The Last Rodeo stands as a powerful testament to authentic American storytelling, combining the grit and spectacle of professional bull riding with a deeply moving father-daughter reconciliation narrative. Award-Winning Producer Kip Konwiser describes it as a story with "sweet and salty" elements, balancing intense rodeo action with emotional family dynamics. The film, which earned a family-friendly PG rating, manages to deliver both high-octane bull riding sequences and heartfelt moments that speak to core American values.
What makes this film particularly unique is the unprecedented level of authenticity achieved in portraying the professional bull riding world. The production team worked closely with the Professional Bull Riders Association (PBR), securing their entire operation for ten days in Tulsa. This collaboration allowed the filmmakers to capture rodeo sequences with exceptional intimacy and realism. Cameras were planted in the ground, often destroyed with each ride and replaced, while smaller pens were constructed to intensify the action. The result is rodeo footage unlike anything previously captured on film, with massive bulls launching cowboys 10-15 feet into the air. This dedication to authenticity reflects the film's broader commitment to genuine storytelling that resonates with audiences seeking entertainment that aligns with traditional American values.
Behind the scenes, The Last Rodeo represents a deeply personal journey for actor Neal McDonough, who stars in and co-wrote the film. McDonough's career trajectory parallels themes in the movie, as he famously stepped away from lucrative Hollywood opportunities that conflicted with his personal values, particularly his commitment to not film intimate scenes with actresses other than his wife. In a beautiful full-circle moment, McDonough's actual wife, Ruve, appears as his love interest in the film. This backstory adds another layer of authenticity to a project already rich with genuine heartland spirit. The film's director, Jon Avnet, brought considerable filmmaking expertise to elevate the production, ensuring the story could "speak to our entire country" rather than remain a small independent film. This collaborative effort, guided by McDonough's "North Star" vision, resulted in a film that aims to remind viewers that when they believe in their truth and form community around shared values, they discover their "superpower."
The Last Rodeo ultimately delivers a message about American resilience, redemption, and the importance of staying true to one's values despite challenges. It showcases exceptional performances not just from McDonough but also from Mykelti Williamson (whose character serves as the "access point" for audiences and the film's source of humor and faith) and Sarah Jones.
In an entertainment landscape often disconnected from traditional values, The Last Rodeo offers a refreshingly authentic alternative that families can enjoy together while experiencing a genuine slice of American culture. As Memorial Day weekend approaches, this film provides the perfect opportunity for audiences to support local cinemas while experiencing a story that celebrates faith, family, and freedom in the uniquely American setting of professional bull riding.
The Last Rodeo - Official Website
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Episode Transcript
Good morning Kip.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
How the heck are you doing today, man?
Great day to be here.
Really excited to talk to you,george, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Oh man, happy to be here.
It's truly an honor.
Well, listen, we're talkingabout the last rodeo today.
Obviously, the producer of thefilm, you know, for those who
don't know much about it yet,and uh, you know, I want to kind
of.
Maybe you haven't seen thetrailer.
Why don't you give us a littlesynopsis and then we'll kind of
jump into some questions there?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Oh great, yeah, enjoy together.
It's a father-daughterreconciliation story, and
fathers and daughters have somereconciliation to do quite often
and this is one that's extendedfar too long a lack of
communication.
(00:56):
It's all set in the world ofprofessional bull riding, giving
it a really wonderful, sweetand salty kind of a taste to it.
You've got some fantasticaction with the rodeo.
It's super authentic.
We worked with the ProfessionalBull Riders Association and
you've got, I think, the mostauthentic performances you're
going to see on screen all yearin any movie, with Neil
(01:16):
McDonough and Sarah Jones as thefather-daughter at the core of
this movie.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Well, I mean, it's a phenomenal movie.
I got a chance to screen it.
I absolutely blown away.
I know audiences are going toabsolutely love this and I kind
of wanted to know how did youpersonally get involved?
You were there from, like youknow, stage one day one with
Neil.
Why don't you talk to me alittle bit about that role and
kind of how that kind of youknow came to be?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
One of the real, genuine blessings and there's
not many, so I really holdblessings at a high level is me
being introduced to NeilMcDonough a few years ago.
His manager put us into a lunchmeeting just to say hello and
within a few minutes we wereboth in tears, literally
recognizing that we were oncourse for a destiny together.
(01:59):
And it's rare that later inlife, way outside of school,
that two guys, two gentlemen,would sit down and become
brothers that quickly.
So that was us and he agreed toparticipate in a picture I was
producing at the time, that acouple of years ago.
That has since come out and wejust really enjoyed that
collaboration so much he was.
(02:22):
Neil was driving home andimagining to himself what would
the life be like if he didn'thave his absolutely amazing,
stunning, incredibly talentedand beautiful wife Ruvay in his
life, and that started to drumup emotions for Neil when he
went home.
His writing partner, DerekPresley, an absolute genius as
(02:42):
well as someone who really vibesright alongside Neil creatively
for many years and Ruvay.
We're sitting at the breakfasttable and Neil comes in and
starts talking about hey, thisemotion and this story starts to
unfold.
They called me literally fromthat table and said, hey, we're
in the process of writing thesefirst 10 pages, what do you
think about this?
And I said I think this isfantastic and let's set it
(03:04):
against rodeo.
Rodeo at the time was just kindof trying to find its footing,
honestly, in live sports, but webelieve very strongly in the
ethos of the PBR.
Our film and the ProfessionalBull Riders Association were
very closely aligned on what'sour ethos, what are we about?
Which is American values andfamily and faith and freedom,
(03:28):
and that made just a lot ofsense.
So, taking that rodeo kind ofaudience, knowing that we really
wanted to be in business withAngel Studios, Neil and Derek
and Ruvay started to reverseengineer from that Angel
audience a story that feltauthentic, centered around
fathers and daughters, as neil,as a dad to a few daughters, and
(03:49):
, lo and behold, the last rodeowas born and it's such a great
story and I think you guys didsuch a great job authentically
capturing that rodeo cowboyculture.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
What was that like when you guys were filming some
of those scenes and kind ofworking within them?
Uh, you know, give me some ofyour memories.
Guys were filming some of thosescenes and kind of working
within them.
Give me some of your memoriesor some of those highlights that
stick out from that particulartime in the arena.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
One of the great privileges of being in the
motion picture business is whena person, a producer, a director
is executing a film that's of aquality value.
Oftentimes you're using thebest resources in the world to
execute on that, and there's nodoubt that that's what occurred
here for Last Rodeo.
Audiences are going to seerodeo like they have never seen.
(04:32):
It has never, ever existed inlive or in any movie like
anything like this.
And that's because we work soclosely with the Professional
Bull Riders Association, the PBR, mostly with the Professional
Bull Riders Association, the PBR.
Sean Gleason, the CEO, shaunaSchmidt, who is the operating
partner of the PBR, wereoutstanding partners.
They delivered, along withtheir incredible staff, the
(04:56):
entire PBR for our movie for 10days, sitting still in Tulsa.
This is like imagine a majorrock and roll band, the Rolling
Stones, that's out on tour everyday, has a new venue with
hundreds of trucks and things.
That's the PBR.
Every day they're pulling intoyour town and unloading and
(05:17):
building the scaffold andbringing out live bulls and
cowboys and then wrapping it upand moving to the next town.
And they did that for us sothat you as an audience could
get more close, more personaland more intimate with the rodeo
experience than probably willever happen again in history.
We planted cameras in the ground.
(05:37):
They were destroyed with everyride.
We just kept replacing cameras.
We used all of the camerasystems that the PBR used, plus
six of our own.
Inside the pen we built asmaller pen in order to increase
the activity and intensity forthe bulls.
We got bulls that have muscleson top of muscles that I
definitely do not belong tryingto demonstrate Muscles on top of
(06:00):
muscles like you've never seenthese bulls.
They were literally heaving ourcowboys 10, 15 feet in the air.
Okay, not so easy on thecowboys, but they were down for
it because it's a movie and it'sgoing to last forever and it
was time to go for it like they'd never gone for it before.
It's an amazing experience andreally again a privilege of
(06:21):
making film, of being able toget that close and that personal
to something that's at thatextreme of execution is the PBR.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Oh well said, you know, this movie has it all.
You've got faith, grit,determination, you know fierce
friendships, reconciliation,loyalty and all in a PG rating
which is family, friendly.
Man the littlest kids tograndma can go and check it out
and they're going to findsomething that is wholesome.
Littlest kids to grandma can goand check it out and they're
going to find something that iswholesome and just.
Man.
It captures a story of ofAmerica, man in the heartland.
(06:50):
And and why don't you talk tothat?
As far as the idea of makingsomething that can be able to be
available for all audiences,what was that like for you when
that wrapped up, and knowingthat that's going to be
successful in that realm?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
George, thank you.
Honestly.
The first thing I can say ishearing you articulate all that
is literally giving goosebumpson my skin.
Making movies is like raisingchildren.
You do it oftentimes alone andnobody really cares what you're
doing until it's done, and thenyou unleash it on the world and
then they care.
And if you did a good job andyou raised someone who is
(07:26):
respectful and kind and acontributor to a positive
community, it comes back inmultiples to the parents.
That's what it feels like as aproducer to be raising a child
as a movie alone.
Nobody cares what you're doing,that families can embrace it,
that families can find theirvalue systems in a movie and
(07:56):
that the story can be inviting,not create any sense of fear
that they might be exposingthemselves or their families to
something they really don't needto be discussing over the
course of a movie.
This is what entertainmentneeds to be more about,
respectfully of all people'sefforts.
We're here to serve an audience.
The audience is not here toserve us and for too long
entertainment has felt that theaudience was there to serve
entertainment and I am reallystrongly against that ethos.
(08:18):
Socially, probably, politically, in probably every way.
Honestly, we are here toprovide stories that make our
audience inspired, that increasethe value systems that, no
matter how you are politically,we all agree that faith and
family and freedom are coreAmerican values.
And to see those in a motionpicture with actors who are as
(08:41):
authentic on the screen as theyare off.
And there are no more authenticactors off screen than Neil
McDonough and Michael TWilliamson in particular.
Certainly Sarah Chris McDonaldand everybody else.
But Neil McDonough leads a lifeoff screen that is emblematic
of how we all want to raise ourchildren.
That man is the prototype of anAmerican ideal.
(09:03):
And Michael T Williamsonsimilarly has a career of
selflessness on screen.
He's giving Bubba Gump entirelyencapsulates what was a movie
that defined an entiregeneration because of one man's
selfless performance.
Not Mr Hanks, mr Williamson.
Mr Hanks is a genius, but MrWilliamson floats that movie.
(09:25):
He does the same in the LastRodeo.
Michael T's character is theaccess for an audience, he's the
humor.
He does the same in the LastRodeo.
Michael T's character is theaccess for an audience.
He's the humor, he's the pointof faith.
It is not Neil's character,ironically, who invites faith
into this story, it's T.
He is the anchor, he's the bestfriend when you're down and
he's the one who remembers thatyou were there for them.
Those are the values I'mtalking about.
(09:47):
I'm not talking just faith andwords, talking actions and
characters who make choices andsacrifices that reflect our
American society.
That's the point of the movie.
That's why we made the movie.
It's your gift, it's our giftof our labor to America that we
think they were asking for andwe hope they enjoy it under
their Christmas tree, wow man sowell said.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
And you know, I have to kind of add one other thing
that I thought was justphenomenal about this, and you
know Neil and his personal ethosand his belief system and
something that has kind ofgotten him pushed aside in the
Hollywood world before, and hereit is at the end of the movie
he gets to kiss his own wife onscreen.
I mean, that was a cool littlestory man there's.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Neil calling right now.
He has to be involved.
Yeah, exactly, well, that is agreat story.
That's a very true story.
Neil's career took a divebecause Neil made a choice and a
sacrifice which defines all ofour character, not just a movie
star, but whoever we are.
Our choices and our sacrificeswill tell everyone what is our
(10:54):
character.
And until you truly sacrificesomething, you have to lose.
Your sacrifice may not be asrespected, because who cares?
Neil had a thriving career inHollywood.
He was an A-list actor on hisway up, even higher, and when
forced to become a leading manand kiss other women and also,
(11:15):
frankly, be in movies thatpushed values that were not
necessarily faith and family,neil chose to walk away, chose
to walk away from millions ofdollars, from millions of fans
and adoration and all the thingsthat go with that ego that we
all have.
We all want people to tell ushow wonderful we are.
And he didn't need it and itwas crushing.
(11:36):
And he was abandoned, except bya few.
His wife, ruvay, in particular,is the emblem of the American
wife, although she's SouthAfrican, but the American wife.
She never gave up on Neil.
She never gave up on thosevalues.
They built a family aroundthose values.
They only increased thatcommitment on those values.
(11:59):
Well, the world has a way ofdoing some interesting shifts
and table turns and now we're ina time where it's a lot more
acceptable to embrace theseAmerican values.
So here comes Neil and all ofhis authenticity and someone who
was always, always on the rightside of morality, playing a
morality tale as the leading manhe's not the bad guy finally,
(12:23):
incredibly handsome, incrediblyhandsome stoic glare out of his
piercing blue eyes that makeshim absolutely, I think, the
hands down best villain of ourgeneration and, pound for pound,
the best actor of ourgeneration.
Playing that villain repeatedlyand being vulnerable as he's
(12:43):
done is like Ginger Rogers wouldsay, she does everything Fred
Astaire does backwards and inheels.
Neil has been doing that as avillain.
Now he gets to take thosevalues, those choices you're
talking about, george, in reallife and put them on screen,
which reflect exactly, I think,what the core of America is all
(13:03):
about right now and is havingsome success in articulating a
voice for itself.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
No, well, said there too, man, and like hearing Neil
talk about this and writing itand he says the closest to his
story and like his redemptionand that kind of comeback that
he's had as well, and it itreally speaks true.
And once you kind of once Iheard that and I rewatched the
movie I was like I see a wholenother level of it.
(13:30):
I mean it's so, it's so muchdepth and I mean it's just the
story of Heartland America.
To be any of us and that ideaof you know, family redemption
and it's all in a PG movie thewhole family can enjoy.
I am just blown away.
Um, you know, before we leave,I had a couple of questions with
you as far as like, what is itthat you?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
hope that the audiences walk away with as they
leave this theater.
Is this something that you hopethat leaves them and inspires
and kind of catapults them tothat next great thing in their
lives?
What is it that you're hopingthat they can grab from this?
So Neil's commitment to tellingthis story with the themes and
values that it has.
Neil is our leader.
That is the North Star of thismovie.
I work for Neil's North Starand because that is the
authentic direction that NorthStar guided us to all of the
(14:23):
creative collaborations thatreally materially moved this
show towards and answered yourquestion of how do we want
audiences to feel.
Specifically, neil choseMichael T Williamson to play
that part before it was evenwritten, and Chris McDonald to
play that part before it waseven written.
And John Avnet, which is reallyimportant.
We bring up John Avnet, who isone of the icons of our industry
(14:46):
, absolutely one of the leadersof our industry, behind the
camera as well as a board memberof the DGA, but one of the most
singularly intelligentfilmmakers of our generation.
And Neil knew from thebeginning it's John Avnet who's
going to direct this movie andwhen John came on board he
elevated the script with hismaturity and experience.
(15:08):
Frankly, his class and hisability as a studio level
filmmaker to take what couldhave been an independent and
small movie into something thatcould speak to our entire
country.
That was John Avnett who didthat and elevated these
performances from the smallestroles which there are no small
roles to finding a young manlike Graham Harvey, at 11 years
(15:30):
old, and bringing a supercompelling, wide-ranging
performance out of this youngman who has very limited acting
experience.
John Avnett, the scope of themovie we recorded this movie at
Abbey Road Studios.
This is a huge score.
John Avnet, the director ofphotography, denis Lenoir,
fantastic background, hours andhours and hours and hours of
(15:54):
cinema for decades.
John Avnet that's how this moviebetween Neil's morality and
execution, his ability tosurround himself with the right
people who also embraced hisvalues, and then trusting John
Avnett to go ahead and lead thecharge that's how we got here
and what that leads to anaudience to answer your question
(16:14):
.
When you believe in your truth,in the voice that is great
inside all of us, that we allhave, you will form a community
and that community is yoursuperpower.
You don't need the approval ofothers.
You need the approval of yourown heart, your own integrity.
Wake up a little earlier, go tobed a little later, try a
(16:37):
little harder.
That voice is inside of you, isworth it, and so are you.
That's what we want people tofeel when they see our movie.
Yep.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
I cannot think of a better way to end this.
What a great message, and thismovie is just phenomenal.
Man, once again, I just want tosay thank you for your efforts
and your part in making this andcoming out.
I cannot wait for the audiencesto see this, because it is
something that'll hit you in theheart and it will leave a
lasting impression, man.
So thank you.
(17:07):
Is there anything else you careto share to the audience, to
the fans of your work and to thegreater mass there?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Have a great time on Memorial Day weekend, be safe,
enjoy your time at the movies.
See them all.
They're all good movies thatare coming out.
Don't forget the last rodeo.
Go out and support your localcinema.
Thanks very much for being hereand thank you, george, for
having me.
I really appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Thank you, Kip.
It's been a blessing and anhonor.
Thank you, sir.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Thank you.
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