The Big Picture

Charlie Plummer and Eve Lindley learned about the queer rodeo while making
National Anthem.

Music played a significant role in getting into character for
National Anthem.

Charlie Plummer and Eve Lindley recall finding their community like Dylan does in the movie.

Charlie Plummer has been acting for over 15 years, starring in a wide variety of projects ranging from popular YA titles like Looking for Alaska and Words on Bathroom Walls to revered indie projects such as Lean on Pete, where he played a teenager who gets a job working as a horse trainer for the summer. Plummer ironically continues his equine theme in National Anthem, where he takes on the role of Dylan, a construction worker who finds community — and himself — when he begins working at a queer rodeo.

One such person Dylan meets is the enigmatic, magnetic Sky, played by Eve Lindley. Lindley has already had quite an impressive career herself, appearing in blockbuster comedies like Bros and critical darlings such as After Yang and Dispatches from Elsewhere.

Collider got the chance to speak to Plummer and Lindley about the most interesting things they learned with respect to the queer rodeo, how they developed their electric chemistry, what songs are on their character playlists, and more.

National Anthem (2024) National Anthem follows a 21-year-old construction worker named Dylan, played by Charlie Plummer, who joins a community of queer rodeo performers in rural New Mexico. This new environment allows Dylan to explore his identity and seek his version of the American dream.Release Date July 12, 2024 Director Luke Gilford Cast Charlie Plummer , Robyn Lively , Eve Lindley , Mason Alexander Park , Rene Rosado , Kimberley Christann Pember Runtime 99 Minutes

Charlie Plummer and Eve Lindley Learned a Lot About the Queer Rodeo on ‘National Anthem’

COLLIDER: First of all, congratulations on this movie. It’s so beautifully done, and your performances were just so lovely in it. I personally knew that the gay rodeo was a thing because I saw it advertised in Las Vegas once, but I feel like this movie really gave me a crash course. I’m curious how much you knew about it going into this, and then what’s the most interesting thing you learned about the gay rodeo and its culture throughout the process?

EVE LINDLEY: I mean, I knew zilch. I didn’t know it existed. It was a really cool world to get to learn about and to actually go to one of the rodeos. What was surprising? I mean, the whole thing was sort of surprising. [Laughs] It’s like, this is out here? This has just been out here the whole time?

CHARLIE PLUMMER: Yeah, totally. Going off of what Eve said, it was all new for me. This was such a huge part of Luke, our director’s, own life experience and what he’d grown up with — not the queer rodeo but just rodeo in general. He was really the perfect person, I think, to walk us through all of it. As far as surprises go, you know, I think this is just a general thing, but like the goat dressing — I had no idea what that was. [Laughs] I still don’t really understand how that’s a thing, but hey, we love it, we got to do it in the actual rodeo — not just doing it generally. So that was really fun. I just never grew up getting to go to anything like that — carnivals, anything like that — so all of it is something that’s all only existed in films and stories to me. So really getting to just immerse yourself into it, it’s really, really special.

You guys both have just such an incredible chemistry that I feel like really grounds and makes this movie — even from that first scene when you’re brushing the horse, you can just feel so much of that chemistry between you. I’m curious if you did anything particular to help sort of develop that because it really shows on screen.

LINDLEY: You know, our characters are meeting each other, so we were able to kind of meet each other and let it happen. We met in New York once, and then, in New Mexico, we went out kind of wearing elements of our costumes, and we tried to foster it, I would say.

PLUMMER: We really didn’t have much time as far as pre-production, but pretty much every night or every second that we had as far as downtime, Luke was always trying to get us to come over to his place and just kind of loosely walk through some of the scenes. And I think something for him that was really important was making sure the physical language was always really there and really clear. Once we found that in some of those sessions, then it was kind of knowing that that was the touchstone, and then a lot of it, we just wanted to happen on camera, of course.

Music Was a Huge Part of Getting Into Character for ‘National Anthem’

Yeah, absolutely. Charlie, you’ve mentioned in other interviews that you and Luke really connected over music when making this film. I’m curious if you could share a couple of songs that you found during filming or that you kept kind of going back to during the filming of the project.

PLUMMER: Oh, man. I mean, I could pull the playlist up right now, but we’re not gonna do that. [Laughs] One that actually got to make the film, which was a really special thing — one that was really kind of like the spiritual theme song for me as we were going into it and then doing it — was this song called “Reincarnation” by Susanne Sundfør. Susanne’s actually a friend of Luke’s, which was really, really cool, but I had never heard her before. I never heard the song, and he sent it to me during pre-production, and her voice…I mean, oh my God — it just gives me chills talking about it. But her voice was just such a clear…she’s so pure. It’s this kind of Western feel, and yet it also feels completely new. The song itself is kind of in a montage-type mix in the film, but seriously, anyone should go listen — especially her live version. I’m just like the biggest fan. So yeah, I think that if I had to pick one, that’s certainly the one for sure.

I love that. And Eve, for you, I feel Sky has a very sort of particular aesthetic as well. Were there any songs or even other film characters or pictures that sort of felt like your way into this character?

LINDLEY: Yeah, we all created our own little playlists, and there was also a National Anthem playlist that Luke shared with us. My song was “Papa Was a Rodeo.” I would listen to it kind of before. I would start the day with it, I would listen to it during lunch or whatever. That was sort of, to me, maybe where I found a bit of her past or something like that.

Charlie Plummer and Eve Lindley Recall Finding Their Community
Image via Variance Films

Yeah, absolutely. I love getting the music inspiration. One line I really love from this movie is, “I don’t think you’re boring — I think you just haven’t found your people yet.” Can you guys both recall the first time you felt like you really sort of met your people or found your community?

PLUMMER: I had a really weird upbringing in that I started acting when I was, like, 10, and then I moved schools around a lot, and I would say I didn’t really have that feeling until I was about 17. I remember being around young people my age for the first time and going, “Oh, wow. This must be what that’s like.” And not just any young people but young people who are really passionate about art and film and all this stuff. I just felt like, “Oh my God — this is kind of the beginning of life.” I just really needed that feeling to begin so many things in my own life. That was certainly a thing. But I think that theme of chosen family that the film really hits on is something that, since then, when I was 16 or whatever, I’ve really grown a lot with in that time. And I think it happened to coincide in a really wonderful way that right before I got to make this movie, I felt like I really rediscovered what that meant for myself.

LINDLEY: Yeah, I was always like a loner and a floater, and I would find little groups that I would be a part of for a time, but then I would move on. It wasn’t until kind of after we wrapped this movie that I moved across the country to LA, and I really feel like I found a good group of people out here that I trust and I’m able to rely on and let them rely on me.

Well, thank you guys so much. I’m so excited for everyone to get to see this movie, and it was just really lovely talking to you both.

National Anthem is now in select theaters and expands nationwide on July 19th.

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