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The Wild, Wild West was filled with stars.
While leading the new Western “Frontier Crucible,” Myles Clohessy acted alongside William H. Macy, Armie Hammer and Thomas Jane.
And the Arizona experience was one for the books.
“The best thing about it was you had all these movie stars on set, and there was no trailers, we were out in the mountains together, out in the desert, out in the cold,” Myles, 32, recounted exclusively to The Post.
“And every morning and every night we just sat around a campfire, and it was like we were at camp with all these big movie stars.”
The actor called the moment “the great equalizer, which was so fun and so rare.”
“Most times with set, everyone goes off to their trailers for break, or everyone’s on their cellphone, but we don’t have trailers. We didn’t have any cellphone service out there,” Myles explained.
“So we’re all just sitting around the fire, shooting the s–t and really getting to know each other, which is cool. It’s a humanizing thing when you’re around movie stars like that, to be able to just sit around a campfire and talk like normal human beings.“
One campfire in particular stood out to the Fireside Film Collective founder.
“One of my favorite memories was the last day of shooting and William Macy, who is an Academy Award winner — you’d think he’s going to have all this gravitas — he was just a really nice guy,” recounted Myles.
“And he brought out his banjo on the last, and we were all out on John Ford Lookout on Monument Valley. John Wayne stood there and uttered some famous words from many of his movies, and William H. Macy just started playing his little ukulele banjo thing. And we’re all just sitting around looking on with the campfire going, and we’re like, ‘Wow, this is really special.’”
Jane, 56, also came to set with some pearls of wisdom tucked in his cowboy hat.
“He said that as an actor, you end up getting berated by a lot of critics and opinions from people,” said Myles. “And he said as long as you’re doing the right thing and doing your best and knowing you gave your all, that’s the only thing you can stand by in this career because it’s just so full of so many different people’s opinions about the work and about the film.”
The “Instinct” actor added that: “As long as you’re doing the work and doing the right thing, that’s all that matters. Which, coming from a movie star like him, was good advice.”
“Frontier Crucible” follows life in “1874 Arizona,” when “a wagon full of medical supplies falls victim to an Apache attack. The only man who can guide it through to its destination is Merrick Beckford (Myles), but to get there, he’ll need help from three dangerous outlaws hell-bent on survival.”
For Myles, the chance to star in his favorite genre was a no-brainer.
“I love Westerns. Ever since I was a little boy, I just want to be Clint Eastwood. This was like an easy, easy draw for me. I always want to be in Westerns. And then the second thing was, it actually is really unique in that it reads actually more like a play than a typical screenplay. So it’s very dialogue-heavy,” he explained.
“And usually with Westerns you have a lot of gun shootouts, horse chases, saloons, towns, and this is very stripped back. And it’s all about the word, all about the dialog and tension between these characters. So I thought it was kind of unique.”
Keeping on theme, Myles recently directed the modern Western “Timberlands,” which debuts in February.
The project stars Academy Award-winner Wes Studi.
“I personally was so nervous as director because I love Wes Studi,” confessed Myles. “I watched him in ‘Last of the Mohicans,’ and he was a big Western hero of mine. And among people who watch Westerns, he’s a legend. So I was very nervous to direct him, but he was just the coolest guy. He just came in and started dancing and laughing with everybody immediately and immediately took away all the nerves. So it was just a blessing to be able to direct someone like that, especially since he was so cool.”
Meanwhile, Myles is no stranger to the spotlight, as he grew up with his dad, Robert Clohess,y starring as Lt. Sidney Gormley on “Blue Bloods” for all 14 seasons.
“Donnie [Wahlberg] is just a really fun guy,” the director, who appeared on the CBS police drama in 2016, shared. “He’s just really cool. Down to earth and cracks jokes.”
For Myles, directing his dad’s former co-star, Tom Selleck, is on the bucket list.
“Tom Selleck is very serious,” he continued. “I’ve been wanting to find a project to direct Tom Selleck in a Western. He’s obviously a Western legend himself, and he actually lives out in California, near where I keep a little tiny home, and he has a horse farm right next door. So I’ve been trying to find a script that I can get to his agents, so that I could direct him in a Western and bring him back in the Western genre before he retired, so that would be a goal.”
“Frontier Crucible” is out now in theaters.







