Henry Thomas has spent a lifetime chasing stories that stick. The San Antonio native, forever linked to the boy who befriended an alien in E.T., returns to Texas soil in Due West, the intimate, festival-winning drama now available on digital and video on demand through Cineverse. In the film, Thomas plays Pastor Mike, a man caught between duty to his flock and the uncomfortable truths unfolding in a small West Texas town.
“I’m from Texas, originally from San Antonio,” Thomas told Paul Salfen. “Whenever a script comes across my desk that is set in Texas, it’s really hard for me to say no. But this story in particular… it’s such a weird slice of life. And West Texas is its own kind of thing. So it’s kind of like a character in the piece.”
Directed and co-written by Evan Miller, Due West follows a woman (Adrianne Palicki) racing across the vast, unforgiving landscape after an unintended pregnancy, encountering both compassion and exploitation along the way. The film world-premiered at the Dallas International Film Festival in 2025 and collected Best Feature Film honors at the Burbank International Film Festival and El Paso Film Festival, plus Best Texas Narrative at the Lonestar Film Festival. Thomas describes Pastor Mike as a man “between a rock and a hard place.” His primary job is to look out for his people, yet he discovers he has been in the dark about what was happening in his own community. When the moment comes to help or hinder, the choice proves morally wrenching.
“Showing the human side of things always puts people from an objective position into a personal position,” Thomas said. “And when people are in that position where it’s personal to them, that’s when the synapses start firing.”
The production itself was lean. Shot on location in Marfa with a tight budget and limited time, Thomas wore his own clothes and spent only a few days on set. Still, he felt the film’s special quality early. “Adrianne carries the film,” he noted. “Her character… we kind of follow her through there. I just kind of popped in and then I felt like, you know, this is going to be a special film.”
Thomas is careful not to prescribe what audiences should feel. “I don’t have an agenda. I don’t want to change people’s minds about their personal feelings. I would just like for people to appreciate the human story… We’re all in this together and it’s all relatable. That’s what art is for—to kind of hold a mirror up to society and say, like, what about this? Think about this.”
Asked for advice to aspiring filmmakers who might see Due West and feel inspired, Thomas kept it simple and personal. Tell human stories. Those are the ones that resonate. Audiences, he believes, are hungry for smaller, more compact, more poignant work. As for the creative mindset that has sustained him since his first film, Raggedy Man (shot near San Marcos with Sissy Spacek and directed by Jack Fisk), he points to a lasting sense of wonder. “For me, it’s always just a fascination with a story or a character… never losing that sense of wonder. The ability to gear up for a Hail Mary… that’s almost even more important than the throw.”
Thomas recently finished a pilot for a series called Whisper Sisters, in which he plays a crooked sheriff. But for now, Due West stands as another Texas chapter in a career built on curiosity and moral complexity. The film is currently available on digital and VOD.
