who has the same courage and balls as the men do. It was so interesting to play this incredible woman who has such a backbone and strength coming into a land where not many men would even trek. Here she is, this big-city girl, out of her element, but she’s strong enough to prove herself in this man’s world.

PC: When you’re working in a genre as specific as a Western, does that change the preparation?
Scout: It depends on what kind of actor you are. I’m more of an actor that likes to feel it on the day. I do a lot of genre films, so I studied it quite a bit during my childhood. Plus I grew up watching a lot of Westerns. When I was a kid, I would play cowboys. I feel like it was easy for me to slide into.

PC: Throughout the film, we see the adversity that your character faces because of her gender. Did you draw on any past experiences to build on that story arc?
Scout: I mean, my whole career as a woman or any woman. [laughs] I feel like we’re constantly having to prove ourselves and make everybody know that we can do exactly what a man can do. I definitely pulled from stories from my life and from my whole career.

PC: You’ve worked on projects of all sizes. What is it about independent filmmaking that excites you as a creative?
Scout: You have more creativity. With independent filmmaking, you’re discovering everything as a team—you, the director, the producer, everybody. You’re creating a masterpiece as a group. It’s a team effort.

PC: Which of Annabelle’s relationships was your favorite to explore in the film and why?
Scout: There are so many great ones. The big one is with Stuart Townsend’s character, Jericho Ford. It’s a love-hate relationship. Annabelle wants the knowledge. She wants to learn. She wants the truth. She wants to know about people. Jericho’s like, “I don’t want to know anybody. I don’t like people.” They’re two opposite characters. They create this unique friendship.

And of course Trace Adkins’ character, Captain Hensley. There’s so much darkness in that character. When Annabelle comes to Junction, she thinks this captain, this man of power, will be her protector. But when she’s thrown into it, she realizes right off the bat that this man is not on her side. He could care less if she’s a woman and if she’s even protected in this land. She instantly has to learn to protect herself.

PC: Which was your favorite scene to film and which was the most challenging?
Scout: My favorite scene was the Mary Primm scene. That was a really good scene that shows two different women. Mary Primm has been stuck in Apache Junction where women aren’t really respected. She comes from the saloon world. Then we have Annabelle Angel who grew up in the big city. Now she’s a reporter. We see these two women come from different worlds and befriend each other. They learn from one another. Danielle [Gross] is such a great actress. It was really cool to film that.

The hardest stuff would probably be anything with the horses, but it was also a lot of fun. Every time I do a Western, I’m like, “Oh. That’s a pretty one. I want that one.” I need to stop doing that. [laughs] I always end up picking females. My boyfriend has horses on a ranch up here and the females don’t take direction very well. The males are way better. My horse Peaches and I had a love-hate relationship. She always tried to fight me. I was like, “Come on, Peaches.” It’s funny watching the film now. I’m like, “That’s when Peaches tried to nip at me. That’s when Peaches is trying to eat the wood. That’s when Peaches didn’t want to stop and almost knocked me off.” It was funny.

PC: The film is out now. What do you hope audiences take away after they see it?
Scout: I’m hoping that they take away that all Westerns don’t have to be man-infested films. I hope that they enjoy this wild ride that these characters go on.

To keep up with Scout, follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Apache Junction is now available On Demand and on Digital.

Photo Credit: Saban Films