Jonah Hex’s Gunspinner Extraordinaire
Joey “Rocketshoes” Dillon gives us a sneak preview of Josh Brolin’s gunmanship in the 2010 Western.
By: Henry Cabot Beck 08/01/2009
“Rocketshoes!” says Josh Brolin with a huge grin, as soon as I mention Joey Dillon’s name.
“He’s unbelievable. He’s the fastest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Joey Dillon, a.k.a. Rocketshoes, teaches men like Brolin how to look good with their guns. In Brolin’s case, that’s important, because the actor is starring in the film adaptation of DC Comics’ Jonah Hex (due out in summer 2010), and Hex is a 19th-century bounty hunter who lives by the gun.
“I had already done three years on a Western series, so I knew a lot of spins and all that, but he took me further,” says Brolin, who played James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok in the ABC series The Young Riders. Hickok was said to have been pretty good with his guns, so Brolin was far from being an amateur when Dillon was brought aboard. “We spent two or three days together just working through things, and he taught me truly how to draw in a way I didn’t know,” Brolin says.
Some doubted, initially, whether Dillon could be of much use on the film. “Some people said, ‘I’ve read the script, and I don’t see that much gunhandling in this, but it’s Josh’s call, that he wants some training,’” Brolin says.
Dillon told the doubters, “It’s not just about spinning the gun around and cocking it, or spinning into the holster. But you want [Jonah Hex] to do everything as though he’s been doing it all his life. Otherwise you won’t buy that he’s good with his guns.”
The two trained at the Warner Brothers backlot, once home to The Waltons. At the first meeting, Dillon brought with him 14 guns. “I held up a Colt Walker—about as big as it gets—and I said, “You may move up to this in a few days, but for the next few days we’re just going to work with this—then I held out the derringer,” Dillon says. “I had welded a little ring on it for spinning and a fanny hammer, and I handed him the gun. He was like, immediately, ‘Okay, okay,’ dead serious. I had to tell him I was joking.
“And then I started busting out some of my tricks, which he liked. I have one where I throw the gun up in a backward spin, and I balance the barrel on my palm. It took him a couple of tries, but he did it right off. I told him, ‘You’re light years ahead of anybody else I’ve been teaching in the acting world.’ So we were able to go straight to the double-shot stuff, some of the different spins and some bad ass stuff, which he was eating up.”
Dillon, obviously, is fun to talk to, likely because showmanship is paramount in his work; he studied acting and performed stand-up comedy long before he ever applied those skills to his gunspinning.
“I grew up and graduated in a class with 14 other kids, in Don Pedro, California, which is out in 49er country. It was natural for me to get into the history of the West, learn how to ride horses and shoot guns, with my dad.”
Why did Dillon leave Don Pedro behind to move to Chicago? “I always loved making people laugh, always had funny skits and ideas in my head. I was thinking, ‘Where do talent scouts look for talent? They scout in Los Angeles, New York theatre, Second City in Chicago.’ Well I was born in the Chicago area, I have relatives there, and so I was thinking that if I failed, I wouldn’t be out on the street.
Comments (2)
Watched him lose then come back and win the next year his first gun spinning World Championship in Deadwood, SD. Tons of heart and fortitude.
Thadd Turner
Met Mr. Dillon in Sedona this past July. A real pleasure to watch and even greater to speak with. He really pays attention to those around him and makes you feel glad to have met him. A great asset to the spirit of "The West"!! Thank you Mr. Dillon, and True West for bringing you to us!!
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