EXCLUSIVE: Bryan Cranston and Lily Gladstone thriller Lone Wolf, which wrapped shoot in New Mexico at the end of February, has still to pay out dozens of crew members due to funding trouble.
Sources close to the production have told us that there is at least a $1M shortfall in payroll. Multiple departments are still unpaid for at least one week of work and some producers and financiers remain out of pocket. The picture has yet to close finance.
Lone Wolf has a lot to recommend it. We announced the film last Cannes. Mark Pellington directs the conspiracy thriller about a troubled vet (Gladstone) struggling with addiction who is recruited by a contractor (Cranston) for a covert government plot to assassinate a high-level politician. Cast also includes O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Jennifer Ehle, Chet Hanks and Spencer Garrett. The producing team includes Oscar nominee Christine Vachon and vet Ted Hope alongside others. As previously reported, Rabbits Black is the main financier.
However, somewhere along the line, the numbers haven’t added up and what was meant to be an $11M movie became closer to $13M. The financiers and producers haven’t been able to close the gap in funding so far. The reasons for this are complicated and seemingly various. Understandably, there is plenty of frustration. Crew have been told multiple times since filming wrapped that their money is on its way but it still hasn’t materialised. Cast have been paid.
Financier Rabbits Black simply claimed to us in a statement: “Rabbits Black has fully met its financial obligations to Lone Wolf“. Producer-financier Wagner Entertainment says that its commitment was also met. Hope and Vachon, who were producers for hire, declined to comment but are understood to be among those waiting for pay.
What was once hoped to be a 25+ day shoot schedule was whittled down to 20 before filming. The trouble started early, with crew telling us that their pay was delayed from the early weeks of production. This led to union reps having to come down to set and the project stopping for multiple days following a Do Not Work Order from SAG. One source told us that filmmaker Pellington was fully supportive of the crew’s right to down tools. Meanwhile, the phone calls for additional funding became more frantic from producers.
We have spoken to a number of people who worked on the film. “Morale was low among crew given the issues over pay,” says one crew member. “Everyone came to work and gave their all but there were fewer and fewer smiles. We were prepared to down tools every Friday because there were multiple delays in payment. There was clearly something off and we could see the producers scrambling for money.”
With the delays due to funding and union issues, there were then additional days added that crew were paid for. The shoot was wrapped earlier than some of the crew anticipated and there remains filming to do. Producing sources describe these as pickups. Crew we’ve spoken to describe the outstanding material as more than that. There has been talk of a mid-May date for that to happen.
“There was no wrap party, no thank you at the end, it was all very disappointing,” says another crew member. “I’ve worked in film for fifteen years and I’ve never experienced this kind of trouble on a shoot. I don’t think these are bad people, I just don’t think the money was there. They were even bringing on executive producers who got acting roles in the film.”
Prior to the shoot, the makeup of the production team seemingly changed. Yale Productions was not listed as a producer in the wrap release having been initially prominent on the film as one of the lead producers and having been listed on call sheets during filming. The Yale-associated sales company The Great Escape was the original international sales company but we’re told the film will need a new international seller going forward. As we reported earlier this year, Great Escape has been winding down its sales operation. A handful of international sales have been done on Lone Wolf with a different seller helping close some of those. UTA handled the domestic deal and helped strike a pact with Vertical for North America. Yale and Great Escape declined to comment (as did director Pellington).
Rabbits Black was the film’s primary financier, while Jordan Wagner’s Wagner Entertainment was brought on to provide a bridge loan. There is hope among the various partners that the former can draw down the required finance but other producers are trying to help where they can, including Wagner. There are said to be talks ongoing with a senior lender. The tax credit element of the funding is also yet to mature. We have heard differing reports regarding when the additional funding is likely to be secured, ranging from a matter of hours to weeks. Lawyers have been engaged by unions repping crew and there are also understood to have been talks between producers about engaging lawyers. We hear that post-production has been delayed.
As one producing source on the project admitted to us: “This film shouldn’t have gone into production if it didn’t have funding in place. There wasn’t sufficient money raised”.
Despite the challenges, those who worked on the film are still optimistic that the finished feature will show off the good work that was captured by the cast and crew. “The actors were clearly aware of what was going on but they still turned in really good performances,” says one source. “I believe strongly in what was shot, even if it didn’t feel like a $10-12M film at times.”
This isn’t the only indie film production to hit funding snags in recent months. We’ve noticed a spate of them both in the U.S. and UK. My colleague Jake has been tracking the situation on the Simon Pegg film Angels In The Asylum. Some producers we speak to say the landscape for this kind of film has become more treacherous. More on that to come.
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