Hilary Swank and Tommy Lee Jones star in “The Homesman,” also directed by Jones. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Mongrel Media

TORONTO - Tommy Lee Jones says he wanted to show the reality of life for frontier women in "The Homesman."

In the new film directed by Jones, three women have been driven mad by the brutalities of 1850s America: rape, spousal abuse, the deaths of children.

They come into the care of Mary Bee Cuddy, a 31-year-old spinster played by Hilary Swank. Cuddy is a strong, capable woman, who nonetheless feels shame for being unmarried and is labelled "plain" and "bossy" by more than one man in the film.

"Women in movies of historical things, they're usually whores with hearts of gold and technicolour hair, or else they're long suffering wives standing before a wood-burning stove in an apron, wringing their hands," Jones, 68, said in a recent telephone interview.

The Oscar-winning actor also stars in the film as George Briggs, a low-life drifter enlisted by Cuddy to help her transport the three women (Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto, Sonja Richter) from Nebraska to safe haven in Iowa.

Adapted from a Glendon Swarthout novel, the film was co-written by Jones. He said it was important to him to make a film that was as historically accurate as possible, and he scoured books and photographs from the 1800's.

"There are such books on the subject of mental illness in the middle of the 19th century, particularly among women," he said.

"And there was an itinerant photographer who made his living taking pictures of people who lived in Western Nebraska in the middle of the 19th century. That was a real treasure trove of information about architectural details and what people looked like."

The film features a raft of celebrated actors in supporting roles, among them John Lithgow as a parish priest, James Spader as a nasty hotel owner, and Meryl Streep in a small part as a kind-hearted minister's wife. But Jones said he didn't write the script with specific actors in mind.

"We were trying to write the best screenplay we could," he said. "After that, it was a matter of calling my friends and asking them to do me the pleasure of coming to work."

Swank's performance as the brave but troubled Cuddy has already won her critical acclaim. Jones said it didn't take him long to decide that the two-time Academy Award-winning actress was right for the part.

"After two or three seconds of meeting her we were absolutely convinced she was right for the role. It was just a matter of hoping she would say yes," he said.

"She's an impeccable actor and works very hard. She didn't know much about horses or wagons or mules or plows. But worked at it very hard all day long, every day, until she was able to present a very convincing picture."

Filmed in New Mexico and in Historic Westville, a "living history museum" in Georgia, the sprawling plains and harsh weather help create the unforgiving landscape of the film. As Cuddy and Briggs travel across the country, they encounter all the dangers of the frontier — bandits, rapists — while forming an unlikely bond.

Jones said his vision of the film was "minimalist."

"You stand on the plains. You're going to see three visual elements: heaven, earth and the horizon, which consists of a horizontal line," he said.

The Texas-born actor has previously directed two TV movies and one feature film, 2005's "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada." Asked for his directing influences, Jones said he's learned from every director he's ever worked with.

"The bad ones will teach you what not to do. The good ones will lead you in the right direction. And that goes for the ones you haven't worked with, that you've simply seen and appreciated, or disparaged over the years."

— Follow @ellekane on Twitter.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2014