Western Religion (film)


Western Religion is 2015 wild west feature film by writer/director James O'Brien. It features performances by Claude Duhamel (Supernatural), Peter Shinkoda of Spielberg's Falling Skies and Marvel's Daredevil and Australia's Miles Santos of The Elephant Princess among many others in a large international cast.

Western Religion is set in 1879 in Religion, Arizona, where gunfighters from the far reaches of the globe come to compete in a poker tournament where their very souls are on the line.[1]

The story of the production was first picked up by Variety in 2013 as the filmmakers looked to overcome the government shutdown of all national parks just weeks before their scheduled shoot at Paramount Ranch.[2]

To remedy the situation, O’Brien and his producing partner Louie Sabatasso of 3rd Partner Productions enlisted the aid of Peter Sherayko, known for delivering the historical detail in Tombstone. Together they built their own Hell on Wheels style wild west tent city from scratch in the mountains of Agua Dulce, California.

Sherayko, who played Texas Jack Vermillion in Tombstone, is featured in the film as Southern Bill, along with Louie Sabatasso (Wish You Were Here) as the colorful Salt Peter, joining an ensemble cast which includes Merik Tadros (Munich), Holiday Hadley (Gone in 60 Seconds) James Anthony Cotton (Phenomenon) and Ireland's Tony Herbert (Speed Dating).

Western historian Henry Parke made a special visit to the Western Religion set and wrote an article on the making of the film, followed later by a review of the completed work .[3]

The independent film was completed on schedule and within budget, despite hurricane winds destroying the sets and the coordination of a massive international cast in the remote territory of Agua Dulce.[4]

O’Brien engaged London-based composer Ram Khatabakhsh (Capsule) to create the original score.[5]

Western Religion had its world premiere at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.[6]

Automatic Entertainment signed with the film for worldwide sales, beginning at the Cannes Film Festival. [7]

Western Religion was bought by Screen Media Films for North America following its world premiere at the 2015 Cannes Film festival. It is scheduled for theatrical release in the fall of 2015 and home entertainment release in the early second quarter of 2016. [8]

Western Religion was one of 15 films in competition at the 2015 San Diego Film Festival.[9]

Western Religion kicked off its US theatrical release at the Arena Cinema in Hollywood Oct. 9-15, 2015.[10]

Western Religion was compared very favorably in reviews to both John Ford and Sergio Leone in its use of a mythical narrative, while staying true to western archetypes.[11]

The film embarked on a 'Wagon Trail' national tour, with its first stop after Los Angeles taking place at the historic New Strand Theatre in West Liberty, Iowa, an old opera house from 1908, later converted into a state of the art movie theatre by owner Todd Veach. Western Religion had its Midwest premiere at the New Strand on Nov. 20th, 2015, during the first snowfall of the season. There were horses, cowboys and Indians on hand for the premiere, with TV coverage by NBC Universal, ENT1 Las Vegas and PATV18 out of Iowa City. The film ran theatrically at the New Strand until Nov. 25.[12]

The next stop on the Wagon Trail national tour was the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas at Slaughter Lane. Wired Magazine called the cinema "the coolest theatre in the world." Western Religion had its Austin premiere at the celebrated movie house on December 3rd, 2015. [13]

Western Religion made the list of the Most Popular Western Feature Films Released in 2015. [14]

The next destination on the Wagon Trail tour was a premiere at Landmark's venerated Sunshine Cinema in the East Village of New York City on January 11th, 2016. The location was originally a 19th Century Dutch Church, later converted to a Yiddish Vaudeville Theatre in 1908. It was born again as a movie house on Dec. 21st, 2001.

Western Religion completed it's national tour at Narberth Reel Cinemas 2 in Pennsylvania at a sold out show that broke the house record, while playing alongside Star Wars The Force Awakens.

Screen Media Films released the film on Video on Demand on January 1st, 2016 and slated the DVD release for March 1st, 2016.

External links

References

  1. ↑ Lealos, Shawn S. Renegade Cinema (2015) http://renegadecinema.com/35986/wild-west-movie-western-religion-poster-and-trailer-unveiled
  2. ↑ Johnson, Ted. Variety Magazine (2013) http://variety.com/2013/biz/news/government-shutdown-derails-film-shoots-at-paramount-ranch-1200689657/
  3. ↑ Parke, Henry. Henry's Western Round-Up. http://henryswesternroundup.blogspot.com/2015/05/western-religion-premieres-at-cannes.html
  4. ↑ Rodriguez, Liz. New York Life Magazine (2015) http://newyork.lifediverse.com/wild-west-movie-western-religion-poster-hd-trailer-unveiled/
  5. ↑ Kilday, Gregg. The Hollywood Reporter (2014) http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ram-khatabakhsh-score-hotel-33-711148/
  6. ↑ Aushenker, Michael. The Argonaut. http://argonautnews.com/another-one-in-the-cannes/
  7. ↑ Tseng, Nadia. Screen International. http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/cannes/automatic-brings-western-religion-to-cannes/5087562.article/
  8. ↑ McNary, Dave. Variety Magazine. http://variety.com/2015/film/news/western-religion-screen-media-1201558808/
  9. ↑ San Diego News. http://www.sdnews.com/view/full_story/26835847/article-San-Diego-Film-Festival-announces-festival-lineup-?instance=home_mainpbn
  10. ↑ Kay, Jeremy. Screen International. http://www.screendaily.com/news/distribution/screen-media-sets-western-religion-national-tour/5094722.article
  11. ↑ Siino, Denise Marie. Life in LA Magazine. http://www.lifeinla.com/entertainment/streams/movies/123-movies/19089/western-religion-pits-gold-seekers-against-the-devil.html
  12. ↑ Lane, Jacob. West Liberty Index. http://www.westlibertyindex.com/article.php?viewID=6453
  13. ↑ Baumgarten, Marjorie. Austin Chronicle. http://www.austinchronicle.com/calendar/film/special-screenings/1693060/
  14. ↑ IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/search/title?at=0&genres=western&sort=moviemeter,asc&title_type=feature&year=2015,2015


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