Synopsis
September 1989. Hank Keller (Billy Zane) and his young wife Becky (Mariana Klaveno) live on a farmhouse, several miles outside of the tiny rural town of Redemption, where Becky works as a waitress at the local diner. Hank struggles to make a living restoring cars, working out of a shed on the farm. A long-overdue rainstorm gathers in the distance as Becky arrives home from work on her bicycle. Before the couple can finish dinner, the rain arrives, bringing welcome relief to the muggy farmhouse. Hank whispers tenderly to Becky, as he unbuttons her waitress uniform, that he doesn’t want her to worry any more about money; things are about to get better for them.
They move to the bedroom and slowly start to make love, but an alarming knock at the back door interrupts their private moment, and Hank heads for the door, gun in hand, where he finds a wet, disheveled young man, who asks to borrow the phone. He says his truck ran off the road, and he needs to call a tow truck to pull it out of a ditch. Hank reluctantly offers the young man a rotary phone on a long cord, along with the local phone book, and suspiciously watches as the young man places his call.
When the soaked young man tells the tow truck dispatcher that his name is Richard Youngblood, Keller’s demeanor immediately changes – he is stunned to hear that name, and when Youngblood finishes his call and hands the heavy telephone back to Keller, Keller abruptly smashes Youngblood in the face with it, dropping him to the ground.
Before Youngblood comes to, Keller drags him from the house to the barn, and ties Youngblood’s feet and hands behind his back, leaving him on the concrete floor. Keller returns to the house, and lies to his wife, saying that the guy who knocked on the door made a phone call and then left the property. The two go back to bed, and once Becky is asleep, Keller sneaks out of the bedroom and takes a worried look through a storage box of Becky’s keepsakes. There he finds what he was looking for – a snapshot of Becky and Youngblood from their younger days, when they were lovers. Before Keller met her.
Did Youngblood come to the house to take Becky back? Is he there to take Keller out of the picture? Or does he truly not know whose farm he has found?
About The Project
Director Corrie Duryée
"I was introduced to the screenplay by Tony Becerra, one of my dearest friends in film, who knew its wonderful screenwriter Meagan Daine from on-set production work. Larry and I were bowled over by the power of the story, and optioned the screenplay, working with Meagan for more than a year to get it ready for production. It was the first time I had ever developed or directed a script that someone else had written, and I found that a fascinating process; in some ways I found it more freeing than writing and directing myself. Meagan is a brilliant writer, and I am honored that I got to direct the first movie made from one of her screenplays."
Screenwriter Meagan Daine
"I started writing this story five years ago. It started off as a scene between two men in a barn, in which one of the men wanted to avenge a wrong the other had committed against him years ago but lacked the courage to do it. And I finished it and thought, 'I think there's more to this story.' So I wrote it as a one-act play. Then I looked at the one-act, and I thought, 'I think there's still more to this story,' so I wrote it as a full-length play. And then there was a reading of the play, which a film producer came to see, and he said, 'I think this story is a movie.' So I wrote it as a film, and that version finally found its way into the loving hands of Cornelia Duryée. I think she and I share a passion for the story for one main reason -- the characters. They want so much, but what they want is always slightly out of reach. And their refusal to accept that, their refusal to give up what they so desperately desire, leads to heartbreaking consequences."
Director Corrie Duryée
"I loved Meagan’s take on an isolated couple’s intense relationship, and how that intersected with one particular hell that one particular returning soldier had to go through, as he attempted to re-integrate into the world he had left behind. I loved the passion and the pure gut-wrenching beauty of her story.
"Casting for this movie was terribly exciting. We saw a great many actors in L.A., and came away from the casting process feeling blessed beyond our wildest dreams. The talent, heart, and dedication of these three actors continue to astonish me every time I see a screening of West of Redemption. It is such a joy when you watch a movie you have been working on for many years, and get a thrill each time, because the acting and production are so fine that they still astonish you. Larry has convinced me, over our twelve years of working together, to never "rush" an editing process; to work until we believe it is as good as it can be. We took our time with this one, and I am so glad. I am blessed and honored to be the director of West of Redemption. It’s been a joy bringing it to life."