Die Hard with a Vengeance. Jumanji. The Saint. The Punisher. The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Kill the Irishman. Armageddon. These are just some of the films and series for which we have JONATHAN HENSLEIGH to thank. One of the most prolific screenwriters in the action-adventure genre and writer/director on The Punisher and Kill the Irishman in the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century, Jonathan was an unstoppable force. But after Kill the Irishman, he seemed to disappear. That is until now. JONATHAN HENSLEIGH is back with a vengeance and as big as ever with his first film in a decade – THE ICE ROAD.
Sliding right back into the excitement of the action genre, with THE ICE ROAD, Jonathan delivers all the action, adventure, thrills, and chills, not to mention the heroism of Liam Neeson, that we have come to expect from him while filling the film with social commentary and heart. And for my money, it’s a big winner.
During our recent conversation about THE ICE ROAD, Jonathan was reflective, believing that a decade ago he had gone about as far as he could “ever have imagined or wanted” to go with his writing and his directing. He needed a reset; time to find his voice again. Already having spent years as a lawyer and then as a writer and filmmaker, taking a decade off Jonathan discovered a new passion by heading off to Vegas to build a company – Smoke Wagon Bourbon. A small-batch bourbon distillery, Jonathan attributes his reinvigoration as a director and storyteller to his excitement in building up Smoke Wagon. “I got the itch again. THE ICE ROAD has reignited my fires.”
Talk about reigniting the fires! I have never held my breath or gripped my seat as much as I did watching this film. And that was just within the first 32 minutes of the film! A visual and emotional roller coaster, THE ICE ROAD takes us into Northern Canada with the collapse of a diamond mine, trapping all of the miners below the earth. Big-rig driver Mike and his brother Gurty along with long haul trucking company owner Goldenrod and a local girl named Tantoo whose brother is one of those trapped, are called upon to aid in the rescue and tasked with the most impossible mission – drive over an “ice road” to get to the northernmost mining company. An ice road is exactly what it sounds like; a road that is naturally or artificially built on frozen lakes and rivers. As if driving on ice isn’t dangerous enough, with ice roads, truckers have to be concerned with thickness of ice, weight limits, melting, undercurrent below the ice. And those dangers are exactly what Jonathan gives us on the page and on the screen. But in addition to the tension, adventure, and terrors that unfold with the ice road itself and weather, Mike and company must also contend with a threat much worse than Mother Nature – less than scrupulous company men.
With a film built on a story with depth, heart, and intrigue, authenticity comes with real Kenworth 18-wheeler cabs and flatbeds, driving on a real ice road, driving through heavy snow-covered mountain ranges and one-lane snow-covered roads, not to mention underwater lensing actually shot below the ice, the action is real. Calling on cinematographer Tom Stern whose work is exemplary working not only with action but white on white snow, refraction and reflection of ice, while capturing the emotional tonal bandwidth of performance (and yes, the actors are actually behind the wheel of the big-rigs), Jonathan leaves no stone unturned with THE ICE ROAD. The attention to detail and authenticity is impeccable.
Casting is exemplary starting with Liam Neeson as Mike. But then look to Laurence Fishburne as Goldenrod, Amber Midthunder as Tantoo, Holt McCallany as trapped miner foreman Lampard, veteran character actor Matt McCoy in a devious dark turn as mining company manager Sickle, Benajmin Walker as Varnay, and all capped off with an award-worthy turn by Marcus Thomas as Gurty.
Jonathan and I plunged deep into the making of THE ICE ROAD during our exclusive interview talking about the “devil in the details” and his work with cinematographer Tom Stern and his balls-out work with anamorphics and action (and you’ll hear exactly how they shot those long haul ice road scenes), editing with Douglas Crise, casting and performance, bringing social commentary into the story with veterans and a form of PTSD, Indigenous peoples, the mining industry in general, and more.
TAKE A LISTEN. . .
by debbie elias, exclusive interview June 15, 2021
THE ICE ROAD is now streaming on Netflix.
