Translating a classic story for a modern audience often means shifts in language and cultural references. For local screenwriter and director Andrew Wiest, it also meant giant robots and several well-placed explosions.
Wiest recently decided to rejuvenate a storyline inspired by John Bunyan’s 17th century tale, “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” to make it more accessible for today’s younger audiences.
The resulting movie, “The Wylds,” was recently picked up for distribution by Word Entertainment, a division of media giant Warner Bros., and will be released in the Flathead on DVD Aug. 31. It will be sold in major box stores in November.
Wiest’s story, which also takes inspiration from other classics like “Oliver Twist,” follows a young runaway named Chris who has come to a considerable crossroads in his life.
The young man lives with an ad-hoc family of similarly disjointed people in a junkyard where they steal to survive. But when Chris meets a traveling preacher who tells him his father is alive and misses him, he must decide whether to stay in the junkyard or venture into the wilderness to find his father.
It’s a familiar story, one that Wiest knows by heart after discovering the book as a child. The twist, however, comes through Wiest’s translation of the tale.
In his opinion, it needed a little pizzazz.
“I wanted to update it and make the version of it that I wanted to see, that 12-year-old Andy would have wanted to see,” Wiest said. “That includes giant robots and things exploding.”
But the heart of the tale is still there, he said, and he did not want to dilute the message just because it is for a young audience. Kids are more intelligent than many children’s movies give them credit for, he said, and most times movie studios miss the opportunity to create a meaningful storyline.
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The Wylds Promotional Poster |
“Kids are actually very smart,” Wiest said. “I think they kind of know when they’re being fed something stupid.”
Wiest said he also made sure to have room in the budget for special effects, which he said is part of his filmmaking style. His first movie, “Dead Noon,” was picked up and distributed by Lionsgate Entertainment but was made for only $4,000.
“The Wylds” had a bigger budget than “Dead Noon.” But Wiest kept costs low for his latest production by staying local; the crew largely stayed within a 60-mile radius of Bigfork to shoot the movie’s scenes.
This just made sense, Wiest said, because the stunning diversity available throughout the valley makes the movie feel as though it were shot on various locations, instead of in Kila, Bigfork and Browning.
The Flathead is also home to a strong community of artists, which provided a foundation of support for the project, Wiest said.
However, the most important local addition to the film was the hidden acting talent Wiest discovered during casting. All of the children in the movie are from the Flathead Valley.
“I could have scoured the whole United States and these would’ve been the kids I would’ve wanted,” Wiest said. “I was just blown away at how perfect these kids were who showed up.”
Wiest is confident he found the right actor to take on the role of Chris in Soloman Ray of Whitefish, who was 14 years old when the shoot started. For Ray, the movie offered the chance at his first serious acting role, as well as a way to do something out of the ordinary.
It didn’t take long for the young actor to realize the work that goes into making a full-length feature.
“I never gave actors as much credit as I should,” Ray said. “They really work hard going through stuff.”
Wiest admits to putting Ray, now 16, through the ringer; as the lead character, Ray needed to be on scene every day and was often running, tumbling down thorny hills or entangled in tree limbs.
But doing his own stunts was part of the fun, Ray said, especially for this movie. He is also a fan of “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” and thought Wiest’s interpretation would attract the right kind of attention to the story.
“Kids movies don’t have to be watered down for kids to like them,” Ray said. “They like the adventure, the mystique and the other-worldliness.”
It also doesn’t hurt to have a little firepower.
“A giant robot with a flamethrower – that’s sweet,” Ray said.
“The Wylds” will be available for rent or purchase at Hometown Movies and Video Plus in Kalispell and Flathead Video in Bigfork on Aug. 31. Visit www.thewylds.com to purchase the DVD or watch the movie’s trailer.