Lately, I’ve been thinking about the confidence of filmmaking. While I sit here writing about films that I’ve witnessed as the end product, it can be easy to forget the vastness of the project, from conception to post-production. Truthfully, if someone can make a film to the very end with its core intact, then that’s a feat in itself.
In watching Fall Is a Good Time to Die, Dalton Coffey’s second full-length film following 2016’s Poor Mama’s Boy, I’ve thought about the pressures of falling in step with the genre’s predecessors. The film may sound familiar — a Western revenge tale about a quiet ranch hand (Joe Hiatt) finding out that the assailant of his dead sister has been released from jail — but it doesn’t find itself in predictable pitfalls. As I was watching, there were a lot of times where I felt like I could have guessed where it was gone. Instead, the film proceeds with self-assured storytelling, from the subdued manner of a “Western” film to the captivating performances, particularly of Jennifer Pierce Mathus as Jane, the sheriff with her own strife.
Don’t get me wrong. There is not a sharknado subplot or a surprise cameo (though Joey Lauren Adams will always be a pleasure to see on screen). But by the end, I felt like this was a story that knew how it should be told, regardless of what it should look or sound like, or what the ceiling budget cost was. It’s, by all accounts, a normal story with extraordinary execution by Coffey, the film’s multihyphenate director, writer, editor, cinematographer, and composer. I sought out for an interview with Coffey, because I just had to know more about the making of this film, the choices of the characters’ egg breakfast, and the story behind the title.
BOSTON HASSLE: Fall Is a Good Time to Die has elements of a revenge Western, but doesn’t share its loudness. How did you decide to come up with the story and tell it in the way that you did?
DALTON COFFEY: I feel when tackling certain subject matters, especially dark ones, if you go right at it and shine a light directly on it, people will look away. If you shine the light next to it and let it bounce into the shadow a little, people tend to look right into the dark and ask, “What’s in there?”
BH: Poor Mama’s Boy was filmed in Arkansas, while Fall Is a Good Time to Die was filmed in South Dakota. I imagine the weather was different, but what other differences did you find between the two? Are you intentional with where you film?
DC: Location is extremely important to me when developing a story. Its importance largely has to do with the characters themselves and the culture in which they live. I grew up in Arkansas, and people there act and react very differently than they do in South Dakota. I’ve lived in South Dakota now for over 20 years and it has taken me this long to feel like I could comfortably write a story set here. This kind of story could have taken place in Arkansas, but with a very different set of characters making very different choices.
BH: The performances stood out and helped push the story’s momentum. Joe Hiatt’s character as Cody shares the center with Jennifer Pierce Mathus’s character as Jane the sheriff. How did you decide to share the film’s emotional backbone between a person set on revenge and a person from law enforcement?
DC: I was really drawn to the idea of these two characters coming into the heart of this story from wildly different angles and motivations. A young ranch kid thinking he can sneak into his revenge via the back door, and a sheriff kicking in the front door when duty and instinct take over. Joe Hiatt did such an amazing job bringing Cody’s desires and vulnerabilities to the surface – deciding he was going to do this before asking if he could do this. And Jennifer Pierce Mathus made Jane all her own. She makes it look so easy and effortless. I’m in awe of Jennifer and how she made Jane a character that I still think about long after the credits roll.
BH: Following that, I was intrigued on the deliberate choice in how they eat breakfast. That just feels like a character trait reveal to me, and I was wondering if you had shared any importance in it.
DC: I love parallels in people’s lives. It shows us that we are all not so different from one another when we are alone with our thoughts. Showing Cody eating alone and watching a sunset while drinking a beer is mirrored by Jane eating French toast straight out of the pan. It humanizes both; it shows they are connected before they ever meet, whether they know it or not.
BH: You share many seats in the making of this film, and I can truly say that none of these areas felt lacking in their results. What sort of challenges did you face while filming and in post-production? Was there a natural order in which roles to meet first, or did you feel like you had to think about each component at the same time?
DC: Like a lot of filmmakers when starting out, we wear a lot of hats. I did that early on out of necessity. But over time I grew to like it, especially direction and cinematography. The relationship between the director, actor, and camera is it. That’s cinema at its core to me. If you have those three things, you can tell a story. It still takes a village, and all roles are vital. But if you are limited in your resources, sometimes you have to see how many hats you can stack on your head.
It took time, but I eventually felt like I found a good balance. Sometimes the cinematographer in me wants to win, but he always loses to the director in me…and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
BH: The musical composition was really just a banger. I’m curious if you think about the music first and then the visuals, or vice versa.
DC: I always listen to music when I’m writing and developing a new story. I often create a playlist that fits the tone of what I’m after. It helps me with rhythm and pacing.
I’ve been a musician my entire life — way longer than I’ve been a filmmaker — and I believe that informs my screenwriting style. Good music, much like movies, is all about taste, tone, and timing. The soundtrack to Fall Is a Good Time to Die was just as important to me as casting was. It was an extension of not only the story, but of the characters, too. Composing, like cinematography, is another hat I refuse to give up.
BH: Lastly, Fall Is a Good Time to Die is such a metal title. It really has that death-rattle ring to it, like Let the Corpses Tan and No Country for Old Men. I’m a huge fan of good title-drops in movies, and I especially love this one. Can you share how you came up with it?
DC: I must credit my dear Jami Lynn with the title of the film. Jami is an amazing South Dakota singer/songwriter. I co-produced and performed on her record “Fall is a Good Time to Die” back in 2015. It’s a wonderful record and I would highly recommend listening! When I was writing this film and trying to come up with a title, it just hit me. I called Jami and asked if I could use it. She graciously responded by saying, “It’s just as much yours as it is mine.”
Fall is a Good Time to Die
2025
dir. Dalton Coffey
90 mins
Now available digitally and on demand
