The new film First Cow is a sublime experience. Director Kelly Reichardt approaches the story of two men trying to survive in 1820s Oregon with extreme tenderness — and, on top of that, has the most beautiful cow as the creature who brings them together.
In the film, the cow is the very first cow in the territory, and the sole source of milk for Cookie (John Magaro) and King-Lu’s (Orion Lee) cake-baking enterprise. Every night, they sneak onto the grounds of her owner, Chief Factor (Toby Jones), and milk her to prepare for the next day’s cakes.
To cast the role of the cow, Reichardt looked through dozens of cow photos. “It was head shots of cows, and body shots, and then narrowing down the type of cow,” she said in an interview. “I wanted [the cow] to be someone that you can be friends with, and wasn’t intimidating [...] and then I saw Evie, and then I got videos of Evie. She was easy to settle on, because she was so beautiful.”
What does a cow’s headshot look like? Luckily, Polygon has the answer. Take an exclusive look at Evie’s headshot below:
Evie, a gorgeous Jersey cow, certainly stands out: She has caramel-brown fur that looks so soft you can almost feel it through the screen, and big eyes framed by long lashes. She’s made such an impression that she now has her own Cameo profile. In the year since the film’s world premiere at Telluride, she’s also had a baby, Cookie, named after one of the movie’s main characters.
Take a look at Evie and Cookie below:
Evie (titular cow of @FirstCow) had a baby and named it Cookie! They are doing great thank you for asking pic.twitter.com/dWpTCG4bWA
— A24 (@A24) February 26, 2020
First Cow will be available on VOD on July 10.
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