David Daze (Director) -The Gunfighters Last Stand -interview 2010
David Daze is an Independent writer-director, born in Augusta , Ga. who, after writing for a number of years, turned director in 2006 and took the Low budget Independent Action Genre to a whole new level with his 2006 martial-arts action film " Street Godz Of War II" Daze's directing skills in fact, matted very well with his writing abilities and although, partly due to his meticulous film preparation, and his ability to film a feature movie in just a short amount of time is what caught my attention and may very well be one of his boldest strong points. His films (almost unbelivable as it may sound) output (volume and quality wise) looks likely to be about 12 feature films per year so needless to say Mr. David Daze looks set for a very, very high profile film career in the near future. 
He first came to noterity to me in 2007 when I received his martial arts action film screener "Street Godz Of War II" which I found very enjoyable and it really peeked my intrest to learn more about him as a movie maker, an actor and as a screen writer, David Daze recently won "The Directors Screenplay Festival" winning both catagories for best screenplay writer and Best New Indie Film Director and was voted Independent Movie Maker of the year for 2010 by Doug Diggs of "HOLLYWOOD ROCKSTARS MAGAZINE". Earlier in 2009, at the "Action On Action film Festival" he took first place for Best Action Film Director and Best Screenplay Writer along with awards for Best Action Villian and Best Leading Action Star.
With all thats been happening in his short (five year) film career Daze's films have kept a fairly low profile in the Independent films circuit, despite some great reviews on his work (movies) Daze still manages a steady flow of both original material that gives us something the big studios arn't offering us these days and some sweet-natured performances from his excellent casting's for his movies, if you have ever seen a David Daze film you will be amazed at how well his films are acted out by completely unknown actors. This being due to both excellent casting and outstanding Directing skills ..........both on Daze's part. Tarentino maybe known as the carreer reviver, (by re-starting, actors who's carreers have been in a slump) but I think David Daze will be known for jump starting carreers up in his films amoung other things. Bottom line is this guy is the total package, he can write an award winning script, turn-right-around and cast unknown actors who not only can play the part in the film but actually look the part and then direct the entire project and have a finished film in less time than most filmakers can shoot a six min short film!
Now......... following that, his latest film is ' The Gunfighters Last Stand', starring himself, Michael Brown, L. Ashley Evans, Justin Riddick, Steve Warren, T.C. Bronson and Warren Hogan, the story is set twenty years after the tragic American Civil War just as the south is still recovering and its a chronicolized journey of twelve hardened gunfighters who desend upon a tiny rural southern town called Pinetucky Ga.
Daze where did you find your inspiration for writing a western script? And why even shoot a period piece like a western film? "I am a huge fan of the western movie genre, my inspiration comes from growing up on western shows, films and history, I have written quite a few western scripts , this script was actually my second western script and my biggest .....its a saga and its three volumes in lenght but my first was a spaghetti western which I will be shooting this fall. However, taking pen to camara is something all together different, when I decided to pick up a camara in 2006 and start making movies, I knew it wouldnt be long before I would shoot my first western film, however the question was'nt so much to when I would but more to, "which one of my western scripts I would actually shoot first". I didnt want to rush this part, I set back and just waited on things to eventually come together, like locations, props, timing and meeting the right actors who could breathe life into my story's characters. "
I noticed in another blog or an article that this film is not a western but in fact an eastern? Whats that all about? "Ha, most western films take place in the good ol "wild west" or atleast the basic story is about easterners who traveled out west and shed their good ways for raising hell days. But this one is centered on the premise of what would happen if they returned back to the east and went buck wild as they would have let loose in dodge city.
The film's primary story is set in a tiny rural town in southeast Ga known as pinetucky. some twenty years after the devastating Amercan Civil War, but shot all over the southeastern united states. Was that because the area has the feel and look of another age or time frame? " Pinetucky was an actual town located northwest of my hometown of augusta ga, the film has documentary footage in the menu which highlights some little known facts about the town and even has a few photos of the original town along with some archive footage I shot of the towns only remaining remnants. I could'nt use the actual location for the shoot but In four years of shooting films in different areas of the southeast, I discovered something so consonant with the film 's time frame and virtual essence that can still be found in areas of the southeastern U.S. places so beautiful and untrammelled. You can drive past fields full of cotton and corn and beautiful vast area's of farmland........ Sometimes it feels like time travelling. So using some of these locations I was able, in bits and pieces to bring back the essence of the original towns era."
Off the bat here, there is an aray of gunslingers in this film that really bring back fond memories of the hey-day of westerns, like Sheriff Big Hoss (played by Warren W. Hogan) , Colt Rivers (played by Michael Brown) who is gunning for revenge on Rio Pinon, and Chance "fasthands" Walker (played by Steve Warren) who has one of the earliest gunfights in the film shot near a lake in the rain........I loved that gunfight it just was pure classic western in every sense of the word. What influenced you the most in setting up the structure of your characters and gunfights in this movie? "Every western film ever made! Colt Rivers , Bigg Hoss and Chance are what any western film needs.........rock solid gunslingers who are the good guys, just as any good western should have that ultimate showdown (gunfight), which clearly defines the HERO's from the bad guys. That particular gunfight was shot in Gibson Ga, when it was 18 degrees and that was'nt rain....it was sleet and just cold as hell, my camara lens kept fogging up and I had to use an anti-fogging solution on the lens just to get my shots. But the actors were awsome and never once complained during the shoot. When your shooting in the elements everything becomes unpredictable and its good to work with professionals. That helps everything flow and allows you to continue to the next shoots with no worries.
The main cast of characters in this film become more focused as the story progresses and we (the audience) really get the chance to learn about these characters and how they develop into the storyline. The Gunfighters who ride into town each have their own agendas .........some being wealth seekers just looking to capitalize on the rewards of Rio Pinon and Rooster Hollander, but others have more under-lying reasons, like revenge. Among the later is Shane "sixkiller" Madsen (played by you) and Stacy "sixguns" Goodwin (played by L. Ashley Evans). who plays this part very well as the story's "BADGIRL" , they seem to develop a sorta kindred love affair thru-out the movie, will this continue to progress into the next parts of the saga? This romantic and sometimes frantic tension between your character and Stacy's is sustained very well through very few scenes, was this an easy thing for a Director to accomplish? "Everyone who has seen the film has asked me this, and all I can say at this point is you just have to wait and see, Both of these characters do run thru-out the saga and their story eventually come's to its fruition in the final conclusion, part III.
There is another onscreen romance which develpos in the films story between the young Dillon Ford (played by justin riddick) and Sarah Ann Porter (played by natalia lewis) who is a share croppers daughter sent out into the world at a very young age after her mother has passed away to escape a life of poverty and dispair on the plantation. "When I was researching 'the late western and civil war era's. ' I kept reading about wartime romances and wartime brides. There's this strange thing that occurs when death is close at hand - life becomes suddenly very urgent. It accelerates relationships and feelings. People cling to each other, they cling to life in the face of so much cruelty and certain death. It feels to me that in these periods in time, all of the volume controls for "LOVE and NEEDING " are turned right up." Unlike the romance between Shane and Stacy, who are more older and mature...............the romance between Dillon Ford and Sarah Ann is more innocent and of a nuturing first love as the two characters are very young and both recovering from a tramatic event in their lives which has left them feeling both ashamed and mornful.
There is a large body of characters in the film aside from the main cast, but I really liked how you portrayed even the smaller cliched character roles like "Willard" the wartime vet, (played by Richard Huffman) who is also the town drunk. And "Willie T" the stable boy, (played by willis e. smith) often times found thru-out the film talking to the towns farm animals and tending to the towns garden. And Miss Lilly Ann (played by alyce blondale) who is the towns whiskey runner. All three were very likeable and sometimes funny. Where was the inspiration for these characters? ' Well the inspiration for all the characters in this film are people I have known either directly or indirectly thru-out my lifetime. The trick for me is always casting the right person who can, not only act the part but also look the part to make the character more realistic and come to life on screen.
Now for the final.........its the villians of the story Rio Pinon (played by Roger Letizia) and Rooster Hollander (played by James B. Horn) and these guys are just ruthless outlaws who will play dirty, In one scene during a gunfight Rooster shoots Johnny Lee Ringo in the back as he is facing off to Rio for a showdown, After shooting the man in the back and then finishing him off up close and personal with a headshot, Rooster simply throws whats left of his smoke on Ringo's back as he lay dying and nodds (victory) to Rio as he walks away. This scene is just one of the many , many gunfights in the film and after watching this one act, I hated Rooster and Rio and couldnt wait to see them go down in a gunfight! The ending of the film just completely surprised me and I came away feeling both happy and really sad for what happens to everyone after the final act. Was it nessassary to fill the movie with so much violence? And with so many gunfights? " The villians in this film are pretty brutal as they have to be in order to both sustain and to survive, Rio lost his gang after a botched robbery in Amarillo Texas, Roosters men were split up after an ambush in Dallas so the two outlaw leaders fled east to hide out and regroup, landing in the little town of Pinetucky. So both are always watching the others back, just as brothers in arms would do. I knew going into this film I would not only double the action scenes (gunfights) as in a typical western film, but I tripled them, because gunfights push the story along and gives lots of action and adds to the characters hinesights. A good gunfight in any western will let you know right at hand how that gunfighters character truly is. Bad or Good.
Interviewed by Danny Onforo, 2010