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Is a Western project ever complete without at least one character with an aloof and mysterious demeanor? You know the type: he's probably staring off into the sunset, his features twisted into a scowl. Who is he? Where did he come from? They're questions you can't help but wonder. 

To get some insight into how actors go about crafting such a character, we talked to Jack Schumacher, who plays the enigmatic Yancy Grey on Netflix's new Western show, Ransom Canyon. On the show, Yancy is hired as a foreman by James Brolin's character, Cap, bringing with him a mysterious past he'd like to keep secret. As it turns out, it's quite a process. 

"I worked with my acting coach on this," Schumacher began. "Each episode her and I would spend a long time breaking this down... and what I've learned from her is, 'What is my overall? What does Yancey want more than anything?' Every scene you know, I have an objective and that serves ultimately to get me to my overall objective. And so I'm trying to win that and having that sort of at the core of my decisions allows me to have a lot of freedom to move around. And explore things. The exciting thing about acting, especially being on a set and being with another actor, if you're prepared, you know your lines and you've done your research, then you're very often surprised by the choices of movements that you make. It ultimately comes down to a thing where once you've done the homework, then you kind of let it go. And that's where the discoveries happen."

You can watch our full interview with Netflix star Jack Schumacher talking about the upcoming Ransom Canyon series here:

So there you have it folks. Behind every enigmatic personality in a Western, there's a reason for this façade. If a character thinks that they can get what they want by keeping others in the dark about who they actually are, then they're going to take that route. The next time you watch your favorite Western, keep an eye out for this. 

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