Sumith Prasad
Jon Avnet’s next movie is ‘The Last Rodeo.’ The shooting of the project will begin in Oklahoma in April 2024. The film revolves around Joe Cartwright, a former professional bull rider who is pushing 50. When he is faced with a dire emergency for his grandson Cody, Joe realizes that he has to ride one more time. His headstrong daughter Sally has always had a fraught relationship with Joe. The idea of her dad risking his life to save her son is a choice no woman would envy. Furthermore, Joe’s willingness to potentially make the ultimate sacrifice for his family forces him to confront his own demons, beliefs, and faith.
The movie marks Avnet’s return to feature filmmaking since the release of the 2017 drama ‘State of Mind’ AKA ‘Three Christs,’ starring Richard Gere, Peter Dinklage, and Bradley Whitford. In between, he directed five episodes of Amazon Prime Video’s crime drama series ‘Sneaky Pete,’ created by David Shore and Bryan Cranston, and the third episode of FX’s neo-Western crime drama ‘Justified: City Primeval,’ a follow-up to ‘Justified.’ Avnet also helmed two episodes of Sam Worthington and Paul Bettany-starrer ‘Manhunt.’
Avnet has been busy as a producer, whose production credits include Darren Aronofsky’s thriller drama ‘Black Swan.’ The ‘Righteous Kill’ director is an executive producer of Disney+’s sports series ‘The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers,’ ‘Sneaky Pete,’ and the teen show ‘Five Points.’ He also produced ‘Four Good Days,’ starring Mila Kunis and Glenn Close.
Avent wrote the film with Neal McDonough and Derek Presley. McDonough made his screenwriting debut with Presley’s 2022 crime drama ‘Boon,’ starring himself and Tommy Flanagan. The ‘Minority Report’ and ‘Band of Brothers’ fame also wrote ‘The Wicked and the Righteous,’ which is in development at Angel Studios with ‘The Passion of the Christ’ and ‘Sound of Freedom’ fame Jim Caviezel on board. Presley’s recent credits include McDonough-starrer ‘Red Stone’ and ‘Whitetail.’
McDonough is set to play the protagonist Joe. He portrayed Skip in ‘Holiday Twist,’ The Benefactor in ‘The Shift,’ and Sgt. Ty O’Brien in the fourth season of FOX’s action series ‘9-1-1: Lone Star.’ The actor is joined by Mykelti Williamson, who played Preston Webb in ‘Law & Order: Organized Crime.’
The project is one of the several upcoming movies produced by Angel Studios, the banner behind the sleeper hit ‘Sound of Freedom’ and the recent seasons of the Christian historical drama series ‘The Chosen.’ The production company’s latest release is the science fiction thriller ‘The Shift.’ Oklahoma, the principal location of the movie, previously hosted the shooting of several popular projects, including Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ Paramount+’s crime drama ‘Tulsa King,’ FX on Hulu’s ‘Reservation Dogs,’ and Emily Blunt-starrer ‘The English.’
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