A part of Northwest Arkansas will be on theater screens across the country this weekend. The film Violent Ends was shot all across the area. The movie opens in wide release on Friday.
The revenge-tinged thriller is written and directed by John-Michael Powell, an Arkansas native now living in Los Angeles. Powell and Undine Buka, a producer of the film, recently talked with Ozarks at Large’s Kyle Kellams. Kyle asked John-Michael what it feels like to have a project he’s worked on for years finally ready for the public.
Powell: When you go through this process, it’s such a long process. I mean, I wrote the first draft of the script in 2013, so this story has been inside me for a very long time, and I’ve lived with it for a very long time. But so much of the process of making and releasing a movie is bit-by-bit, little pieces. Then, obviously, the snowball gets rolling downhill and it gets going faster and bigger.
And right now I feel everything. I feel excited, I feel terrified, I feel mystified. It’s a bit like I keep saying I’m in the fog of war right now — it’s so much every day that it’s just kind of crazy. But I’m very excited for people to see the movie, especially people in Arkansas, because it’s not often that us Arkansans get a movie that actually depicts Arkansans in a real, nuanced way.
This movie has so much beautiful photography in the state. We shot it all in Northwest Arkansas, and I’m really excited for all my friends and family back home and all the people in the state to get to see the film.
Kellams: And Undine, how about from a producer’s standpoint?
Buka: I think it’s definitely similar feelings. It’s like, you make a film — there’s a lot of things out of your control — but when it’s going to be released, it’s definitely scary because even more things out of your control. You’re just hoping people get to see it and connect with it. It’s exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time, I will say.
Kellams: So, as you mentioned, shot in Northwest Arkansas. Well, I know sometimes you think you’ll recognize a place that you’ve lived in for a long time in a film, but the way things are shot, you don’t necessarily see them the way you see them in real life. Will we recognize parts of Northwest Arkansas?
Powell: Certainly, yeah, I definitely think so. There were a few locations we shot, like the Crawford County Speedway, which is kind of an iconic location that folks up in that neck of the woods will recognize.
There are a few little things — we shot at this beautiful bank in Berryville, which is in the town square, a small town but a beautiful mid-century bank. Then, you know, I’m such a nerd for this kind of stuff, but we shot the movie in October and November. I think people who grew up and know Arkansas well will recognize the foliage and the time of year.
It’s a very autumnal movie — a lot of oranges and yellows — and the landscape is so in my DNA. I grew up in North Little Rock, but I went to school at the university for a couple of years, lived up there, and when I watch the movie, I just get this nostalgic pang of nature that’s so unique to Arkansas. It’s so funny how that’s in your DNA and you know it immediately visually — that’s where I’m from.
You’re going to see Arkansas in a new light, a beautiful light you probably haven’t seen before, and you’re going to see a few little locations that strike a memory.
Kellams: You mentioned the speedway, and you see a couple of those scenes in the trailer. You also see some scenes where people are running and there are far shots. How do you direct that? Some of these shots seem like you’ve got one or two chances to get them, especially if you’re trying to get that autumnal light. What does it take to set up some of those shots?
Powell: A lot of planning and a lot of stress — and a lot of that stress was on Undine’s shoulders, especially that speedway. The Crawford County Speedway was a very challenging shoot because you’re managing, I don’t know, nine or ten cars out on the track racing.
We’re shooting at night because we can’t shoot during the day. They have to do business during the day. So it’s two in the morning and everybody’s stressed, and you only have so many hours to get everything done. It just takes an immense amount of preparation.
We started prep and location scouting probably in June or July. We were very ahead of the curb and we made many trips. I live in Los Angeles now. My mother still lives in North Little Rock, and all my family is still in Arkansas, so I would fly out and stay with my mom, see my cousins, and drive around with our location scout, Aaron Raines, who would truffle-hunt for us and find all these beautiful locations a little bit off the beaten path.
It’s also about having a great team. Undine’s a great producer. Vincent Sieber, our other producer, was amazing. Elijah, our cinematographer, was integral in the planning — especially when it comes to the light.
Our story is about a character going — not to spoil anything — but going from probably the best of them to, by the end of the movie, questionably the worst of them. It’s that fall-from-grace story. We wanted the seasons and the foliage and the leaves to reflect that fall from grace.
So literally, at the beginning of the movie, if you’re watching, it’s very orange and yellow — very autumnal. By the end, it’s pretty dry and wintry and it’s getting to ‘death territory.’ That was all by design, and Elijah, he had a huge influence on that.
Kellams: Undine, where are you from the time that you're starting to think about shots to the end. Where are you along in this way? for those who don’t know exactly what a producer does, where are you in this way — from the time you start thinking about shots to the end?
Buka: For the actual shooting process, they always call you when there are issues. Ideally, you’re there nearby but not needed in some weird way — you’re there for creative input if necessary or some organizational things for the next week. But hopefully you’re kind of on standby because everything is planned and going according to plan, which is not always the case.
I think John-Michael mentioned the speedway day. That was the most stressful day because we almost needed to move the shoot. I don’t know if you remember this, John-Michael, but it basically, it said it was going to rain that night, and we couldn’t figure out in the schedule where to move it. We were looking at six different weather apps and thought, ‘Oh man, it’s also going to get really cold, so the night of cold for actors would not be great.’ “So we kind of needed to do it. Some people were like, ‘Let’s push,’ but Vincent and I were like, ‘I think we should just do it. I think it’s not going to rain.’ Things like that you can’t influence — and it really didn’t rain. I don’t know how that happened.
Also the drivers. We were so grateful because all the drivers were local drivers who just came out and were down to do laps for us. The only thing people sometimes don’t realize — they think about film and think it’s fancy and you come for an hour and go home. They didn’t realize it’s going to be almost all night.
At some point, I could feel the excitement going down, so me and our first AD, Jen, were literally going and begging them to stay for one more hour — until 2 a.m. There are those things you do behind the scenes, just hoping to make the day and make everyone feel safe and go on plan. The key is to hire a great team that helps you in every way.
Undine is a producer of the movie Violent Ends, and John-Michael Powell is the writer and director of the film. The movie opens nationally on Friday, but there’s also a sneak-preview screening at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock tomorrow. Undine and John-Michael will be in attendance at that preview screening. They spoke with Ozarks at Large’s Kyle Kellams earlier this month.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
