Ghosts of the Ozarks Star Thomas Hobson on Working With Smallville’s Phil Morris

In Ghosts of the Ozarks, a young doctor named James McCune (Thomas Hobson) is called by his uncle Matthew (Phil Morris) to come to a small town, where he can serve as the town doctor following the death of his predecessor. When he arrives, what he finds is that his uncle — and the town — are far from what they’re all cracked up to be. The town lives in fear of a supernatural threat — all except for Matthew, who seems to have some kind of control over not just the threat itself, but by extension, the whole town as a result.

Both Hobson and Morris told ComicBook that it was exciting to do a movie set in the 1800s, where everything about a Black character isn’t tied to slavery or the Civil War. Hobson, for his part, was especially struck by his first scene with Morris, where he was able to take a lot from the veteran character actor, and incorporate it into what he had built up in his head for the character.

“I had a bunch of ideas when I showed up about who James was, and how James processed things,” Hobson told ComicBook. “I knew that he was a person who would have to find his voice over the course of the movie. And then I got thrown into a scene with Phil Morris, and without giving away too many details about the scene to not spoil the plot for anybody, but I came out of that scene and the scene did not go the way that I thought it was going to go. In my mind I had imagined it being a bit more bombastic. It ended up being this quiet and tense, but intimate sort of experience. And I was like, oh, that’s wonderful. I’m glad this happened early so that I can sort of understand who I actually want to be.”

Don’t take that to mean he was being pushed in a given direction by Morris, though. Hobson acknowledged that sometimes happens with actors who have a big presence, but made it clear that he only felt like Morris was opening new doors for Hobson’s performance. 

“Phil Morris, I think, is a highly underrated supernova in this, business,” Hobson said. “I hope that this [movie] is part of the process of people really under understanding and respecting how great he is. Because what he did for me that made my life so wonderful, was that Phil is so great at acting that Phil could both get you the performance that he wanted for himself, while also listening to me and knowing what I wanted for myself. He could help us both get there. So, it never felt adversarial. Even if our characters aren’t getting along, we as actors playing the characters, I always knew that I was safe with him. And I always knew that his interest, and he says this all the time. He’s like, ‘I am just as invested in you being good as I am in me being good because that serves both of us.’”

Here’s the official synopsis for the film:  

“In post-Civil War Arkansas, a young doctor is mysteriously summoned to a remote town in the Ozarks only to discover that the utopian paradise is filled with secrets and surrounded by a menacing, supernatural presence.”

You can get Ghosts of the Ozarks to rent or buy on Digital now.