Sharpened Iron Studios premiers first feature film at Globe-News Center for Performing Arts

On Thursday, “What Remains,” the first feature film release from Amarillo-based Sharpened Iron Studios, will make its Amarillo premiere at the Globe-News Center for Performing Arts with cast and crew of the film on hand.

The film, which completed filming in October of last year, was shot locally in Amarillo, Canyon and Claude. The film features cast members, which include Kellan Lutz from the "Twilight" franchise, Cress Williams from the DC series "Black Lightning", and the late Anne Heche.

Heche was a Daytime Emmy Award Winner for the soap opera “Another World,” in as well as a Tony and Primetime Emmy award nominee. This film is the last filmed role of Heche, who died in August of last year due to complications from a car accident that left her in a coma. Heche was 53 and was in about 50 feature films, which include “Donnie Brasco,” “Volcano” and “Six Days Seven Nights.”

In "What Remains," the movie follows a recent parolee, played by Lutz, who returns to the town where he murdered the local pastor's wife (Williams) and is forced to reconcile his anger with forgiveness. Heche plays the local sheriff who is investigating another homicide that may be related to the crime.

Sean Doherty, the founder and chief executive officer for Sharpened Iron Studios, spoke about the mission of his studio and the importance of this premiere for its putting the studio on the map.

“For us, this is a tremendous first step; what people do not realize is that producing a movie is incredibly difficult,” Doherty said. “We are only two years old as a studio, and we now have a completed film with worldwide distribution. The local outpouring of support is amazing, especially with 800 people coming to our premiere.”

Doherty said that he already has a deal in place with the Starz network to show the film 18 months after its theatrical release.

“There are a lot of folks in the industry that said that this wasn’t possible,” Doherty said. "We made this film on a $1.5 million budget and have already secured a $1 million deal with Starz to air it. This is before not one ticket, DVD or streaming sale being counted as of yet.”

Doherty said that residents would get to see many familiar sites of the city in the film, with the majority of the film being shot in Amarillo and Claude.

The film will open in about 21 markets nationwide, including locally at the Cinemark Theatre chain in Amarillo on Friday, Dec 2.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Sharpened Iron Studios premiers its first feature film in Amarillo