On Swift Horses examines journeys of self-discovery and connection for LGBTQ+ people at a time when they had to be taken in secret. Though Julius has a strong sense of who he is, he feels a terror in expressing it, having experienced violence and betrayal all his life. He’s a kind of classic Western loner, solving his problems by jumping from scheme to scheme.
“I just watched Paul Newman’s movies and tried to build a voice around the way that he spoke, and movement around the way he moved—particularly in Hud, because he has a great sensitivity in his steely output there,” Elordi says. He’d also gone nearly straight from filming Priscilla, in which he played Elvis Presley, to On Swift Horses. “It was helpful because a lot of the prep for that film was historically the same, and the things that Elvis brought into the world were happening parallel to the times of [On Swift Horses]. And I’d spent a lot of time in Vegas as well.”
Julius lands in Vegas with a job to catch cheaters at a casino—he’s good at the gig because he knows exactly what to look for—and starts working alongside Henry (Diego Calva), a fellow hustler turned mole. They strike up a romance, living in secret in a nearby motel room, and eventually finding ways to start hustling together. Elordi and Calva, who broke out in 2022’s Babylon, develop a steamy sexual chemistry that includes several rich, emotional, and explicit love scenes. “He’s a real cool customer,” Elordi says of Calva. “We had a week of intensive [prep] in the motel room, and Dan gave us a lot of freedom to run around and to play and to find that love within those four walls.”
Muriel’s journey, by contrast, is one of gradual self-acceptance. She starts going out on her own to the racetrack after the big move, and successfully bets on horses. A rush runs through her that feels thrillingly unfamiliar. “I loved the connection between gambling and risk-taking, and pushing the boundaries of her desire and what she’s looking for,” Edgar-Jones says. “Muriel’s rebellion throughout the film is quite quiet, in the small ways in which she takes back her power by concealing things. A lot of what’s happening is behind closed doors.” This later extends to her encounter with Sandra (Sasha Calle), a new neighbor who feels radically out of time.