And almost as soon as they began talking about the movie, Mr. Mortensen sent Mr. Ross a 10-page list of factual questions. When he sent Mr. Mortensen a box of the books he thought Ben Cash would like, it turned out that Mr. Mortensen had already read most of them. “I needed someone physically fit and intelligent, which he is,” he explained and added that Mr. Mortensen also appealed to him for what amounted to symbolic reasons. Mr. Mortensen is himself not a back-to-the woods survivalist, exactly, but he knows his Chomsky and lives about as far off the grid as a major movie star can and still get work. “He was very interested in the family compound,” Mr. Ross said.

Source: New York Times June 28, 2016 10:52 UTC