Bozeman cowboy plays bad guy in movie ‘Appaloosa’

By AMANDA RICKER Chronicle Staff Writer

David Lee Jensen wears a trench coat. He has a long unruly beard beneath the shadow of his cowboy hat. The 51-year-old Bozeman man looks like he’s ready for an Old-West, high-noon showdown.

That’s just Jensen’s style. But the look earned him a part as a featured extra in the new Western movie “Appaloosa,” starring and co-directed by actor Ed Harris.

“He’s in quite a bit of it,” Harris’ co-director, Robert Knott, said of Jensen.

Jensen has been acting on and off for about 30 years, but never expected to get this part. After his agent submitted his photo to executives for the movie, he got a call.

“I picked up the phone and this guy said ‘Is this David Jensen? This is Ed Harris,’” Jensen said. “I hung up the phone.”

But Harris called back, Jensen said. And that time, Jensen believed him.

Soon, Jensen said he was on a plane bound for Santa Fe, N.M., where the movie was filmed. He was supposed to be there for five days and ended up being there for three and a half weeks.

“Now Ed and I talk on e-mail every two weeks,” Jensen said. “He’s become a good friend of mine.

The movie, which opens Friday in Bozeman, is set in 1882 in a town called Appaloosa, which is miles from anywhere and struggling to survive so its copper mines can reopen, according to New Line Cinema.

Lawmen Virgil Cole (played by Harris) and Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) are hired to bring order to the community n and to stop rancher Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons) and his string of violent men from terrorizing the townsfolk.

Jensen is one of those violent men. He doesn’t have any lines, but appears in several different shots, he said.

The situation is further complicated when widow Allison French (Renee Zellweger) arrives in town.

“It was the first time I got to work with all these superstars … and they’re not stuck on themselves,” Jensens said.

Knott said Jensen was perfect for the part of one of Bragg’s men not only because of his look, but because he’s a good horseman.

“It was important to have someone that looks good on a horse and that can ride a horse,” Knott said.

Jensen said he hasn’t seen the movie’s final cut, but noticed that he was included in a trailer for the movie shown on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

Jensen is planning to attend the Bozeman premier of the movie Friday evening at Hollywood Theater in the Gallatin Valley Mall.

Afterward, he plans to ask other viewers what they thought and try to answer any questions they have.

“Then, I’m going to fly down to Santa Fe the next day and tell Ed,” Jensen said.

Santa Fe is hosting a premier on Saturday that Harris is expected to attend.

“There’s a lot of talk about it being nominated for an Academy Award,” Jensen said.

Amanda Ricker can be reached at aricker@dailychronicle.com or 582-2628.

Reader Comments