If you haven’t seen any of filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier’s films then you’re missing out.
His 2014 film, “Blue Ruin,” is a crime-thriller masterpiece and 2016’s “Green Room,” a dark and nasty neo-Nazi revenge thriller, played like an avant-garde horror movie. Saulnier’s knack for detailed visceral violence makes you feel every gunshot, every stabbing and every punch.
His first film in over five years, “Rebel Ridge” has had a tumultuous journey. This is the infamous film delayed by the pandemic and that had, original lead actor, John Boyega dubiously walking out of the set in 2021, under controversial circumstances. After Boyega left, Aaron Pierre replaced him, and filming resumed in early 2022.
Saulnier is now talking, for the first time, about the ups and downs of making “Rebel Ridge,” which did not show up in Netflix’s recently unveiled 2024 lineup. Speaking to Film Stories, Saulnier described the making of “Rebel Ridge” as “tumultuous.”
“We came back three years in a row to make that movie,” he tells the film outlet.
The filmmaker says the budget of the film balooned from the originally reported $25 million to around $40 million. It’s become the biggest undertaking of Saulnier’s career — his Netflix-produced “Hold the Dark” was made for around $15 million.
Filming wrapped on “Rebel Ridge” in July 2022, with Saulnier announcing the completion of the film on Twitter/X; “Third time was indeed the charm,” he wrote at the time. The latest status of the film, according to Saulnier, is that it’ll be getting a sound mix “in a couple of weeks.” Although he admits no release date has been found yet, Saulnier is fairly satisfied with the resulting films:
I think I’ve had enough time with it […] It had a tumultuous birthing process, but because of that, it’s my first movie where I’m fully at peace with it at the release point – whatever that might be, we have not found the release date yet.
I didn’t fully appreciate “Green Room” for what it was until years after I made it… With “Rebel Ridge”, I’m like, ‘No, it’s not a perfect film, but man, it’s the best it can be’… For me to call my agent say, ‘Hey, guess what? Like, this film isn’t at all a piece of shit’ is a big step forward. So I’m very excited to share it.”
Last summer, I posted a test reaction of Saulnier’s “Rebel Ridge.” This one happened in the West Coast. It was very positive:
The film had a similar tone and style to “Blue Ruin” with a relatively simple situation spiraling out of control, but this time it involves a small town conspiracy and a very subdued and mysterious stranger akin to Gosling in “Drive” and Phoenix in “You Were Never Really Here.” The action here is considerably smaller than “Blue Ruin” but it’s tightly wound in its drama, with all the twists and revelations, that it’s just as thrilling. Pierre and Robb are really good and fit perfectly into the feeling of likable characters. You feel immediately terrified and hoping Saulnier doesn’t inflict the worst on them; something he does a lot here and it’s tense in every scene. Gorgeous compositions of middle America and awesomely choreographed sequences of action, better than “Hold the Dark” and reminiscent of something like “The Standoff at Sparrow Creek” and “Cold in July.”
Although no official plot details have been revealed for “Rebel Ridge,” it is being described as the tale of an ex-marine who takes on a group of dirty cops in a high-velocity thriller exploring systemic injustices through bone-breaking action sequences, suspense, and dark humor.
Netflix is producing this one. The director of photography is Magnus Nordenhof Jonck (“Borgen”). The cast includes Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, James Badge Dale, James Cromwell, AnnaSophia, and Robb Emory Cohen.
Here’s hoping “Rebel Ridge” delivers on its promising potential.
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