[ad_1]
“The Old Man & the Gun” director David Lowery stopped by a Dallas theater on Wednesday, Oct. 22 to discuss working with the late Robert Redford on the Fort Worth-filmed movie.
The Texas Theatre-hosted screening, presented by the Fort Worth Film Commission, came more than a month after Redford’s death. The Academy Award winner died in his sleep at 89 at his home in Utah on September 22.
Lowery spoke highly of Redford, an actor he worked with twice on “The Old Man & the Gun” (2018) and “Pete’s Dragon” (2016).
“He was never judgmental about how I was directing the movie,” Lowery said at a Q&A after the screening. “He was there to act and wanted to be directed. That was an incredible vote of confidence for me, especially at that point.”
Lowery on making ‘The Old Man & the Gun’ in Fort Worth
“The Old Man & the Gun” primarily filmed in Fort Worth, with additional photography in Ohio.
The biographical heist film tells the true story of Forrest Tucker, who escaped San Quentin State Prison in 1979 at the age of 70 and went on to rob a series of banks with his “Over-the-Hill Gang” over the next few years.
In 2000, Tucker was apprehended and sentenced to 13 years in prison at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth. He died just a few years later in 2004 and is buried in Mansfield.
As a Texas filmmaker, Lowery, who grew up in Irving and lives in Dallas, said the Fort Worth angle of Tucker’s story was appealing to him.
“A lot of the crime that he did with the gang he was a part of, they were all up and down the DFW area up to Oklahoma,” Lowery said. “Just all around here.”
Lowery on meeting Redford for the first time
In 2013, Lowery premiered “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” at the Sundance Film Festival, which was founded by Redford.
After the movie played the festival, Redford’s producing partner contacted Lowery about setting up a meeting to talk about making “The Old Man & the Gun,” a film Redford had wanted to make for years.
The meeting came a few weeks later in February 2013 and actually started with Lowery stopping by Walt Disney Studios in the morning to pitch his take on “Pete’s Dragon.” Later that day, he drove to Santa Monica, California, and met with Redford.
“Both of those projects were kind of incepted into my universe in the same day,” Lowery said.
Lowery went to work on both projects at the same time, with “Pete’s Dragon” falling into place sooner.
At the time, he told Redford that there was a part in the movie that he would love for him to consider. Redford agreed and the work on that movie helped lay the groundwork for “The Old Man & the Gun.”
“Because then I was able to work with him in a smaller capacity first,” Lowery said. “Get to know him, get to know how he liked to work and then really shape the entire production of ‘The Old Man & the Gun’ for him.”
Lowery on ‘The Old Man & the Gun’ being one of Redford’s final roles
A few months before production began on “The Old Man & the Gun” in 2017, Redford announced that the film would be his final acting role.
Knowing that, Lowery said he didn’t want the film to feel like an elegy or swan song. Instead, he hoped the movie would have a fun, youthful energy.
Lowery recalled shooting a scene towards the end of the movie of Redford on horseback.
“I was like, ‘Well, Bob, if you stick to your retirement plans, that’s the last time you’ll ever be on a horse on camera again,’” Lowery said. “I think he was kind of actually glad about that.”
‘The Old Man & the Gun’ filming locations in Fort Worth
According to the Fort Worth Film Commission, “The Old Man & the Gun” filmed at the following locations in the Fort Worth area:
- Double F River Ranch
- T&P Station
- Underneath downtown in the former Leonard’s subway tunnel
- Tarrant County College
- Tarrant County jail
- Three local banks
The film also set up a production office at Near South Studios and filmed on the surrounding streets.
[ad_2]
Brayden Garcia
Source link
