American Primeval's Dane DeHaan & Kim Coates On "Severe" Physical Transformation & Debatable Character Morals

Dane DeHaan and Kim Coates represent two very different sides of Mormon culture in the Old West in American Primeval. Since having found his breakout turn in Josh Trank's Chronicle, DeHaan has found success on both the big and small screens with everything from the biographical drama Kill Your Darlings to The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Oppenheimer, Lisey's Story and HBO's The Staircase adaptation. Coates, meanwhile, is a popular character actor whose work extends back to the likes of Tony Scott's The Last Boy Scout, with some of his popular roles including Tig in the Sons of Anarchy universe and Goon.

Coates stars in American Primevalas the real figure Brigham Young, with the show following him in his efforts to acquire more land in Utah in the hopes of further expanding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. DeHaan stars as Jacob Pratt, a man who sets off to join his parish with both his new and other wives. However, the land they've settled on is Mountain Meadows, which became the place of a major massacre carried out by a local militia and the Paiute Native American tribe, leading to Jacob's wife being taken and him near death.

Alongside DeHaan and Coates, the ensemble American Primeval cast includes Mrs. Davis' Betty Gilpin, Painkiller's Taylor Kitsch, The Suicide Squad's Jai Courtney, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning's Shea Whigham, The Agency's Saura Lightfoot-Leon, Preston Mota and Derek Hinkey, among others. Hailing from director Peter Berg and writer Mark L. Smith, the miniseries is a harrowing look at some real events unexplored in the American Old West.

Ahead of the show's premiere, ScreenRant interviewed Dane DeHaan and Kim Coates to discuss American Primeval, Jacob's "severe" physical transformation after his survival from the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and his subsequent journey to rescue his wife Abish, as well as playing Brigham Young and Coates' curiosity to see viewers debate the morality of his real-world character.

Berg Really Helped DeHaan By Pushing Him "To My Limits" In The Show

"...it was a really intense journey..."

Dane DeHaan's Jacob screaming while being held back in American Primeval

ScreenRant: It is so great to get to chat with you both. I watched American Primeval over the weekend, and it is just such a gripping and intense ride from start to finish. I love both of your characters in it. Dane, I'd love to start with you. You have to, quite literally, put your whole body through this performance, as we see in the camp assault scene and everything else after that. What was it like, not just with the prosthetics, but through your character's emotional journey as he goes from this lighthearted guy to this really dark person?

Dane DeHaan: It was intense. He goes through it all, for sure. And the makeup was one thing, but certainly, like you said, the mental aspect of it was just as, if not, more intense and hard to grasp. He's going through severe head trauma psychosis, but at the same time, he has more faith than maybe anyone else in the world. And the dichotomy of that is just, in a way, freeing if you can force yourself to really go there, because it makes almost anything possible. But it was a really intense journey, and I'm really happy that Pete Berg was there to help guide me through it and push me to my limits.

Coates Dove Head First Into Researching Brigham Young For His Performance

"...that's not an offer you get every day..."

Kim Coates' Brigham looking stoically into the horizon in American Primeval

Well, he certainly pushed you to your limits, but he also really helped create a great character. And same for you, Kim. Brigham is such an interesting sort of villain? The thing I love about the Wild West is everybody's morality is sort of in flux. I'd love to hear what it was like finding his heart and finding that balance between someone who is a little theatrical but also has his own, grounded goals in mind.

Kim Coates: Isn't that the truth? I mean, Brigham Young, that's not an offer you get every day, to play Brigham Young. So, when you accept that offer, and you start reading all the autobiographies and biographies on him, and a couple of novels, his look is kind of like me. Blue eyes, all that, the stare, the cheekbones, he was a big-ish man, so I didn't have to stop eating food at all, which was kind of fun for me. But to encompass Brigham Young, and to carry that Book of Mormon on me 24/7, and stay in character on set with Shae Wigham, as we've discussed, Dane and I, all morning.
Peter Berg, you've got to give it up to Pete Berg, because that guy, his preparation is like — I've done 75 movies, Ridley Scott, I could [go on]. Pete Berg is an artist. He's a crazy man, he's brilliant. He's not afraid to fail at anything he does, which is why he rarely does, probably, and to cast the way he did, and to shoot it in the elements, there was no soundstage, Grant. This is all real snow, the battle scenes, it's a limited series about survival. It's about survival, everyone wants and is desperate. They're being persecuted. Everybody's being persecuted, everybody's hunting for a better life. The Native Americans, I mean, we could go on and on and on about what they went through. Goodness gracious. And I know Pete Berg is talking about it this morning.
It was an incredibly dark time in America, but the way it was shot with Jacques, Peter's DP, I cannot wait for the world to see this limited series, because it's a true story, based on truth for sure. And Brigham Young, I'll talk to everybody when it's over, and we'll discuss what they thought he knew, didn't know, pressed the button on, didn't press the button on. He was a man of God, and he saved that religion, for sure. We'll let people make up their own minds. But it's a very special thing that Dane and I were able to do, and I was really glad to be in it.

About American Primeval

This is America…1857. Up is down, pain is everywhere, innocence and tranquility are losing the battle to hatred and fear. Peace is the shrinking minority, and very few possess grace — even fewer know compassion. There is no safe haven in these brutal lands, and only one goal matters: survival. American Primeval is a fictionalized dramatization and examination of the violent collision of culture, religion, and community as men and women fight and die to keep or control this land.

From director/executive producer Pete Berg, writer/creator/executive producer Mark L. Smith, and executive producers Eric Newman and Alex Gayner, American Primeval stars Taylor Kitsch, Betty Gilpin, Dane DeHaan, Saura Lightfoot-Leon, Derek Hinkey, Joe Tippett, Jai Courtney, Preston Mota, Shawnee Pourier, and Shea Whigham. Julie O'Keefe is Indigenous Cultural Consultant and Project Advisor. Artisans include: Hovia Edwards-Yellowjohn (Shoshone Bannock-Navajo), Pete Yellowjohn (Shoshone Bannock), Georgette Running Eagle (Shoshone Bannock), Robert Perry (Shoshone Bannock), Kugee Supernaw (Quapaw and Osage) and Son Supernaw (Quapaw-Osage and Caddo), Joe Cheshawalla (Osage) Debbie Cheshawalla (Choctaw), Molly Murphy Adams (Oglala Lakota).

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