The Buccaneers Star Kristine Froseth & Desert Road Hype Their Impossible-To-Describe Movie [SXSW]

Unease and suspense are at the heart of the new time-loop thriller, Desert Road, which made its debut at the 2024 South by Southwest Festival. First-time feature film director Shannon Tripplet also wrote this story in which she easily weaves a multi-layered non-linear story that keeps the viewer guessing until the very end. The Buccaneers star Kristine Froseth is at the center of the drama, and rounding out the cast are Frances Fisher, Beau Bridges, Ryan Hurst, D.B. Woodside, Max Mattern, Rachel Dratch, and Edwin Garcia II.

Desert Road follows Clare (Froseth), whose tire blows out on a solitary drive through the desert. After suffering a head injury and finding her vehicle stuck on a boulder, she makes her way back to a recent gas station but is put off by the attendant’s (Mattern) stares. She wanders the small deserted town looking for assistance, surprised to find herself back where she began with no memory of having circled back. As night falls and strange people begin to emerge, Clare fears she will never escape the endless desert road.

Screen Rant spoke with filmmaker Triplett and actors Froseth, Mattern, Fisher, and Bridges as they celebrated their SXSW premiere. The group discussed road trips, the isolation of the desert, and finding the cast of characters who inhabit such a remote and desolate world.

How Desert Road Came To Be & Found Kristine Froseth As Its Lead

Screen Rant: Shannon, so much rests on Kristine’s shoulders. How did you know she was the right one? How did you find her? What did you tell her to get her on this desert road?

Shannon Triplett: I had seen some of Kristine’s work and I thought she was amazing and she has such a great range, but we had a Zoom and she was so nice and just like… It was just a really lovely conversation and she had a great interpretation of the character. And I think you just have to go with your gut and it just felt right. And so normally casting is a very tricky conversation. It was so easy. I think all of us were just like, “Kristine? Yeah, Kristine.”

And she did not disappoint. You’ve seen she’s amazing.

Kristine, how was that pressure? We’re seeing things through your eyes. We’re feeling what you feel. We don’t know what you don’t know. Talk to me about walking me through that journey.

Kristine Froseth: I just had to take it step by step. You know? You meet her at a time in her life where she’s really kind of given up on herself. So we’re starting off on a sad part. You know? She’s given up on her dreams of being a photographer, and then she gets stuck, and then she’s in this dance between resisting help, trying to find herself, finding forgiveness, finding self-love. And it’s just a beautiful journey, but it’s all in the script. So it’s just taking it step by step and getting to work with these guys and just relying on them because they’re amazing scene partners.

Shannon, I know that you said it was partially inspired by a real-life experience? How did it go from that kernel to what we see onscreen?

Shannon Triplett: I’m big fan of the desert and a big fan of road trips. My boyfriend and I had road-tripped out to the desert and he had done this 18-mile run as you casually do. And he bottomed out and called me and was like, “Hey, will you come pick me up?” It was turning into sunset and dusk, and there were no road signs in the desert and I couldn’t find him. And it was just how quickly the desert changes from a really peaceful, nice place to, “Uh-oh.” Yeah. So it was just a fun thing to kind of explore in this film.

How do you extrapolate from that? It gets more and more ambitious and paranormal. Where is the line for you creatively?

Shannon Triplett: It’s such a funny thing. I don’t know where ideas come from. You know? It’s like you go for a walk and suddenly you go, “Oh, this would be cool.” And it’s not like I set out to write based on something I’ve experienced. It’s just that what we experience affects us in all ways. And when you’re a writer, it’s what you’re writing. So yeah, because obviously this isn’t a movie about my boyfriend running 18 miles, but, like, you have moments where you go, “Oh, I need something here. Oh, this would be a good.” And sometimes you don’t even realize you’re doing it. So yeah, a little bit of everything.

Unraveling The Mysterious Characters Of Desert Road

Max, you are the first person that we meet outside of Kristine, and immediately the vibes are just off. How lonely is that gas station? Why did it make you this way?

Max Mattern: Very much so. The vibes are way off. Yeah, I play the gas station attendant. We’re in the middle of nowhere, this gas station’s in the desert. And in that sort of isolation and solitude, I think his sort of social skills are super underdeveloped and very weak, to say the least. You’re not trying to play it how it is. You’re trying to find the truth behind it. And so, yeah, shit comes off as strange, but I think he’s just trying to impress her and really charm her and make her laugh. And so yeah, that’s the gas station attendant.

Frances, I love your character of the homeless woman, and there are obviously so many layers to her that we can’t necessarily discuss. What was the first scene that you did of her, and what were the first things you decided about her or talked to Shannon about her?

Frances Fisher: Oh my gosh, I can’t even remember the first scene we did. It’s so long ago.

Shannon Triplett: I know. I think your first scene was with Kristine.

Kristine Froseth: Remember the sun was setting and we had to run up the hill and we were shooting that scene, our first scene tog?

Frances Fisher: Well, my memory is fuzzy. Yes. Can’t talk about her too much. But one of the things that attracted me to this script, besides it being a page-turner that I couldn’t put down until I finished, was my first day.

I do remember coming out of my little trailer and saying, “Do we have hair and makeup here?” because I want somebody to check me because I need to have dirt on my face because I’m a homeless woman. And Shannon goes, “Well, we don’t have hair and makeup.” And I went, “What?” Now, I’m not a hoity-toity person, but when she said that to me, and I go, “Well, I need to have dirt,” so I started to get the dirt off the sand. And in her bag, how many kinds of dirt did she have? She just smacked it on me.

And it was so much fun because there was no hair and makeup because I could just let my hair be the way it was. It was so freeing. And no wardrobe either. At night I would just put my clothes down in my trailer in a bag and I’d say, “Nobody touch it until the next time I came back.” It was great. It was so freeing.

Beau, your scenes when you first show up, I had to say it was like the emotional climax of the movie for me. What was your approach to that role?

Beau Bridges: Yeah, the themes I think of the film are forgiveness and redemption. All of us, we have that moment in our lives when we feel like we want something, we want to reach out to somebody and we feel the relationship is there, and then maybe because for whatever reason we don’t follow through and we stand back. And in this story, these people get another chance. And it involves layers of reality. And that’s why it’s a hard movie to talk about because when you folks see this movie, it’s a psychological thriller and you’re going to be dealing with stuff that you’ve never seen before. And that’s why it’s hard to talk about, but it’s pretty incredible.

For the cast who are not Kristine, was there any way that you differentiated one moment from the next? There’s no marker on the desert, there’s no point in time for you. How do you guys think about like, “Oh, this is where I’m at with my character right now, this is who she’s meeting”?

Max Mattern: I don’t know. I know how to answer that then. That’s a really good question now.

Frances Fisher: Stick to the script. That’s how you have to answer.

Max Mattern: Yeah. That’s just the perfect answer.

What To Watch While Waiting For Desert RoadKristine, I must ask you to veer wildly off-topic. We know that I love The Buccaneers, and I’m so glad it was renewed. What can I expect for Nan in season two?

Kristine Froseth: Also can’t spoil too much. It’s just what the creators write. But she’s probably going to go find her sister. You know? I think. We’ll see if her and Theo last, what will happen there. Who is she going to choose? Can she even choose? There’ll be more drama for sure. Yeah.

Beau, you were also part of Lessons in Chemistry this last year, which has been getting a lot of love, deservedly so. Your character in that is similar to your character in this. Can you talk about what draws you to your roles?

Beau Bridges: Well, the play is always the thing that intrigues me, the story. And this one was so unique and so different than anything that I’d ever read, so that’s really what pulled me in. And yeah, Lessons in Chemistry was a good one. I’m going to be in a new series now. Remember Matlock? So now they’re bringing it back. And Kathy Bates is Matty Matlock. I’m the head of the law firm that she infiltrates. So that should be a fun one.

Frances, have you ever watched a movie or seen a play or read a book that perfectly encapsulated the feeling of being lost the way that Desert Road does?

Frances Fisher: I’m lost. Nothing comes to mind, honestly.

Beau Bridges: Just remember that all who wander are not lost.

Max Mattern: I’m a really big Wim Wenders fan. And I think Paris, Texas is a perfect film about feeling lost. I just watched Perfect Days, which I thought was just unbelievable.