Charlie Plummer on His Leading Role in Queer Coming-of-Age Story ‘National Anthem’

Actor Charlie Plummer always wanted to be a cowboy. In National Anthem, a sensual, daring new film that premiered at SXSW last year, that dream became a reality. “A cowboy is, in many ways, what Americans have grown up thinking of as a superhero,” Plummer says W“I’ve always had this desire to lose myself in a western world and have this fantasy.”

Plummer, who once compared Ridley Scott to a young Leonardo DiCaprio, first rose to fame on the indie circuit while starring in Scott’s 2017 crime thriller All the money in the world and the Hulu teen drama Search for AlaskaThe 25-year-old’s breakthrough came in Andrew Haigh’s Lean on Pete, in which he starred opposite Chloë Sevigny and Steve Buscemi as an introverted teenager who treks through the desert with a stolen racehorse. In National anthem, a coming-of-age (and coming-out) story, he plays Dylan, a deeply lonely 21-year-old cattle rancher living in rural New Mexico. Dylan’s desperation for work leads him to the House of Splendor ranch, where a community of queer ranchers and rodeo performers emerges from the desert as an oasis to embrace him into their found family.

National Anthem sees Plummer take the reins in his first role as a full-fledged adult. Like his idol, the late River Phoenix, the actor has come of age on screen. He embodies a quiet, tactile sensibility in the debut feature from director, writer and photographer Luke Gilford (based on his recently reissued 2020 photo book, National Anthem: America’s Queer Rodeo). As Dylan, Plummer is mesmerizing when his eyes finally peek out from beneath the lowered brim of his hat. The film avoids cliché archetypes, preventing Dylan’s transformation from becoming mired in trauma and shame. Instead, as the repressed young man is welcomed into the joyous House of Splendor, he undergoes a period of rapid self-liberation, gently unraveling with the careful touch of rodeo star Sky (Eve Lindley).

Gilford and Plummer first met in 2018 during a photoshoot for Lean on Pete. “There’s just this soulfulness to him, this grounded warmth,” Gilford says. “I could tell he was quite introspective in a way that made me curious.” During the shoot, Plummer wore a Western shirt, and Gilford immediately saw him as Dylan. “I couldn’t stop thinking about him while I was writing,” Gilford adds.

Acting has been a part of Plummer’s life for as long as he can remember: his parents both work in professional theater, and before he was even a teenager, he appeared in a handful of short films and several episodes of the 2011 costume drama. Boardwalk EmpireWe’ve seen the turbulent road that child actors travel, but Plummer has been careful with his feet. National Anthem marked “a huge shift internally” as it capped a period of uncertainty caused by the pandemic. “I had to take ownership of my life and the work that I was doing,” Plummer says. “I asked myself, why do I want to do this?”

It was advice from his friend, cinematographer Bobby Bukowski (who was also close to Phoenix), that guided Plummer. “He said River was always confident and knew he was going to land. He never knew how or when, but he trusted that it would fall when it had to,” Plummer says. “Letting go of the child actor aspect of the job is the fear of, where am I going? You have to find it within yourself to feel confident in the universe.” With this newfound confidence, Plummer walked onto the set of National Anthem and slipped into the protagonist’s boots. His evolution will continue with Uberto Pasolini’s upcoming retelling of Homer’s The Odyssey, The returnin which Plummer teamed up with two of his acting heroes, Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche.

In addition to spotlighting Plummer’s talent, National Anthem reimagines traditional ideas about the Western genre, trading in the usual bravado for a dissection of masculinity and a celebration of LGBTQ+ cowboys against an eternal golden hour. At a time when queer and trans rights are under attack, National Anthem is an almighty sigh of relief. “I give Luke so much credit for seeing an opportunity with this,” Plummer says of National Anthem‘ colorful context. ‘The film comes out at a time when, especially in our country, we need to see examples of heroes who are not afraid to embrace everything about themselves.’

Plummer was dedicated to the project, finding himself on the back of a bucking rodeo bull on the first day of filming. But it was Dylan’s drag performance, a pivotal scene in the film that saw Plummer go all-out in red lipstick and a glittering sequined dress, that proved to be Plummer’s biggest challenge. The art form helped him bond with his younger brother, who does drag, and after years of watching in awe, taking the stage himself was terrifying. “I was really set on falling flat on my face, literally or figuratively,” Plummer laughs. With encouragement from Gilford and an “incredibly collaborative” set, Plummer made a formidable debut. Looking back, all it took to overcome the doubt was to be present and open to the moment. “Luke gave me a chance and said, ‘I know you’ve always wanted to play a cowboy, and you never thought you could do drag. So here we go, man. If you want to get this out of yourself, you’ve got to take the plunge.”

National Anthem is currently playing in select cities and will hit theaters nationwide on July 19.