BTS: Matthew McConaughey and Gary Ross discuss a scene in the bunker.
A-list Hollywood director Gary Ross, best known for making Pleasantville, Seabiscuit and The Hunger Games, has turned away from the security of franchise films to make the historical epic Free State of Jones.
The fact-based Civil War story tells of renegade Confederate soldier Newton Knight (Matthew McConaughey), who fought against slavery and the exploitation of farmers.
Despite his success kicking off the Hunger Games franchise and that McConaughey had just won the Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club, Ross says it was a struggle to get the film backed.
Knowing that the film would not have the exposure or audience as many of his previous works, Ross says his main concern was to get the film "out into the world".
One of his chief aims in telling this little-known chapter of the Civil War is to correct the widely accepted notion that everybody in the South was in favour of slavery.
I began our interview by asking Ross how the film had worked out for him.
For the Gary Ross interview, please click here:
To view a trailer for Free State of Jones, click here:
