Country star Dwight Yoakam steps to the front of this film from a strong music career. He previously shared the stage in Sling Blade with Billy Bob Thornton in 1996. We have also seen him in Panic Room, Wedding Crashers and Three Burials.

For country singer you are, the western genre seems to be clear.
I'm not so sure ... maybe because people know me as the perfect cowboy, I chose at the beginning of my career, roles far removed from the western theme. I also appeared in  South of Heaven, West of Hell, released in 2000.

Was it fun interpreting the perfect "bad guy"? Did you have a reference in mind?
I thought it was a great opportunity to play a guy that vicious and I had a clear model in mind: the character John Lodge in the classic from Josef von Sternberg, The Scarlet Empress, produced in 1934. I consciously paid tribute to Count he played alongside Marlene Dietrich, and with a little luck it offers a small degree of public fascination..

You always look very carefully at your characters, how did you choose that Jackson?
I've always been interested in how people present themselves through their look insofar as it reflects, in my opinion, how they perceive the depths of themselves. Jackson is a particularly vicious character, but also very vain, almost "precious". This proves to me a certain vulnerability that makes human and that makes it a "bad" less Manichean. So I found particularly funny side of his baroque look and behavior.

There must have been some jealously with the two actresses.
Yes, and I continued on my side trying to make Salma and Penelope jealous because they no longer have the opportunity to share my day! I'm joking, but obviously it was never going to work hard on Bandidas: stimulation was constant! That said, I insist on the fact that I had so much fun working with her ​​an emotional point of view ...

You were also in Three Burials with Tommy Lee Jones, did that bring you close to the Mexican culture?
Since I made ​​Southern California my second home, I am very attracted to components, both physical and emotional, to the Hispanic culture. It permeates the entire aesthetic of California and the southwest, from architecture and design to food or lifestyle, and artistic expression. Although California provides a very personal way to absorb these influences, I was immediately attracted by the character of Guillermo Arriaga and Tommy Lee Jones, and I was especially flattered to be invited to participate as an actor. I am very proud of the history and film that we made, as directed by the vision of Tommy Lee Jones. As I was working on and Bandidas and Three Burials at the same time, I spent time in many cities in Mexico. And I was fascinated to discover the subtle differences in culture between Mexico and the United States.