The cast and director of On Swift Horses talk about what it’s been like embodying characters who are in a period of self-discovery.

On Swift Horses stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Will Poulter as Muriel and Lee, a married couple hoping to restart their lives after the Korean War. But Lee’s brother Julius (Jacob Elordi) jumpstarts a moment in the couple’s lives when they start questioning what they knew about each other. Sasha Calle and Diego Calva also star.

According to the official description:

Muriel and her husband Lee are beginning a bright new life in California when he returns from the Korean War. But their newfound stability is upended by the arrival of Lee’s charismatic brother, Julius, a wayward gambler with a secret past. A dangerous love triangle quickly forms. When Julius takes off in search of the young card cheat he’s fallen for, Muriel’s longing for something more propels her into a secret life of her own — gambling on racehorses and exploring a love she never dreamed possible.

A queer reimagining of the American dream

Director Daniel Minahan described to Blavit’s Shadow and Act during our cast interview how the film is a “reimagining of the American dream.”

“We’re telling the story of these aspirational young people,” he explained. But they’re being told through in places like casinos…cruising parks, gay bars, and housing developments. And to me it’s sort of like reimagining the American dream through a queer lens and that I hadn’t seen that before and it was very appealing to me.”

Minahan continued, saying how the film captures a moment in time before American counterculture blew up into the mainstream.

“The film takes place during the Eisenhower era, and we’re about to go into the counterculture and the Kennedy era. And so, I do think it’s the new frontier. It’s the west, and anything’s possible, and every person that Muriel meets along the way brings her story in a new direction, and it’s very exciting.”

Muriel’s path to self-discovery

Daisy Edgar-Jones, who plays Muriel, also seconded what Minahan said, adding how her character does start rethinking her life as she learns more about herself.

“It does feel like a reimagining of the American dream. Lee wants them to all move to this new build and this new development of San Diego, and this kind of feeling of building up towards a better life,” she said. “And then for Muriel really, it’s about exploring, self-discovery, and that time of finding out who you are and the people that come into your life that help kickstart that journey. ]t feels like a, a reimagining of the American dream through a queer lens and her relationships with Sasha’s [character, and with] Julius and Lee. It’s so interesting to watch the ways these characters’ lives converge and how they kickstart [their journeys].”

Watch the full interview with Edgar-Jones, Minahan, Calle and Calva below:

On Swift Horses is now in select theaters.

Diego Calva

Get relevant content delivered to you once a week