That’s a Wrap

If you’ve been following the making of independent, feature-length film Warrior Road on Facebook, you know the past few months have been a wild ride. Late last October, a Charleston-based team—with financing from Denis Gallagher’s Charliewood Pictures—began filming here in the Lowcountry, capturing a story written and directed by local Brad Jayne about three teenagers who rob a South Carolina juke joint and flee up the coast.

Social media updates showed cast and crew filming a summertime scene during a freezing night on the Myrtle Beach boardwalk, lugging equipment into Circular Congregational Church, and bundled up on an overcast day at Bulls Island’s boneyard beach. Part of the Warrior Road team’s goal was to highlight the Holy City as a place where movies can be made from start to finish. “We want to put Charleston on the map in terms of creative production,” says Jayne, who would like to draw more films and investors to the area. To that end, much of the crew is from the Lowcountry—director of photography John Reynolds, hair and makeup pro Joyce Gilliard, and costume designer Emmie Holmes, to name just a few.

Many of the supporting actors are area professionals as well, though a Los Angeles casting director plucked the three young leads from a national pool of up-and-comers. Lorenzo Henrie starred in the film Almost Kings and also has a major role in upcoming feature Riding 79 (you might recognize his brother, David, from Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place or CBS’s How I Met Your Mother). Kristopher Higgins was in The Watch with Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller and had a recurring role on The Secret Life of the American Teenager. And Eddie Hassell, of The Kids are All Right, is slated to be in the Steve Jobs biopic, Jobs.

Filming wrapped in mid-December, and now it’s on to post-production. “Once we feel that we have a very solid cut of the film ready, we will submit to top-tier film festivals—Cannes, Toronto International, and Sundance are a few we may consider,” says producer Doug Coupe. “We hopefully will be accepted to a prominent festival and get some good reviews, then a distribution deal that will allow for Warrior Road to be in movie theaters throughout the country and internationally.” They’re lofty goals, he admits, but anyone familiar with the Holy City knows it’s the perfect setting for a happy cinematic ending.

For more background on Warrior Road, read our October article, “On Location,” here.

To follow the rest of Warrior Road’s journey on Facebook, click here.