In this feature article for the Herald, I speak to writer/director Gary Ross and star Matthew McConaughey about their new American Civil War-era film Free State of Jones.

The United States’ history with slavery and the degree to which it informs contemporary American life has rarely been reflected in the country’s popular culture. Even despite a recent push for more minority voices in mainstream entertainment, slavery and the American Civil War remain relatively unexplored topics too emotive to tackle for even the boldest film-makers.

It would be heartening to think the multi-Oscar-winning success of 12 Years a Slave in 2014 marked a turning point in this regard, but since then there’s only been a small uptake in similarly-themed films, represented this year by the hotly-anticipated slave uprising drama Birth of a Nation and the new Matthew McConaughey film, Free State of Jones.

“It’s funny,” says Oscar-nominated writer/director Gary Ross (Seabiscuit, Pleasantville), “it was a lot easier for us to deal with Vietnam, even 10 years later, than it has been for us to deal with the Civil War.

This is kind of the beating heart at the centre of our history, and it’s something that we need to deal with.”