Oklahoma filmmaker plots to make deadCenter feature 'Out of Exile' bigger than its budget

UPDATE: "Out of Exile" has been named the Best Oklahoma Feature of the 2022 deadCenter Film Festival.

Kyle Kauwika Harris claims he might have been "kind of a jerk" in making his first feature film.

"Ambitious" might be a more accurate term to describe the Oklahoma moviemaker and the creation of his homegrown crime drama "Out of Exile."

"We made this for just a little bit of money — I mean, not very much at all. But what we lacked in finances, we made up for it with a lot of passion. And that's what you've got to have," Harris said during an autumn cast and crew screening for the film in Shawnee.

"I didn't want to just do something really, really small. I'm kind of a jerk, so I wanted to go big or go home. I had a bunch of screenplays laying around, and I was like, 'let's go do this one.'"

The writer-director opted to go big by going home: Harris filmed his action-packed crime thriller in Shawnee, Yukon, Oklahoma City and the surrounding areas in fall 2020 with a cast and crew comprised primarily of his fellow Oklahomans.

"There's a lot of logistics with an ambitious film like this," said producer Kelley Gann. "I think there were over 36 locations, and a lot of things were filmed here in Shawnee, which was amazing. Over 100 cast, crew and other ... people came together to make this film. There's a lot that goes into making a movie of this scale."

Filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, "Out of Exile" will have its world premiere at Oklahoma City's deadCenter Film Festival, which has its full slate of in-person screenings, parties and panels back for the first time since 2019 due to the pandemic. The state's largest film festival, deadCenter opens Thursday and continues through Sunday at various OKC venues.

When is 'Out of Exile' showing?

"Out of Exile" will screen at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Harkins Bricktown 16 and 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Rodeo Theatre at Stockyards during deadCenter. 

The movie features several familiar faces for deadCenter audiences: "Out of Exile" follows Gabriel Russell (Shawnee actor Adam Hampton, who starred in the Oklahoma-made 2018 deadCenter prize winner "The Jurassic Games") as a recently paroled thief trying to stay out of trouble and mend his broken family.

"It's a really complex script and it takes a lot of the anticipated things that you would have in that genre of bank robbers — good bank robbers and relentless cops — and it's really exciting. It's got a real Oklahoma flavor, which I really, really like," Hampton told The Oklahoman.

"It feels like a really honest thing to be a part of."

An Edmond native now based in Los Angeles, Hayley McFarland ("The Conjuring," Mickey Reece's "Agnes," which was featured at deadCenter 2021) plays Gabriel's estranged daughter.

Who else stars in 'Out of Exile?'

A deadCenter Film ICON Award recipient, Ryan Merriman, who previously co-starred with Hampton in "The Jurassic Games," plays the FBI agent hunting Gabriel and his crew (including OKC actors Kyle Jacob Henry and Wilson Navas) after a botched armored car robbery.

A Choctaw native, Merriman worked for several years in Los Angeles on Disney Channel Original Movies, studio films like "Final Destination 3" and the Freeform series "Pretty Little Liars," before moving back to his home state a few years ago to work locally and raise his family.

"Why we love acting (is) it doesn't really matter the budget; it's all about the script and the director and the vision. ... You could do a $20 million (expletive) script and it's not fun. Or, you can do something that's way more lean on the budget, but it's meaty with the script, meaty with characters, and it's a blast," Merriman said.

"I had a blast making this. ... Everybody had their A-game on, and it's just fun to work with people who are excited about doing the work and having fun doing it. (Small) budget or not, it's all about the people and the project." 

"Out of Exile" gets some Hollywood star power from renowned and immediately recognizable character actor Peter Greene ("Training Day," "The Mask"), who plays a fierce crime boss who shares a violent history with Gabriel.

"He was very passionate, and it was pretty surreal getting to work with him ... after seeing him on the big screen in the theater as a kid. I remember seeing him in 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Judgment Night,'" Hampton recalled.

"It was really cool because he was all about rehearsal — and some actors are too big for that. He and I would be out in the parking lot ... going over lines, and he was excited. He would offer ideas, but then he would take ideas. He was just super enthusiastic about being there, and that's really, really exciting for homegrown cats to be able to play with these guys that we've seen on the big screen. It was everything I could have wanted it to be — and more."

Homegrown cast and crew battle to make movie bigger than its budget

Already a regional Emmy Award winner for his documentary "I Stand: The Guardians of the Water," Harris wanted to pull off a sort of cinematic heist with his first narrative feature film by making it look much bigger than its modest budget.

"Making a movie is going into battle. It really is. Man, there's just no time to even breathe. You just show up on set, and you're firing on all cylinders trying to get everything you need," said Harris, a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma who's also of Hawaiian heritage.

"We had 20 SAG (Screen Actors Guild union) days to shoot this film, and I think we had two extra pickup days afterwards. But it was just fast, and that was the hard part. Ben Affleck's (heist movie) 'The Town' had 60 days."

Actors undergo weapons training for crime thriller's action sequences

Along with filming in real banks, bars and other locations, the actors did intensive weapons training to make the movie's action sequences look real.  

"We trained for all these scenes ... like the armored car heist for a month in advance before we even started filming," said Harris, who hails from Spiro. "We rehearsed to get so we were battle ready, because once we got to set we'd have three hours to shoot a scene. So, these guys would have to be ready to rock and roll."  

But the director said it was vital not to overlook the film's more low-key, dramatic moments.  

"This is an ambitious movie for the budget size, and there's a lot of little small scenes in between big scenes. And those scenes are equally as important as the big ones, because it helps add up when you're looking at the entire story," he said.  

As his first feature makes its debut, the Oklahoma moviemaker said he is planning to make his next movie in his home state, too.  

"I just started a small production company. I have numerous screenplays sort of like this, crime thrillers. So, we're already having lots of conversations," he said. "I have some written, I have some that we're writing, and we want to go bigger." 

DEADCENTER FILM FESTIVAL  

When: Thursday through Sunday.  

Where: Various Oklahoma City venues.  

Tickets and information: www.deadCenterFilm.org.   

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma filmmaker plots to make 'Out of Exile' bigger than its budget