Someone that’s no stranger to danger, is Bret Hart. He’s a Hall of Famer, a world-renowned wrestler but he’s also Canadian royalty. After the ring, there was the lens. Performing his character as Hit Man Hart in wrestling for 3 decades, has more than prepared Hart for the big screen. You can take the dog out of the fight but you can’t take the fight out of the dog and Hart is living proof that there is life after wrestling. A legend amongst wrestling fans, he is quickly becoming legendary in his now acting career. Although he had a recurring role in Lonesome Dove back in ’95-96’ he returned to acting this past decade, lending his voice to the Corner Gas animation, performances in The Demented, Tales From the Dead Zone and the TV series, The Detour. Hart continues to build his film fan base in his next big role as Inspector Carlisle.
The Outlaw Murders follows an experienced police detective (Bret Hart) with a checkered past, that’s been tasked with conducting an investigation of a mass murder involving a biker gang, he was once a part of. Employing an improvisational technique, the mystery behind the murders will unfold throughout the picture, as a unique cast of characters share their personal versions of the events under the pressure of a police interrogation. The film is written by the Sewell Brothers – Stephen, Eric and Ian. Their enthusiasm for filmmaking began in their early teens when they first got their hands on a camcorder. Beginning with shorts that spoofed popular genres involving ninjas and police, the brothers eventually moved onto more ambitious feature length projects. This eventually led into the professional world with the commercial release of their previous films – 100 Miles from Hell and Muskie Point.
The film is being financed through a Crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo from Feb. 1 – April 2 of 2022. Both wrestling and movie fans will receive a copy of the video game Hitman Highway, starring Bret Hart by making a 10.00 donation to the campaign and it can be enjoyed on your PC and Android devices. Hitman Highway is a fun high score – based driving game where you shoot and manoeuvre your car through a variety of enemies and obstacles.
If you’d like to get involved by supporting the project, you can follow the link, https://youtu.be/u2Cq-JSX2h4 or go straight to their Indiegogo page at https://igg.me/at/outlaw-murders to contribute.
I sat down with producer Stephen Sewell to ask how the funding was coming along and how we could help them reach their goal. It was fascinating and inspirational. Roll the tape!
HNMAG “It’s extraordinary to hear that Bret has signed on to be in your film, The Outlaw Murders. How did the premise for this story happen?”
STEPHEN “I enjoyed making our last film, Muskie Point, which was a crime film and I wanted to make another one similar to it. We really liked how it turned out, we’re proud of it and we wanted to take it to the next level. We wanted to create a story involving the biker underworld/biker crimes but with a murder mystery added to the pile. We began to consider our options for playing the lead. Bret Hart is Canadian, which makes it easier and more interesting to the Canadian market, as a behind-the-scenes story. I was a wrestling fan for years and I’ve been watching him since ‘91’ when his solo career took off, but I know his wrestling goes further back than that. We got in touch with his agent, sent her a proposal and he gave me a call. We went from there.”
HNMAG “Did you write the script or was it written by another brother?”
STEPHEN “It was collaborative, we all worked on it together (3 brothers). We used the same method as our last film to write it. We don’t use a traditional script, instead we have an extremely detailed plot outline. We have the characters improvise each scene but we’ll give them notes on their motivation, as well as plot points they need to mention. From there, we’ll film a series of takes from the actors and then transcribe it all. After that, we’ll cut and paste to form an editing script and we edit the movie based on that. What ends up happening is, a lot of natural pauses and natural interruptions and the characters’ reactions are all genuine. Back when Bret Hart was wrestling, they didn’t script out the dialogue, it was all improv style. For that reason, we figured Bret would be a natural fit for the project.”
HNMAG “What was Bret’s reaction when you reached out to him?”
STEPHEN “He really liked the adlib element and thought it was an interesting project. He’s always been interested in acting and film. He was in a series a number of years ago, called Lonesome Dove and he’s acted in other projects, including a stage play. I do have a long form interview with Bret on Youtube, where we discuss his career, among other things. If people are interested, it’s under Outlaw Murders on the channel. The idea really appealed to him.”
HNMAG “How far along is the script?”
STEPHEN “We’ve got the outline ready to go, where it’s ready for the actors to work with. We’ve got the sets lined up and everything’s ready to go. Once we have the funding, we can proceed.”
HNMAG “How much do you need to raise to make this film?”
STEPHEN “We’re going to need to raise 130,000.00 to fully fund it.”
HNMAG “Where will you be shooting it?”
STEPHEN “It’s all going to be shot locally and much of it will be done on a sound stage. There’s going to be a lot of indoor scenes, as well as a lot of motorcycle footage showcasing the scenery we have out here (Vancouver). We’ll have a lot of biker visuals but it’ll all be local.”
HNMAG “Can you explain Bret Hart’s character?”
STEPHEN “He plays a lead character, Inspector Carlisle, who is a veteran of the police force. A mass murder has been discovered with the bodies of dead members from a local biker gang. They don’t know who killed them or what happened, so Carlisle’s job is to investigate. This was a gang that he was a member of 10 years previous. He started out in the criminal world, his father was a biker that went to jail and had succumbed to a drug overdose. It made him change his ways; he enlisted in the police force and became a model citizen. It’s forced him to face his past.”
HNMAG “Can we anticipate a lot of shooting and fight scenes?”
STEPHEN “There’ll be some shooting, oh yeah but most of the film will be Bret’s character doing interrogations. The murders have already happened, so he’s trying to put the pieces together. He’ll bring in a lot of suspects for interrogation to ascertain their accounts and the film is going to depict those accounts. There’s going to be some contradictions between the characters and you’re going to see some substantial conflicts.”
HNMAG “What do you believe will be your biggest challenge in making this film?”
STEPHEN “Probably assembling everyone together. We have a lot of people involved and if someone can’t show up, because of something going on in their life, which happens to all of us – that could definitely be a complication. Scheduling will probably be the biggest hurdle. A lot of the movie is being filmed indoors, so it solves a lot of problems.”
HNMAG “Apart from writing, directing and producing, you and your brothers also had roles in your last film, Muskie Point. Will you have roles in this film too?”
STEPHEN “Yes, all 3 of us will be acting in it. We’re free and we’re always available (laughing). It gives us a lot of creative control and we can guide the scenes better.”
HNMAG “How large of a cast would you be looking at for this project?”
STEPHEN “We’re looking at around 25, a modest number. At this point, we still have a lot of casting to do, some key roles to fill, as well as some crew people to assemble. Overall, most of the project is ready.”
HNMAG “How long do you anticipate to shoot the project?”
STEPHEN “Probably no more than 4-weeks. It’ll be broken up into blocks. We’ll do all the outdoor shots in the summer and all the indoor shots last. It may drag out into the Fall and will most likely be finished in studio. We’ll design the set according to the scene, take all our shots, pull back and reset the studio space for another series of shots for the next scene.”
HNMAG “I love the idea of your crowdfunding campaign perks. You have a video game with Bret Hart in it, as a reward for any donation over 10 dollars. How did that materialize?”
STEPHEN “We were trying to offer incentives that we have access to and my brother Eric is a programming wiz. He programs video games, so he went to it and created the entire game. We had reached out to Bret for some sound bites and images for the animation sequences. It’s a driving game and Bret reacts behind a steering wheel to the actions of the driving, it’s a fun little game.”
HNMAG “Bret Hart is the protagonist trying to solve the murders but does he have an antagonist that he’s working against?”
STEPHEN “I don’t want to give too much away but there are a number of suspects, given that there was an internal battle brewing within the bike gang. The villains are the ones responsible for the murders, which Bret has to sort through. The audience gets to see all the background stories of the characters as the story unfolds but the killer is within the biker gang itself.”
HNMAG “Do you have access to a lot of Harleys, choppers or other bikes?”
STEPHEN “We’re going to have to seek some out, but I have a friend that’s a bike builder. I also ride and a lot of the actors with smaller roles also ride, so we should be able to find enough bikes.”
HNMAG “Have you already landed a music composer for the film?”
STEPHEN “That would also be my brother Eric, he does all the composing for our films – he’s so talented and a natural musician.”
HNMAG “Do you already have distribution for the film, once it’s complete?”
STEPHEN “We do have a working relationship with a couple of distributors that we might end up working with but nothing signed yet.”
HNMAG “Considering that you’re raising the funds through crowdfunding (Indiegogo), have you reached out to some of the other funding sources, such as Telefilm, Creative BC or others?”
STEPHEN “We really wanted this to be grassroots funded. If we were to get a grant, it doesn’t necessarily translate into an audience. The budget is small enough, where my brothers and I are working for free, so we can wait till the end to see our return. Unless we can build a big enough audience to get the film off the ground, we won’t have a big enough film to support the film financially. Seeking out a grant won’t really be worth our time; that’s my feeling on it.”
HNMAG “Do you and your brothers have designated roles in the film’s production?”
STEPHEN “We’re all involved in the directing and the writing but my main job is the producing, I’ve organized the project. My older brother Ian is really good at sound engineering and putting together the editing script that I had mentioned earlier. My brother Eric does the music composing and the actual video editing. We all have our own skill set.”
I have 2 brothers but one is a welder and the other works for the government. Three brothers that are all passionate about making films is a rarity and incredibly unique. Having support from family in anything one does in life is a blessing but having the full support of your brothers is absolutely priceless! Please support this soon to be feature film starring Bret Hart and the Sewell brothers. You’ll have the satisfaction and bragging rights to call yourself a film investor and you’ll be the proud owner of a very cool video game with Bret Hart doing the driving. It doesn’t get better than that.