Runaway Train (1985) Might Be the Essential Eric Roberts Experience

Reader, today is a special day for me. And perhaps even a special day for Eric Roberts, if you were to refresh his memory. Because on this day 10 years ago, after many busy hours on a film set in North Alabama, I had the privilege of yelling “That’s a wrap on Eric Roberts!”

My friend Ben Stark and I were three days into a four-day shoot for a short film called Dead Saturday that Ben was directing and I was producing (based on a script that we wrote together).* And for those two days in the middle, we managed to get an Oscar-nominated actor onto our set. It didn’t matter to us that he’d reached a point in his career where he worked on dozens of films every year; he was still willing to do our film. And he legitimized our DIY project in a way we hadn’t expected.

Truth be told, wrangling Roberts was pretty easy. Our casting director posted the project to Actors Access and noted that we were willing to pay a little bit extra for a veteran actor to anchor our young ensemble. From there, we got many (hundreds?) of inquiries from all manner of actors, including a few names we actually recognized.**

From the moment his name popped up on our radar, though, Eric Roberts stood out.

For one thing, we were a couple of film nerds who’d been blown away by The Dark Knight a few years earlier, had seen The Expendables in the theater, and were eagerly anticipating Inherent Vice.*** Those parts all range from small to supporting, but they nonetheless served as proof that Roberts was still a quality commodity, even if his career peak was decades behind him.

But perhaps more importantly for our casting purposes: He’s Southern! Here was a man who was born in Biloxi before spending most of his youth in and around Atlanta. Had the right actor come along, we would’ve certainly considered a non-Southerner for the role, but we wanted our film to be as authentic to our region as it could be. Roberts absolutely fit the bill. We knew his age and his upbringing could be easily woven into the character we’d written.

Naturally, we cast him. And then it was time to start doing Roberts research.

Blinded by the glitter of his Golden Globe nominations, I started at the beginning with King of the Gypsies, and I was impressed by how well Roberts held his own as the young lead, especially given the talent around him. Then I went for Star 80, which hinges on a rather disturbing but wholly engaging performance by Roberts that many believe is the best of his career—including Roger Ebert, who gave the film four stars.

As for Ben, he was drawn to Roberts’ lone Oscar-nominated role: Runaway Train, an action thriller about a pair of convicts (Jon Voight plays the lead) who break out of an Alaskan prison and wind up on a train that has just suffered the misfortune of losing its conductor to a heart attack right after leaving the station.**** The fact that it’s based on a screenplay by Akira Kurosawa really sealed the deal. Directing an actor that had brought to life a character that Kurosawa envisioned was a dream come true for Ben.

All these years after working with Roberts, though, I’d still never seen his most heralded performance (which earned him a third Golden Globe nomination as well). This personal anniversary felt like a great excuse to check it off the list. And it served as a nice reminder of why we were drawn to him in the first place. It’s not the best Eric Roberts performance, but it might be the most Eric Roberts performance.

Voight’s character, Oscar “Manny” Manheim, is a legendary tough guy, and everyone at the prison thinks he’s a hero—but none more than Roberts’ character, Buck McGeehy. After convincing Manny to let him escape with him, Buck becomes the golden retriever at his side, verbalizing every thought that crosses his mind in hopes of bonding with him. (He also has a surprisingly unconvincing hillbilly accent for an actor who grew up in the South.)

Sure, Roberts is over the top, chewing scenery left and right. But as the foil to Voight’s grizzled and ruthless demeanor, he’s exactly what the film needs. What’s more, as Manny remains unchanged throughout the film, Buck gets a fuller arc, going from an afterthought to a legitimate threat to a somewhat sympathetic figure (even if it’s only partially earned).*****

Buck couldn’t be more different from Pastor Malcolm, Roberts’ character in our film. But in a way, Buck reminded me of what I saw from Roberts those two days: The man truly enjoyed being around our cast and crew, telling stories and cutting up, but when it was time to work, he was on. No wonder he used the same name for his forthcoming memoir. (Which I will absolutely be purchasing with one of my Audible credits.)

*If you’ve seen and enjoyed the film, first of all, I’m extremely grateful. But second of all, here’s a commentary track that Ben and I recorded with our lead actor Kurt Krause if you’d like to learn a bit more about the making of the film!

**I kinda wanted to give Richard Lewis (R.I.P.) a look, but Ben was, perhaps fairly, not convinced that he could pull off a Protestant preacher in a clerical collar. Also, my sister was very upset when I told her that we could’ve hired Corey Feldman and decided not to.

***During our shoot, Roberts enlightened us with a story from the Inherent Vice set. His character, Mickey Wolfmann (the linchpin of the plot), apparently had a pretty robust monologue at one point in the film. But Paul Thomas Anderson told Roberts that the monologue made him like the character too much, so he had to cut it. That’s the breaks, man.

****I should note that Ben also watched Roberts’ episode of Celebrity Wife Swap, which he said was surprisingly helpful in learning how to direct him.

*****Jim Beaver, an actor I’ve loved since I saw him in Deadwood, had this to say in his otherwise positive Letterboxd review of Runaway Train: “I don’t know what Roberts’s [Oscar nomination] was for, so much he over-exerts in the role. It’s a pushing performance, without subtlety, and not a very enjoyable one.” (I think the lack of subtlety is what makes it enjoyable, personally.)

Runaway Train is now streaming on Tubi, PlutoTV, Hoopla, and MGM+, and it is available to rent elsewhere.