The casting of Few Clothes seems to have been our reward for surviving all the ones who got away, all the actors who got cold feet or lastminute conflicts on our previous movies and sent us back into casting only days before we started shooting. Few Clothes is mentioned in the history books as a giant of a black miner who was rumored to be a good shot from his days in the army during the Spanish-American War, kind of the John Henry of the coal fields. We needed somebody not only big but with the kind of power that could keep him walking head up and alive through the treacherous racial minefield of the rural South in 1920. We saw lots of ood actors, but the combination of size and the kind of power that comes across even when held in restraint was hard to find. Now and then we'd consider making an offer to James Earl Jones, but after three-and-a-half-movies' worth of dealing with name actors and their agents it seemed so unlikely, he seemed so clearly out of our league, that we never took any action on it.

We were already in West Virginia, doing preproduction work, when we decided what the hell and contacted Jones's agent. We sent a script and a litany of warnings about the low budget and modest nature of our production, and in a few days we got a simple yes. James Earl turned out to be one of the best prepared, most helpful actors I've ever gotten to work with. He understood the mixture of strength and savvy Few Clothes needed to help his men survive in a deadly confrontation far from home, and brought even the moments where he just sits and listens to life.

Sometimes you just get lucky.