Many iconic films have been shot at Mescal Movie Set, including “Tombstone,” “The Outlaw Josey Wales” and “The Quick and the Dead.” Tucson-based writer and director Raen LeVell, best known for his film “Buffalo Daze,” shot his recent project “Becoming Billy” at Mescal Movie set, along with dramatizations for his docudrama “Outriding the Devil.”
As part of an immersive experience Saturday, April 18, Mescal will host the premiere of “Becoming Billy” and screenings of three historical dramatizations. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers and cast and an acoustic concert from country music star Chancey Williams.
Guests can also explore the set and meet the cast of “Becoming Billy” at the saloon, where scenes were shot for “The Quick and the Dead.”
“Outriding the Devil” will make its Arizona premiere Saturday, April 25, at Pollack Tempe Cinemas. LeVell and cast members, including Ned LeDoux, will do a Q&A after the film screening.
The film made its world debut at the National Final Rodeo in Las Vegas.
It was produced by Erin E. Mitchell of Tucson’s OTD Productions, Darrell R. Martin and 4M Equine Ranch.
The short “Becoming Billy” takes viewers back to 1875, to a time when an orphaned Irish teen named Henry McCarty became the legendary figure “Billy the Kid.”
In the short film, Chancey Williams, a saddle bronc athlete turned country star, plays Sheriff Harvey Whitehill. It also stars Roberta Sparta from “Obi-Wan Kenobi” as Sarah Brown and Golden Garnick from “1923” as Henry/Billy.
Growing up, LeVell was a huge western movie fan. He has a personal connection with Mescal.
“When I was a little boy, I actually learned to speak from watching westerns. My mom would often correct me. She would be like, ‘That’s not proper English that you’re speaking.’ I would learn the lines from movies. Then, as I got older, I learned that a bunch of those movies were shot at the same place, which happened to be Mescal…It’s hallowed ground for a filmmaker, which is why I wanted to shoot at Mescal,” LeVell said.
LeVell said the experience of filming at Mescal was memorable for him as a director.
“People refer to me as a historian as well as a filmmaker. When you’re walking around there, you’re very conscious that you are literally walking in the footsteps of legends. You think about the actors who have worked there: Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, Frank Sinatra, Val Kilmer, Kurt Russell, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone, Leonardo DiCaprio. The last goes on and on. What I felt was the spirit of all of these movies and all of this incredible creativity that has infused that land and that movie set. I found it to be very inspirational to shoot there,” Levell said.
LeVell said they shot in 20-degree weather in January. Despite these conditions, the actors were excited to film at Mescal.
“Because of the historic nature of being at the Mescal Movie Set, not one person complained… The actors wanted to be there, and they wanted to experience Mescal. They wanted to experience that history and that movie magic,” LeVell said.
In “Becoming Billy,” LeVell honors Val Kilmer during a scene featuring Tucson actress Jayden Gillette.
“There’s a scene in ‘Tombstone’ where Doc Holliday is walking to the O.K. Corral. When they reach the street corner, a little kid runs out and goes, ‘Bang, bang, bang,’ and Bill Paxton turns around and tells the kid to go on home… In ‘Becoming Billy,’ a young actress runs up to Chancey Williams, who’s playing the sheriff, and she’s carrying a daisy. She stops him in exactly the same spot on the set that the little boy stopped Bill Paxton in ‘Tombstone,’ and Jayden Gillette, the actress, hands Chancey a daisy. In ‘Tombstone,’ Val as Doc Holliday says to Johnny Ringo, ‘You’re a daisy if you do.” That’s why she hands him a daisy,” LeVell said.
For the short film and dramatizations, they were able to use existing buildings in Mescal, such as the hotel, livery and jail. They also shot on ‘The Young Riders” set and in Virgil Earp’s house from “Tombstone.”
The short film is a standalone project but is also considered an origin story for “Outriding the Devil.” This feature-length film tells the story of Angela Ganter, a world champion barrel racer and Texas Rodeo Hall of Famer who overcame stage 4 breast cancer to return to the sport.
“‘Outriding the Devil’ is a story of family, faith and rodeo. It’s an inspirational story. Angela Ganter only agreed to tell her story because she wanted to inspire other cancer patients and their families to go forward and understand that this disease can be beaten because she beat it… What I live for is to create and make films. I was very passionate about the story, and I see the impact that it has on people,” LeVell said.
“Outriding the Devil” spans different time periods, from 1850 when Angela’s great-grandfather, John Campbell, was ranching in the Brazos to Angela competing at Cheyenne Frontier Days in 2024.
Parts of the film were shot in rodeos across the United States and in Canada, as well as on location in Wyoming, Texas and Alberta, Canada.
The film features a cast of prominent actors, rodeo stars and country artists, including 10-time PRCA world champion Stetson Wright, top saddle bronc rider Rusty Wright, PRCA world champions Ryder and Statler Wright, ProRodeo Hall of Fame announcer Bob Tallman, 2024 all-around world champion Shad “Money” Mayfield, PRCA world champions Ky Hamilton and Zeke Thurston, WPRA world champion Fallon Taylor, actors Mo Brings Plenty and Forrie J. Smith from “Yellowstone,” Eric Nelsen from “1883,” Eddie Spears from “Buffalo Daze” and country star Ned LeDoux.
Along with acting, Mo Brings Plenty has experience with rodeos. He is the director of the Arizona Ridge Riders.
LeVell said that the rodeo stars he worked with brought a lot to the film, especially in the interviews and dramatizations.
“The thing about rodeo athletes is these men and women are the best in the world at what they do, but they are extremely humble. They don’t have huge egos. The rodeo community is like one big family. You really do become a part of that family when you start working with people from that community,” LeVell said.
Angela and her daughter Jackie, who she coached to a WPRA Rookie of the Year, both appear in the film.
Lily Wright, daughter of PRCA world champion Cody Wright and sister of Stetson, Rusty, Ryder and Statler Wright, portrays young Angela Ganter in the docudrama.
The feature-length film is connected to “Becoming Billy” because of Angela’s family history. Her grandfather was a prominent rancher and quarter horse breeder in what was known as “Billy the Kid Country” in New Mexico.
LeVell drew from historical records from historian Bob Boze Bell for his short film. LeVell said that Billy the Kid was a complicated person, shaped by life’s circumstances.
“My impression of Henry McCarty is he lost his father, and he lost his mom. Shortly after he lost his mom is when Sarah Brown took him in. He was living in this boarding house, and he really didn’t have any positive role models. He wasn’t a bad kid. He wasn’t some crazy hoodlum. He was lonely, and he was looking for friends. A lot of us can relate to that. The friends that he found within his peer group, some of them were adventurous more than they were criminally oriented. But of course, some of these adventures led him afoul of the law… He was looking for a place to be, and he was looking for a purpose. He just happened to fall in with the wrong crowd,” LeVell said. “He wasn’t this psychopath or anything that people have made him out to be. Did he become a stone-cold killer? Did he kill four men, or did he kill nine men? That’s open to debate, and nobody can seem to settle upon that… ‘Billy the Kid,’ the name itself conjures up all kinds of imagery… He was killed by a former associate. Because he died young in the way that he did, it foments the legend.”
“Becoming Billy “was Williams’ first acting role. LeVell said that he always tries to pair together new and experienced actors, such as Williams and Sparta.
Finding the right actor to play Billy the Kid was challenging.
“What I wanted was not only somebody who had the presence but was also able to do the accent. Today, when most people talk about Billy the Kid, they get confused with Emilio Estevez because Emilio Estevez played such a great Billy the Kid in ‘Young Guns.’ People think that Billy the Kid was like Emilio Estevez. There may be some characteristics here and there, but actually Henry McCarty was an Irish kid. His mom was from Ulster in Northern Ireland. He was born in Indiana, and he was brought up in the Irish immigrant community. Billy the Kid undoubtedly had an Irish accent and used Irish colloquialisms, which in ‘Becoming Billy,’ Golden Garnick, who plays Billy, uses in the dialogue. It was a level of authenticity that I wanted to bring,” LeVell said..