A lot of westerns are set in the lawless years following the American Civil War, but not too many of them deal with the plight of the women left behind after their husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers went off to fight and likely die. The Killing Room depicts how three quite different women (Brit Marling, Hailee Steinfeld, and Muna Otaru) deal with now having to farm land for themselves, and defending themselves and their home from displaced soldiers following the end of the War.

Nerdist spoke to Marling and Steinfeld about portraying these women, forced to be survivors by a crummy situation. Steinfeld talks about how hard it was not to slip into True Grit mode, and Marling discussed staying up all night to read the screenplay twice and knowing she had to play the part.

The Keeping Room is playing at Fantastic Fest this weekend, and we have a review of it right here!

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Image: Drafthouse Films