Journalist and author Marshall Terrill has been writing about actor Steve McQueen, the “King of Cool,” for more than three decades. In his latest book “Steve McQueen: The Last Reel, the Making of Tom Horn and The Hunter,” he discusses the actor’s final two films, “Tom Horn” and “The Hunter.”
Terrill will signing his new book on Saturday, Jan. 17, at Mescal Movie Set.
The film “Tom Horn” was shot at Mescal. Movies such as “The Quick and the Dead,” “Tombstone” and “The Outlaw Josey Wales” have also been filmed there.
In addition to attending the book signing, fans can take a tour of the iconic set. Knowledgeable guides will share stories about the filming.
In additional to Terrill, cast members who worked on “Tom Horn” will be out at the event. This will include Jack Wester, Cliff Owens, Pattie Oliver, Sherri Basinger and Terri Basinger Powers.
Along with writing eight books about Steve, as well as icon such as Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, Terrill executive produced the documentary “Steve McQueen: American Icon” in 2017.
He had initially thought the 1993 book “Steve McQueen: Portrait of an American Rebel” would be the only time he would write about the actor.
“Humphrey Bogart in the ‘70s had this renaissance. I thought in the ’90s, ‘Steve McQueen’s going to have this one turn. Everybody will say he was great, and then they’ll move on.’ But McQueen’s legend kept on. In the 2000s I thought, ‘If they’re still interested, I’m gonna write about him,’” Terrill said.
Terrill started watching Steve’s movies at a young age.
“My dad was the fan in our household. Growing up, he would sometimes take us out of school to go watch a McQueen film. That’s how much of a fan he was. I grew up loving Steve McQueen. It was a father passing on his love of something to his son,” Terrill said.
Terrill said that when younger generations discover McQueen today, they are often drawn in by his personality and his acting talent, as he was as a child.
“With most actors, you say you like somebody. But with McQueen, there’s always an emotional attachment,” Terrill said.
Steve was best known for films such as “Papillon,” “The Magnificent Seven,” “The Great Escape” and “The Thomas Crown Affair.”
Among Terrill’s favorite films were “Papillon” and “The Getaway.”
“In that, you get a real glimpse of McQueen’s personality. Onscreen, he was calm, cool and collected, but in real life, he could be volatile. ‘The Getaway’ really shows that volatile nature,” Terrill said.
Terrill’s newest book provides a human portrait of the actor’s return to the screen after a five-year hiatus.
During the filming of “Tom Horn,” Steve immersed himself in his character, frontiersman Tom Horn. He also served in an unofficial director role.
“I think they had four directors that he went through… At the time, there was a Directors Guild ruling that you can’t fire a director and put yourself in charge as director. They hired a television director, told him to just sit down and collect a paycheck, be happy his name was on the credit. McQueen was essentially the one that directed the movie,” Terrill said.
The integrity of this project was important for Steve. He worked with two screenwriters, using ideas from both of them in the final script.
“With Thomas McGuane, it was more of a literary longform. And then with Bud Shrake, the second screenwriter, that was more the ‘meat and bones’ of the story. He drew from both. He didn’t necessarily just stick to one script, which is a very unusual way to make a movie. I remember some of the actors telling me that they’d show up, having learned their lines, and all of a sudden, McQueen said, ‘No, no, no, we’re gonna do something different today.’ There was a lot of improv. It was McQueen telling them what their lines were going to be,” Terrill said.
Terrill has written about “Tom Horn” before, but with this book, he was able to go in depth about the process of making the film, the complications that arose along the way and the place Steve was in his life.
“I didn’t realize all the heartache and hardships that he had to go through. Perhaps the most revealing part to me was the fact that this movie really dates back to 1971, when he signed that contract with First Artists. It locked him into a three-picture deal, and he had not fulfilled it. So, ‘Tom Horn’ was the final fulfillment of that contract… The movie was made in ‘79 and finally released in ’80. I’m sure it was a relief for him to get that off of his plate,” Terrill said.
Terrill said Steve chose Mescal as the filming location because of what it had to offer.
“He found out about Mescal and how it was close to Tucson and to all these modern amenities, which he knew that crew members would sign up for. And it was self-contained. The budget of the film was very small. It was $3 million. He wanted to film a $10 million epic. When this studio wouldn’t give them the money for it, being on this self-contained set allowed him to film this western within that budget,” Terrill said.
Terrill said all of his books, including his newest, give insight into different facets of Steve’s personality.
“He was always prickly and had always been stubborn, selfish. There were other bright spots to his personality that offset that… When I write about Steve McQueen, I write about the good, the bad and the ugly. I think that’s the only way you can present somebody like him who’s complex and has so many different sides to him. I do truly believe he was a good soul, but he was complicated. He had issues growing up. You mix that with fame, and it’s a really combustible mix,” Terrill said.
Terrill said that Steve often interacted differently with actors and studio executives.
“His battles really were with studio executives. When it came to actors, he was great, especially with the younger actors. They were intimidated by him, and he put them at ease right away. He guided them into great performances,” Terrill said.
In “The Hunter,” Steve played bounty hunter Ralph “Papa” Thorson. He was able to bring a lighter, more self-aware portrayal in this film, poking fun at himself while also bringing emotional depth to the role.
Terrill said that the two films were very different experiences for Steve.
“On ‘Tom Horn,’ he really put his heart and soul into it and suffered along the way. But he stuck with it. With ‘The Hunter,’ it was a really easy experience, no fights, He would just show up and film the scenes. The focus really became on ‘The Hunter’ about how mellow he was, how much more agreeable he was, how he became much more of a humanitarian. He did a lot of things for people that perhaps he would not have done in the past. There was a maturing on his part…His personality just completely mellowed and changed. With ‘Tom Horn,’ he was still pretty feisty,” Terrill said.
For the book, Terrill interviewed Barbara Minty McQueen, Steve’s third wife. She gave permission to use photos she had taken, which give a behind-the-scenes look at Steve during his final two films.
The two previously worked together on “Steve McQueen: The Last Mile,” a photo book published in 2006. The book had been so popular that it took them around the world to do signings and events.
Barbara’s photos show Steve interacting with his costars, immersing himself in the creative process and having moments of respite during filming.
The book also uses photos from Dave Friedman, the still photographer for “Tom Horn” and “The Hunter.”
Along with his interview with Barbara, Terrill also drew from taped conversations from producer Phil Parslow when doing research for the book.
“[Parslow] had collected about 50 hours of conversation that he had with McQueen himself, with other directors, with costumers, with historians. I consulted those, including one with screenwriter Thomas McGuane…McQueen rarely talked about his acting, but with McGuane, he was telling the writer, who was very literary, ‘I love your material, but I’m thinking about how it appears on the screen. So, I’m going to be giving you my opinion of what I want to see and what I think will work for me.’ It was very interesting to hear those insights,” Terrill said.
Terrill also drew from research he had done on McQueen since he started in the late ‘80s. He also was able to gather new anecdotes during interviews with cast and crew members who had worked on “Tom Horn.”
“There was new information that emerged from some of the actors that I spoke to, some of the behind-the-scenes people that are still alive that I spoke to. Some of the cast that were in the movie were teens. Of course, they’re now in their 50s and 60s. I reached out to them and got their perspective on the film, working with McQueen, what it was like,” Terrill said.
Marshall Terrill Book Signing of “Steve McQueen: The Last Reel, the Making of Tom Horn and The Hunter”
WHEN: 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 17
WHERE: Mescal Movie Set, 1538 N. Mescal Road, Benson
COST: $20 for tours, 17 and under free, no charge for book signing only, book costs $125
INFO: mescalmovieset.com