Interview:
Brett Wagner,
writer/director,
"The Big Bend"
Most parents would want to forget the nerve-racking experience of searching for a lost child in the West Texas desert. But not California-based writer/director Brett Wagner and Austin-based producer Aaron Brown. A few years ago, the Wagner family vacationed with the Brown family at the latter’s Airbnb property near Terlingua. During the vacation, one of Brown’s sons got lost for an hour during a hike in the desert before he was safe and unharmed. The incident prompted Wagner to write and direct the thriller The Big Bend, which not only is produced by Brown but was filmed at his house near Terlingua. In The Big Bend, the Price family travels from New York to Terlingua to stay at the Talbott family’s West Texas vacation home. Each family must set aside their personal issues when one of the children goes missing in the desert. Making matter worse: an escaped convict (Nick Masciangelo) is hiding out in the desert. The cast includes Jason Butler Harner as Cory Price, Virginia Kull as Melanie Price, David Sullivan as Mac Talbott, and Erica Ash as Georgia Talbott. Writer/director Brett Wagner’s daughters Delilah and Zoe play Cory and Melanie Prices’ children Fiona and Olive, respectively. Austin-based singer-songwriter Alejandro Rose-Garcia, a.k.a. Shakey Graves, makes a brief appearance as a local police officer as well as contributes songs and music to the film. The Big Bend, which premiered locally during this year's Austin Film Festival, is available to stream through Nov. 28 during the Hawaii International Film Festival. Brett Wagner makes his feature film directorial debut with The Big Bend, which is produced by Aaron Brown of the Austin-based Onion Creek Productions.
Aired: Nov. 18, 2021. Web sites: https://www.facebook.com/TheBigBendMovie/ http://www.wagnervision.com https://www.onioncreekproductions.com/ https://hiff.org/films/the-big-bend/ |
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