Warning: Spoilers for The Last Stop In Yuma County!

Summary

• Jocelin Donahue and director Francis Galluppi worked closely to develop Charlotte's backstory, adding layers to her character's resilience and resourcefulness.
• Donahue was thrilled to reunite with Richard Brake on set, praising her scene partner's abilities and work ethic.
• Donahue pulled from her family history for Charlotte's costume, enhancing her character's essence for the film's unique setting.

Jocelin Donahue isn't the helpless hostage two gunmen think in crime thriller The Last Stop in Yuma County. Donahue has been a major player in the indie movie scene over the past 15 years since landing her first leading role in Ti West's acclaimed horror movie The House of the Devil, going on to star in the likes of Knight of Cups, Dead Awake, Holidays and I Trapped the Devil. Donahue has also lent her talents to more mainstream fare, appearing as a young Elise in Insidious: Chapter 2, Furious 7, and Mike Flanagan's Doctor Sleep adaptation.

In The Last Stop in Yuma County, Donahue stars as Charlotte, a waitress at an isolated Arizona diner married to the local sheriff. A quiet day at work for her turns into one of high stakes as two of the handful of patrons that stroll in waiting for a fuel delivery at the neighboring gas station turn out to be bank robbers, subsequently threatening Charlotte and a traveling knife salesman to remain quiet until the gas truck arrives. As more customers roll in and the robbers find themselves in over their heads, Charlotte tries to find a way to contact her husband to put a stop to the pair.

Alongside Donahue, the ensemble The Last Stop in Yuma County cast includes The Beta Test's Jim Cummings, Barbarian's Richard Brake, Nicholas Logan, Faizon Love, Michael Abbott Jr., Gene Jones, Robin Bartlett, Sierra McCormick, Connor Paolo, Ryan Masson and Barbara Crampton. Written and directed by Francis Galluppi in his feature debut, the movie has already garnered widespread acclaim from critics, debuting to a rare 100% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, while currently holding an equally impressive 95%.

In honor of the movie's release, Screen Rant interviewed Jocelin Donahue to discuss The Last Stop in Yuma County, capturing the crafty layers of her hostage character, drawing from her own life for one unique element of Charlotte, reuniting with Richard Brake, and her thoughts on the scrapped Doctor Sleep 2 plans and the movie's subsequent cult following.

Donahue & Galluppi Worked Closely To Flesh Out Charlotte's Backstory

While a variety of elements behind The Last Stop in Yuma County attracted Donahue to be a part of the project, it was Galluppi's "passionate" vision for the movie that secured the star's interest in the crime-thriller. This even carried over into her working relationship with the writer/director, in which the two worked closely to expand Charlotte's backstory beyond what audiences primarily see and what he had already written:

Jocelin Donahue: So much, really all of it. The script, of course, is the first thing that I read, and it just jumps off the page with how smart and how surprising it is, and how many colorful characters there are. And then, of course, when I got to talk to Francis, who's just really such a passionate, wonderful person, he loves films, is just super exuberant and had a really strong vision for it. It was an easy yes. It was nice to have the luxury to be able to talk about it a bit before we got going.

He had written backstories for all of our characters, so we talked a lot about that. And one of the things that we really played up and added was that this is her home. It's almost like a home invasion, she grew up in this diner, it's her family's diner. So, when the hostage situation begins, she's the one who has to really figure out how to protect and defend her home, and all these people in it, and get out of this situation. So, we talked about basically letting her go down fighting.

She's resourceful, and she's trying to find ways to alert her husband, the sheriff played by Michael Abbott Jr. But ultimately, when she realized that she can't get a hold of him and senses that the guns are about to come out, I was like, "She needs to grab a knife and start fighting here." So that was something that we worked on together, and he was great to let me have that stuff.

This particularly proved fruitful when it came to Donahue finding the rhythm to Charlotte's actions once the hostage situation begins, with the character refusing to sit on her laurels while also having to put on an outward appearance of cooperating:

Jocelin Donahue: Yeah, it's so interesting. I like, as an actor, to get to play when you have to keep up appearances, like a performance within performance. So yeah, like you say, she's kind of like a duck, where above water, she's paddling furiously underneath, but has to try to keep her composure and not alert the other diners, as she's been told to do. She has to put a smile on and keep things moving as if it's normal, so that's just really fun to play kind of two things at once.

Donahue Was Thrilled To Reunite With The "Lovely Human Being" That Is Richard Brake

Heading into The Last Stop in Yuma County, Donahue found herself with the "cool" opportunity to reunite with both Richard Brake and cinematographer Mac Fisken after their work on the well-received 2022 Lovecraftian horror movie Offseason. In looking at Brake, in particular, Donahue found that her co-star is "such a great scene partner":

Jocelin Donahue: Oh, thanks, Grant, that's so cool. I mean, for me, that was another huge draw. As soon as I heard about the film, I knew that both Richard and Mac Fisken, our DP who was also on Offseason, were both going to be working on this. And I had such a great experience working with both of them on making this film, and Richard is just the sweetest, most serene person. And then, he can just turn it on and play these really, really scary characters, and, of course, that's what you want. You want someone who's actually a lovely human being if he's going to be strangling you. [Laughs] But yeah, he's wonderful, such a great scene partner, so generous, and it was amazing to be reunited with him. I just love working with him.

When asked about Jim Cummings, Donahue was just as enthusiastic in her praise of working with the filmmaker, recalling her love of his previous work and "offbeat" sense of humor that really became another draw for her to work on the movie:

Jocelinn Donahue: Same, I love his work, and when I heard that he was going to be involved and Francis was getting him on board, it was another huge draw. I think his kind of sensibility, kind of offbeat, just really added this levity and comedy to the film as well, and like you say, their dynamic is pretty funny, because I think as soon as she realizes that he's kind of hapless, not really up for it, she realized that she's on her own and needs to figure out how to get in touch with her husband.

But I just love the scenes at the top of the film where we get to build that rapport, where those just really adds later on, because we don't have much time. We can't talk to each other, so there's a lot of nonverbal checking in with each other and realizing what is about to go down. So, those moments are fun to play, as well. And Jim is awesome, he's so funny, and it was great to have him on set.

Donahue Pulled From Her Own Family History For Charlotte's Look

When it came to designing Charlotte's look, Donahue recalled her time working with the movie's "super talented" costume designer for her waitress' dress worn throughout the movie, but more interestingly, she also pulled from her own family history to capture her appearance:

Jocelin Donahue: Yeah, our costume designer, Alabama, is just super talented. She had my dress made after we talked, we looked at a bunch of different versions. But the diner waitress uniform really has not changed since the 1930s, so it was fun to kind of look, historically, at options. I was looking a lot at Alice, the older show set in a diner. [Chuckles] And it's funny, because my mom was actually a waitress at Howard Johnson, which was a roadside diner in New England around this time in the '80s.

So, I was looking at old pictures of her, as well. It's just so much fun to find the look, and then, of course, once you're in your wardrobe, it just helps so much to get into character and just thinking about that she walks in every day and puts her apron on. These are things that she's done over and over and over, and the diner being her home space, and then the outfit also being something that probably her mom wore, and that she's been wearing, and is really just her essence. And I love that color, the color green. Mac, our DP, really liked the green, as well.

With the movie taking place in an undefined '70s era, Donahue again found herself "time traveling" much like she did with The House of the Devil, which was set around the late '70s and early '80s. For the star, she thought this truly helped amplify the "tone and the atmosphere" of The Last Stop in Yuma County, particularly when it came to the hostage situation:

Jocelin Donahue: Yeah, I love time traveling like that. It's just such a vibe, the tone and the atmosphere of this film, every department really was telling the same story. I feel like you can see that on screen, it really feels, like you say, late '70s or early '80s. I think there's a couple cues that the audience can find about exactly what time period it is, but just storytelling wise, of course, to not have cell phones to be able to communicate, or reach out, or call for help. The feeling of claustrophobia and fear of being in this one location that we can't get out of that feels like it's stuck in a time and a place. I just feel like it all adds to the tone and the vibe of the film.

Picking A Favorite Among Yuma County's Ensemble Cast Is Nigh Impossible

Serving as one of the bridges between the audience and the movie's various characters, Donahue found herself at the center of The Last Stop in Yuma County's colorful cast of performers. When it comes to choosing a favorite, the star ultimately finds it difficult to choose just one, though does recall one scene that stood out for a doomed soul:

Jocelin Donahue: I'm just so excited for people to see Francis' work, and just the whole team. I'm just so proud of him and the way he was able to execute. It's kind of mind-blowing that this is his first feature, because it's just so assured and confident and controlled and great to look at and really entertaining and fun. I just feel like there's something for everyone. All audiences are looking for different things, but it's moving, it's funny, it's scary, and it has all these really amazing actors.

So, I just love that people get to see everybody's work, and it's so nice that people are responding to it. There's so many. Nick Logan was such a delight to be around on set, he's absolutely hilarious and such a loose cannon, which makes his character even scarier for Charlotte. But just everyone was so lovely, I really loved watching Sierra work, as well. Like her death scene. I don't think [this part] made it into the film, but I remember watching the monitor when she dies, and there's one tear that rolls down her eye, and I was like, "Damn girl, respect." [Chuckles] She's such an amazing actress, and Gene Jones was so lovable.

Donahue Doesn't Know Much About Flanagan's Scrapped Doctor Sleep 2 Plans (Except 1 Key Detail)

In looking back on her time working on Mike Flanagan's Doctor Sleep and the subsequent cult following it's garnered, Donahue acknowledges that the complicated nature of Hollywood greenlighting played a factor in plans for multiple follow-ups being scrapped. While she indicates she never talked with Flanagan about whether she would be back for either, there is one

Jocelin Donahue: We didn't really talk about it at that point, the movie wasn't out yet, and this is all pre-COVID. And, of course, things changed with how things get greenlit. But we definitely talked about the book a lot, and of course, with my character, there's a lot more family history that wasn't explored yet. So, if it ever does come about, I think it would be a super interesting story to tell, for sure.

And I think Abra's character just, Kyleigh did such a great job with that role, and I'd love to see her continue that story, as well. Yeah, you can't control the timing of everything when something comes out. But what feels good is when something sticks around, and has legs, and people come back to it, or people hear about it, it's still out there for people to discover. And you never know, maybe it will turn into more future projects.

About The Last Stop in Yuma County