Tribal warfare is in the air in Vincent Grashaw’s crime drama Callar . Lou Diamond Phillips stars as Teddy, a worn-out tribal cop who, with his new trainee, Sandra (Dana Namerode), must track down ruthless fugitive Richie, played by Elisha Pratt ( Blossom Moon Killers , True Detective ). After all, Richie’s return to his rural Native American reservation “has exposed his darkest secrets and could ignite a violent gang war.”
That's the threatening setup for Callar the World, which premieres in an out-of-competition venue at the 78th Locarno Film Festival on Friday, a year after the director debuted the boxing drama Bang Bang Bang at the Swiss Fest.
Nick Stahl, Irene Bedard, Lane Factor, and Kimberly Guerrero round out the cast of the film, based on a script by Zach Montague. Visit Films is handling international sales for the project.
Filmed on the Cheyenne and Arapaho reservations and surrounding small towns in
Oklahoma, Callar was produced by Ran Namerode and Angelia Adzic of Randomixix Productions, Cole Payne of Traverse Media, and Grashaw. Phillips, Marcus Red Thunder, and Richard Janes served as executive producers.
Ahead of the film's Locarno premiere, Thr spoke with Phillips, Pratt, and Grashaw about Callar an entertaining film that also dives into serious issues and has depth and Indigenous representation.
"The main goal was to tell this human story, but also to make a commercial film—something that's entertaining, suspenseful, and appeals to a mass audience," says Grashaw. "It deals with important themes, but we also focused on making it entertaining."
The film may be set in an Indigenous setting, but the themes it explores—including family, community ties, loss, and grief—are global. “This story is incredibly universal,” says Phillips. “Yes, it deals with Native American gangs. But it could be the Latino gang experience, which I dealt with in Stand and Deliver and Brown Fill , or the experience of the Asian-American or African-American community.”
Grashaw was excited to bring Phillips on board to play the film's "anchor," the director says. "The script just jumped off the page," Phillips recalls. "That role was something I saw myself in from page one, and I knew exactly who this guy was. And then I saw Bang Bang Bang, which Vincent had done with Tim Blake Nelson, and I was like, 'This is an incredibly accomplished director.' This is a guy with vision. This is a guy who comes in with the gloves on!'"
Similarly, Pratt felt great about his audition experience. “Vince would give me notes, and I would take the notes and do what he was asking me to do,” he recalls. “It was just one of those great experiences where I felt like I could let loose in the room and leave it all there.”
Grashaw loved Pratt's audition. "I was blown away," he shares. "During his read-through, I was scared of him. I was like, 'Oh my God, he's the guy!' There was no doubt."
The cast's chemistry also felt right. Phillips compares the dynamic between Namerode and himself to that of Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke in Training Day or Sean Penn and Robert Duvall in Flag . "It has that grit and that authenticity," he tells Thr .
And his two tribal police detectives are ethnic mixes rather than Indigenous people. “With Vincent giving us these roles, we’re representative of who we are,” Phillips says. “I’m a massive mix. It’s a recognition of the fact that America is a melting pot. You don’t have to be one thing or another to represent these particular characters.”
'Shut up'
Courtesy of Randomixix Productions
Phillips plays a character who married into the reserve. “Interestingly, that gives him an almost eternal outsider’s perspective, which makes him more nuanced and interesting,” the actor explains. “It was very, very important that this film capture the heart and tell the story as ambassadors for the communities. For a long time, I’ve represented the Latinx community in many, many different communities under that umbrella and the First Nations. It’s always been important to me that we do the community proud by doing so.”
Accurately depicting life in Indigenous communities was a particularly important focus for the creative team, aided by actor and technical advisor Marcus Red Thunder. Phillips knew him from his years as a technical advisor on Marino and knew he could help the production approach life in a tribal community "with a great deal of honesty, authenticity, and respect." The advisor also served as a liaison with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Nations and the Cherokee Nations.
“I feel like the movie really represents what you see on reservations or in small Native communities,” Pratt tells Thr . “I grew up in a Native American community, and I know what it’s like to lose people while they’re still young, to deal with grief and trauma. I’ve lived that life. You see the police officers who might be tribal police, but they’re not tribal, just like in the movie. You see people, I guess you could call them community-facing, and they become part of the community, at the same time they are in the movie. It’s true because I’ve seen and experienced that.”
Based on Marcus Red Thunder's advice, the film doesn't mention any specific area or tribe, which helps make the story more universal. For example, the issues surrounding jurisdiction between sheriff departments and tribal police depicted in the film go far beyond a single territory.
Indigenous representation also extended to the crew, including production designer Rebekah Bell and others. “We had everything we could shoot in Oklahoma,” Grashaw told The Hollywood Reporter .
Marcus Red Thunder can even be seen in a scene from the film. “When we went and met the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, he introduced us, and they did a blessing for us,” Grashaw recalls. “These are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, in terms of their joyful spirit. They met with Lou and gave him gifts. It was a truly beautiful moment.”
The film crew also encountered a herd of around 600 bison thanks to the indigenous hosts. "When they showed us that, I remember going to the producer and saying, 'We have to have a sequence in the movie with this,' and they let us write and film it," says the director. "And that was Lou's first day on set!"
Depicting Indigenous life on screen, of course, was also boosted by the film's Indigenous talent. Pratt, for example, was able to bring his own life experiences to the set. "Growing up in Native communities and reservations, you see the things people go through. And you know that despite the hardships, people want to do good," Pratt tells Thr . "Yes, there are people who do bad things, but in their minds, they think they're doing the right thing. Having that experience helped me bring Richie to life."
'Shut up'
Courtesy of Randomixix Productions
You may find yourself rooting for Phillips' Teddy, but he, too, is far from perfect. "One of the really appealing things about Teddy was that he's a flawed human being and has his own demons," Phillips tells Thr . "He has his own darkness. Yet he's trying to do the right thing, not only for his family, but for the community he's taken to his heart."
The star concludes: "Let's be honest. Sometimes he's not nice. Sometimes he's a jerk. He's definitely like a drill sergeant who's an advocate of tough love. But I think the most important thing for me was that his character rang true."
Phillips and Pratt praised the film's script and Grashaw's work as director. "That script was very solid," Phillips emphasized. "It didn't need much embellishment. Of course, things would come up in the moment, and we'd roll with them. But as a director, Vincent was simply wonderful. Some directors will talk you to death. Or they'll overanalyze something. But it's not about talking about it. It's about doing it. Vincent was meticulous in the sequencing stage. But if you say them, people will come in and just live in front of the camera. Capture that and adjust it as we go."
Does regrets ? “I wish I could have worked with Lou more,” Pratt tells Thr . “I think I had one day with Lou, and I was like, ‘Man, if only I had more time with him,’ because I love watching him. I was actually watching him the whole time, just seeing what he’s doing, just studying him. Man, this guy has so much charisma, it really motivates me!”
After Locarno, Callar will continue its festival circuit in Oldenburg. “I’m really excited about all of that, and I’m looking forward to the moment when an audience in the States can see it too,” Phillips tells Thr . “You put your heart and soul into something like this, and there’s not a lot of money, and there’s not a lot of time. But as difficult as it is, and as hard as it is, you commit to a project like this and make something you’re proud of. It’s a film that deserves to be seen by a very, very wide audience.”
