Director Ang Lee once again takes audiences on a journey to a different time and place, and into his characters' internal conflicts. A cast of rising young stars portray young Americans, striving to define themselves and the country they had always called home, amidst national turmoil. The screenplay is adapted (by Lee's longtime collaborator, James Shamus) from Daniel Woodrell's novel "Woe To Live On".

SYNOPSIS

Only once in the history of the United States has the nation been at war...with itself. In 1861, the Southern Confederacy is formed, and the American Civil War ignites. While the official military campaigns are being fought miles away, the pro-Southern Bushwhackers engage in guerilla warfare on the back roads and across the countryside. Along the Kansas/Missouri border, childhood friends Jake Roedel (Tobey Maguire), the Missouri raised son of a poor German immigrant, and Jack Bull Chiles (Skeet Ulrich), the son of a Missouri plantation immigrant, join up as Bushwhackers. These young men are, or must quickly learn to be, skilled gunmen and expert horsemen executing daring raids on the North's Union solders and sympathizers.

When the seasons change and the brutal battles intensify, the young men reach turning points both in the fighting and in themselves.

Ang Lee, Director
"I grew up in Taiwan, where older people always complained that kids are becoming Americanized: they don't follow tradition, and so we are losing our culture. As I got the chance to go around a large part of the world with my films, I would hear the same complaints. It seems so much of the world is becoming Americanized. When I read Daniel Woodrell's book "Woe To Live On", which we based Ride with the Devil on, I realized that the American Civil War was, in a way, where it all started. It was where the Yankees won not only territory but, in a sense, a victory for a whole way of life and of thinking."

"The Yankee invasion and victory not only had a surface meaning but also an internal meaning. It changed everyone. Everyone is equal, everyone has the right to fulfill himself: this is the Yankee principle... The Civil War was not only a physical war -blood and guts - but also a personal war, one which led to the new world that we are living in today: the world of democracy and capitalism."

ON LOCATION

Because the story takes place in Kansas and Missouri, there was no question in the filmmakers' minds that Ride with the Devil would be filmed elsewhere but in those regions. Lee claimed that this was necessary "in order to stay true to the heart of Daniel Woodrell's story."

The Lawrence Massacre (re-created in Ride with the Devil) of Aug 21, 1863, holds a horrific place in US history as the largest mass murder on record. Bushwhacker William Quantrill (John Ales in the film) led a hurriedly assembled group of raiders on what many thought would be a suicide mission. But when the raiders descended upon the abolitionist stronghold of Lawrence, Kansas on that Friday morning, more than 180 Lawrence citizens - men and boys - lost their lives within hours. The town itself was burned to the ground.

The Pattonsburg, Missouri location where the sequence was re-created for the film is just a few miles from the western Missouri birthplace of the infamous James brothers, Frank and Jesse. It has been written that Jesse James participated in the Lawrence Massacre. This is a questionable assertion, as he was only 14 at the time...but he did join Quantrill's gang the year after.

James Schamus, screenplay
Ride with the Devil marks Schamus' sixth collaboration with Lee.
"One of the great things about working with Ang from the very beginning is getting to see him grow organically as a director. He's now able to work on a much larger scale, with a much greater and more varied palette of colors and resources. This was far and away the biggest film either of us have worked on, and yet, oddly enough, because of the choice of cast and crew, it has the same kind of family feeling as we had on our very first movie."

"One of the interesting things about this film, as opposed to other movies set against the backdrop of war, is that it doesn't propose that one should come of age by going out and killing a lot of people. Ride with the Devil actually says one comes of age by assuming adult relationships, be they friendships or romantic attachments."

Ang Lee
"The part Tobey plays is the underdog: he can be a passive bystander, but your heart is still raised to him. Tobey is a rare talent. He believes in what he's doing, and his face just draws you in."

Tobey Magurie, Jake Roedel
"This is beyond any film I've done. It was so physically demanding. The script and character are so rich."