post in : Exclusive , Interview , Lionsgate , Movies| Tagged : brian skiba , Gunslingers , lionsgate
author - theater director Brian Skiba spoke to Bleeding Cool about the brotherly moral force in the Lionsgate Western , filming , influence and more .
Article Summary
Writer and directorBrian Skibahas carry out a lot in his nigh two decades of piece of work . Starting with shorts , he made his theatrical debut in 2009’sBlood Moon move up . He ’s work out on a mixture of genres with repulsion , holiday , action , and thrillers , includingThe 2nd(2020),Clear Cut(2024 ) , andGuns of Redemption(2025 ) . His late is the Western , Gunslingers , for Lionsgate . The film follows a precious adult male ( Stephen Dorff ) who come up in a small Kentucky town and a bounteousness on his head as forces get down close in . As chum front off against one another and hummer charge the town to shred , this lightning - fast torpedo makes his enemies pay the ultimate price for their greed . Skiba spoke to Bleeding Cool about whether he had more backstory between Dorff andJeremy Kent Jackson’srival sibling character , Thomas and Robert Keller , his most difficult sequence , and filmmaking influences .
Gunslingers Writer-Director Brian Skiba on Keller Brothers Dynamic & Film Influences
Bleeding Cool : Can you break down the dynamic between Stephen and Jeremy ’s characters and how that came together ? Was there anything else that you had planned or perhaps got cut in the final celluloid that delved more into the brothers ' story?There were some flashback litter throughout the possibility act of the movie . The job was that it slow up the photographic film down , and the running time was too long . I was told to trim , so if you were to say there is a director ’s cut , that ’s probably another 15 - 20 minutes . It ’s a dull beginning , delves more into the brothers a little bit , and tells the backstory of Heather ’s character ( Val ) and the brothers . There ’s this matter , but I do n’t think it ’s necessarily needed , either . To keep the pacing fresh , debauched , and red-hot is a better move in this genre , and not over - explaining .
When we ab initio made those baseball swing , there were a couple of citizenry in the encampment who were like , " Oh , I miss it , " and I was like , " No , you got to learn it fresh . Stop thinking about what used to be there . Watch it fresh . Do you feel like we need those things ? " And I do n’t , and ultimately , they all say , " You ’re right , you know . " There were some thing , but the relationship between the two is clear . There ’s the conflict over a woman that they both bonk , and then there ’s the fact that they were both involved in the killing of the Rockefellers and their brothers trying to subsist .
What was the most difficult scene for you to kind of get through in a film ?
The paddy wagon episode was difficult because it was rain down a muckle . It was before spring start , so it was still insensate . We wrap on a Friday , whatever , April 4th or 5th or something like that is when we filmed last yr . This fourth dimension of twelvemonth , in Kentucky , it ’s super cold and rainy . Spring is about to hit . We had mud everywhere , and we had to try out to do this wagon workplace on these muddy roads . That was a little challenging . We were out there on and off for three days , induce all that wagon work done .
One of the best chronological sequence was the final shootout , especially when batting cage busts out those hit man . Everything about that reminded me of ' human face / Off ' ( 1997 ) , the way he so smoothly transitioned , and the gunplay . What are your biggest influences as a filmmaker ?
Some of my biggest influence were those Westerns from the ' 70s and ' fourscore , any of Eastwood ’s western sandwich ; my family and I catch them like mad . I was influenced by anything action . I watch everything [ Arnold ] Schwarzenegger and [ Sylvester ] Stallone that I could get my hand on , that was ' Total Recall ' ( 1990 ) with Paul Verhoeven . Those eccentric of filmmakers were doing pragmatic effect . It was fucking , it was cool , a little bit of style , those are my influences .
hitman , which also starsCostas Mandylor , William McNamara , Mohamed Karim , Scarlet Stallone , Bre Blair , Forrest Wilder , Forrie J. Smith , Laurie Love , Eric Mabius , Mitchell Hoog , , andAva Monroe Tadrossis in theatre , on - demand and digital .
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