Taylor Sheridan made his directorial debut with the extreme horror movie Vile, but here’s why he disowned the final product. Sheridan has become one of the great success stories of the last decade, where he made the transition from little-known character actor to the showrunner behind countless hit movies and shows.

Sheridan’s list of movie and TV credits includes Yellowstone, Wind River and the Sicario movies. Actors and filmmakers are practically lined up around the block to work with him, and his prolific work ethic means there’s rarely a shortage of new Sheridan material.

Much of Sheridan’s output feel like modern-day Westerns, with Yellowstone and its many spinoffs being a prime example. One genre he’s definitely not known for is horror, despite the fact Taylor Sheridan’s first directing credit was 2011’s Vile.

Taylor Sheridan Rejects His Directing Credit On The Poorly Received Horror Movie Vile

The success of movies like Saw and Hostel during the 2000s unleashed a wave of “extreme” horror films, which dialed up the violence and torture all the way to 11. Sheridan was a jobbing actor during this period, making guest appearances on series like NCIS: Los Angeles and Veronica Mars.

His biggest acting gig was playing Deputy Hale on Sons of Anarchy, and around this time, Sheridan was asked by a friend to help out on his horror film Vile. This sees a group of friends kidnapped and being given a тιԍнт time limit to fill a vial attached to their skulls with a fluid only produced during extreme pain.

Vile isn’t the worst of the Hostel wannabes that came during this period, but it’s still a scuzzy, unpleasant watch. It feels utterly unlike anything else in Sheridan’s filmography too, which is why it’s kind of fascinating that it’s his first directing credit.

However, he rejected this credit during a Rotten Tomatoes interview, with Sheridan revealing he made Vile solely as a favor. His friend Eric Jay Beck was the producer and director of the film, but ran into trouble once production began. Beck reached out to Sheridan for help, who came onboard as something of a ghost director.

Sheridan says Beck gave him the Vile directing credit as a way to “say thank you” for his efforts, but that it would be “generous” to label him as the actual helmer. He also has no illusions about its quality, calling Vile a “bad horror movie.”

Taylor Sheridan “Kept The Ship Straight” On Vile

Sheridan doesn’t discount his experiences on the 2011 horror, though. He claims the production was a great opportunity to get time behind a camera, and “learn some lessons that actually benefited me.” He does push against the notion that he was the creative vision behind the project.

I kind of kept the ship pointed straight, and they went off and edited and did what they did.

A hallmark of Sheridan’s work is that he writes everything he directs and is heavily involved in every aspect of the production. That wasn’t the case on Vile, where he was a helping hand helping a friend see a low-budget budget production to the finishing line.

Again, this would account for why the movie feels like such an anomaly in Sheridan’s career – despite technically being the film that launched his career. Again, it’s not the worst from the extreme horror boom, but there’s a reason Vile is little remembered outside its link to Sheridan.

Sheridan Has Called Wind River His True Directing Debut

What really kickstarted the Sheridan empire were his acclaimed screenplays for Sicario and Hell or High Water, which both very much carried his modern Western stylings. Their success also gave him the chance to direct his next movie Wind River, starring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen.

After dismissing his Vile credit in the aforementioned Rotten Tomatoes chat, Sheridan stated, “I would say [Wind River] is my feature debut.” This tracks, given that the 2017 film features most of his themes and trademarks, including characters dealing with trauma and violence inside indigenous communities.

It also features a couple of ferocious action sequences. Wind River is an excellent place to start for those trying to get into Sheridan’s work and is one of the best thrillers of the 2010s.

Vile Is Absolutely Nothing Like Taylor Sheridan’s Other Work

Sheridan has established such a formula that it’s bizarre to look back on Vile as the start of his directing career. On a basic level, the film succeeds in its goal of making viewers squirm as the main characters inflict gruesome torture on themselves, but it all feels very hollow.

Vile’s characters aren’t especially likable, and the whole thing is so unrelentingly grim that it’s not much fun to watch. The Saw movies may have put an increasing emphasis on creative traps and gore, but they at least had some thematic concerns on their minds and featured veteran actors like Tobin Bell or Donnie Wahlberg.

Vile has nothing deeper to say than “Wow, pulling out fingernails really stings!” If nothing else, the production gave Sheridan a chance to get familiar working with actors and setting up sH๏τs. Sheridan’s move to disown the horror film has less to do with feeling embarrᴀssed and more to do with the fact it isn’t truly his.

He didn’t write Vile, edit it or help with the post-production, and it carries almost none of his trademarks. Again, it’s not the worst example of its kind, but, understandably, Taylor Sheridan isn’t pointing to it as a career highlight either.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes

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  Taylor Sheridan
  

  Birthdate

  
  May 21, 1970
  

  Birthplace

  Cranfills Gap, Texas, USA

  Notable Projects

  Sicario, Wind River, Hell or High Water

  
  

  
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