Pop-Culturalist.com

Devin Druid emerged as a rising young actor to keep your eye on with his brilliant and transformative performance as Tyler Down in Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why. For four seasons Devin took us on an emotional journey with his character, bringing empathy, vulnerability, kindness, and compassion to the role.

As he closes that chapter in his life, fans have been eagerly waiting to see what the future holds for Devin. Luckily, they haven’t had to wait too long, as Devin is part of the extraordinary cast of the Western horror film The Pale Door. Yes, you read that correctly: a Western horror!

The Pale Door finds Devin playing Jake Dalton, a young man struggling to find his place in the world amidst a battle between cowboys and witches and going to great lengths to protect the ones he loves.

It’s yet another standout project for Devin who continues to show off different facets to his talent. Pop Culturalist caught up with Devin to learn more about The Pale Door.

PC: Tell us about The Pale Door, your character, and what drew you to this project.
Devin: The Pale Door is this super-interesting, very compelling Western horror filmwhich is a cool mashup of these very interesting genres that features the illustrious Dalton Gang going on this heist. When some rather unpredictable rooting-tooting-cowboy shooting happens, we have to find a shelter in this brothel full of these beautiful women who may be up to something. Things aren’t all as they appear to be. It’s a crazy cowboy-versus-witches fight for survival.

I play a character named Jake Dalton who is the brother of the leader of the Dalton Gang, Duncan. Jake is the kid who, even though the film takes place in the 1600s, is struggling to figure out who he is and what he wants. He has had different trauma that he still carries with him that leads him on this journey of wanting to be able to take care of the people that he cares about and protect them.

He’s trying to put on this persona of being independent and strong and trying to understand what exactly masculinity is and what that means for a young man growing up. He’s trying to grow all this facial hair [because] he wants to seem more manly. He’s very sensitive. He has a very poignant sense of vulnerability that he brings into the film. It’s really cool for audiences to empathize and relate to, even as they watch this crazy movie.

PC: The Pale Door brings two unexpected genres together. Why do you think the story lends itself to that marriage?
Devin: Well, our director, Aaron Koontz, loves horror. From the get-go, we wanted to create a horror movie that was unique and drew audiences in because it was unexpected and original, but, also, has cool and practical special effects. [Those] can lead audiences to be drawn into the storyline, [which is] the trauma of loss. [It] carries these characters through this idea of wanting to belong to something with this gang and trying to stick together. Also, the incredible power that these witches have is a very oddly beautiful storytelling of these women with unbelievable power who, when they work together and they support each other, are able to pick these men apart so easily. These men waltz into this brothel, and they completely don’t expect that. They underestimate these women.

PC: You’ve talked about this in the past, but we’re seeing another golden age for the horror genre as another medium to tell cool stories. The Pale Door is the latest addition to that change. Does that bring a different weight/pressure to this project to continue to push this shift forward?
Devin: I’ve tried really hard not to think about it—about any pressures—but I think that innovation is innovation. You have to try new things, and sometimes they fail and sometimes they succeed. If you stay with the norm, you just become another copycat that’s flying under the radar. Whereas if we made the movie, it bombs, and nobody likes it, at least it was an attempt at something new and original. Hopefully that can lend itself to someone else being inspired to be like, “Hey, you know what? This is a cool idea. What if we try it again?” Luckily, I think we’ve succeeded. I’ve seen only people saying good things about it, which has been so cool to see that this gamble paid off and that people are liking it.

PC: You definitely succeeded. We’ve seen you tackle some incredibly emotional scenes in 13 Reasons Why, but in The Pale Door, we get to see you as a gunslinging cowboy. What’s that transition been like? What kind of training did you have to do?
Devin: It was cool. A lot of the story with my character, Jake, is still him being a kid and vulnerable; [he’s] trying to grow into the idea of this gunslinging outlaw. It wasn’t really the life for him, but it’s the life that he has to find himself in, in order to protect the people that he loves and in order to survive this onslaught of witches in the movie. There’s still a lot of the things that I work on with every project that I try to bring in with me: empathy, vulnerability, kindness, and compassion. This character has so much self-doubt, insecurity, and so much wonder. Bringing those into this world where he’s then seeing his brother who is this manly man, masculine, confident, strong person in this world, where you have to be that way to survive, it’s a really interesting contrast. Most of the prep was finding the character and what he is hiding from himself. What is he showing the world? What draws him out? Where does he find his strength from? Different things like that. Then a lot of the other things about it being a period piece all tie it in and glue everything in thematically.

The sets feel authentic to the time. Our costumer, Jillian [Bundrick], did an amazing job at putting together these amazing pieces of wardrobe, these awesome cowboys, and everything like that. Those also fill the gap and put the puzzle together [by] seeing this world of these cowboys and these witches.

PC: This film is set in this horror supernatural realm, but the story is grounded in reality and touches upon a lot of relevant themes like you were talking about. Was there one in particular that resonated more than the others?
Devin: Definitely. It’s this theme of masculinity and what that is for this character. It’s not a big part of the film, but Jake is this young man who’s developing, questioning his sexuality, and isn’t quite sure what that means—especially back in the 1600s. For this character, he sees this gang that his brother’s in and they’re all so strong. Even the woman in the gang is such a badass, shooting people left and right, and showing she has this masculinity charm to her. It makes you question what entails masculinity or femininity? Why are there genders tied to either? Or, like, why aren’t they just people having personal traits? That’s what the character finds throughout the film.

To keep up with Devin, follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Twitch. Catch The Pale Door in theaters, VOD, and Digital HD.

Photo Credit: RLJE Films/Shudder