'Ida Red' filmmaker John Swab talks about putting out three movies this year

It's only the first week of February, and Oklahoma filmmaker John Swab has already unleashed two action-packed movies this year, with a third thriller expected later in 2023.

Since it's not the first time he's released multiple movies in a single year — his crime dramas "Ida Red" and "Body Brokers" both bowed in 2021 — it's easy to conclude that the Tulsa-based writer-director and his producing partner, Jeremy Rosen, are as relentless in their way as Doc Alexander (Marvel Cinematic Universe standout Frank Grillo), the double-crossed protagonist of their new thriller "Little Dixie."

"Jeremy and I are both very driven people. I'd like to think we're both high functioning and want to get better at what we're doing. We've seen opportunities to make sometimes multiple films in a year, and we've seized them because, why not? We love movies, and we love making them and we want to continue to get better each time we do it. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take," Swab said by phone last week from New York.

"These movies all coming out like this — this closely together — wasn't necessarily on purpose. Much of that is out of our control, but it is a little crazy."

Filmed in Montana, his horror movie "Candy Land" debuted Jan. 6 in select theaters and on Video On Demand via Quiver Distribution. Swab will participate in a Q&A at a special Oklahoma City showing of the truck stop sex worker slasher film at 7 p.m. Feb. 9 at Rodeo Theatre in Stockyards City.

On Feb. 3, Paramount Pictures will release "Little Dixie," which Swab made on his home turf in Tulsa, Catoosa, Sand Springs and Owasso, in select theaters, on digital and on demand following its January premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The gritty, gory and darkly funny action vehicle is driven by Grillo's ex-special forces operative, who brokers a doomed deal between a corrupt Oklahoma governor ("Euphoria's" Eric Dane) and a Mexican drug cartel led by the ruthless Prado brothers (Maurice Compte and Beau Knapp).

And Lionsgate is expected to premiere sometime this year "One Day as a Lion," another crime thriller that Swab directed last year in his home state. Scott Caan (" Ocean's Eleven") wrote the script and plays the lead role of Jackie Powers, a beleaguered gangster determined to prevent his son from following him into a life of crime. The star-studded cast also includes Grillo, Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons and Oscar nominee Virginia Madsen.  

A 2007 graduate of Tulsa's Edison High School, Swab talked with The Oklahoman about his homegrown movies, the burgeoning Oklahoma film industry and more:

Is it hard to keep it all straight working on this many projects?  

Not really. I operate — and so does Jeremy — better under pressure. With a lot of things going on, there's no real guesswork. It keeps the both of us very objective and unemotional in our decisions.

I think a lot of people — me included — when there's only one thing going on, you can be paralyzed by choice and decision making, because you're too precious about it. ... We love movies, so getting to make them and getting to share them with people this frequently is a treat. Whether or not they like them is a whole other thing, but we'd like to think they'll find some sort of audience.

How was it to go to Montana to make 'Candy Land' and then come back to Tulsa with 'Little Dixie?' 

I love making movies at home. And I own a home in Tulsa now, so I can sleep at home and work at home, which was a first for me. So, it was, I guess, as close to a dream experience as you can get ... getting to roll out of bed and go to work.

I love making movies in Oklahoma, and I'd make as many as they'll let me because I get to involve my friends, my family. It's very much a mom-and-pop shop that Jeremy and I have built. And people that we bring in from out of state and people that come back multiple times really appreciate that, because it's not like a factory or just another production that people are hopping onto at one of the big production hubs like Atlanta or L.A. or New York. We care for people. People enjoy Oklahoma, and the culture we've built around these movies, we're proud of.

You specialize in gritty crime dramas with a 1970s throwback vibe, but they are so specific to Oklahoma that it's interesting to think of them screening at European festivals in Rotterdam, Rome and Locarno, Switzerland. Do they play well in Europe? 

I'd be lying if I said my films were not received much better in Europe than they are in States. So, it's always nice to go over there because they treat you really well, and they seem to be really receptive to the movies we're making. It's nice to have support like that, no matter where it's coming from. ...

I grew up in Oklahoma, and I always had this fantasy of leaving to go make movies or be an artist or whatever. Then, in a roundabout way, I've found out that Oklahoma has become one of my best assets at being an artist and being a filmmaker. ... Especially in Europe, they really appreciate and are nostalgic for movies about classic America. ... Oklahoma, half of its charm is that it's kind of a time capsule in a lot of the state. When you get to capture that on film, people in other countries, their idea of America still is that in a lot of places ... so they're nostalgic for it.

Can you talk about bringing politics into this particular film?  

Jeremy, really, after "Body Brokers," pushed me to own my roots from Oklahoma and (start) incorporating that as much as we can, because it's proven to be an asset. When you're making a movie in Oklahoma about Oklahoma and setting it there, oil, government politics, cartels, these are umbrella things that are easy to cherry pick and make a movie about. ... I grew up in proximity to small-town politics ... and it just seems like it's very ripe for backstabbing and nefarious dealings.

I think of you mostly as a writer-director, but with "One Day as a Lion," how was it to direct a movie by another writer? 

Yeah, that was a unique experience that I don't think will be replicated again, for any other reason than the lead actor is also the writer. It's a peculiar situation to be in as a director ... but it's a fun movie. It's more of an action-comedy. Jeremy is friendly with Scott Caan's agent ... and I read it and talked to Scott and Scott was a cool guy. ... I had never really directed anything somebody else wrote, and it was a great exercise. It taught me how to be completely objective with text and with scripts, because I have no emotional connection to it.

I got to work with some great actors, I got to work with a lot of actors I've worked with before, and the movie's a fun ride. Do I enjoy writing or directing what I wrote more? Without question. I very much do, especially when it's things I wrote for a specific place like Oklahoma.

Beyond releasing these three movies this year, what's next for you? 

Jeremy and I, we're prepping a movie now that we are going to shoot in Oklahoma in March and April. ... It's got a great cast — some familiar faces; some new ones — and it's a lot of fun. ... Then, I just finished the script that we'll ideally shoot there in the fall.

Since the new state film incentive passed in 2021, there's been a lot of attention on the growth of the film industry here in Oklahoma. How has your experience been working in the bigger and burgeoning Oklahoma film industry? 

As long as they pre-approve me to shoot there and give me the tax credit, I love it. (laughs) When they don't, it's very frustrating. I know other filmmakers from Tulsa or from Oklahoma feel the same way. We feel like, if we helped pioneer the program — and film production in the state in general — then there should be some priority there.

Maybe that's just convenient for me to think that way, but it just hasn't always been the case. Fortunately, it is the case now with this current project coming up, so I'm thrilled. But it's great, and it's also burdensome, because when we were a big fish in a small pond, we could move and operate in a way that we can't now. However, I do see that it's great for the economy, great for the state."

'CANDY LAND' OKC SCREENING

• When: 7 p.m. Feb. 9, with a Q&A with writer-director John Swab after the movie.

• Where: Rodeo Theatre at Stockyards, 2221 Exchange Ave.

• Tickets: https://www.facebook.com/RodeoCinema.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoman John Swab talks about film 'Little Dixie,' working in state