Red State

Red State (2011)

Timing: 1:28 (88 min)

6.06/10
903

6.368/10
29115

6.1/10
70000

All about film

Video 2

Photo 23

Actors and characters

Release date

2011-08-19

Country

United States

Production

View Askew Productions, Phase 4 Films, SModcast Pictures, NVSH Productions

Genre

Horror, Action, Thriller

Budget

$4 000 000

Revenue

$1 874 460

Website

Director

Kevin Smith

Actors

Michael Parks, John Goodman, Melissa Leo, Michael Angarano, Kyle Gallner, Nicholas Braun, Kerry Bishé, Stephen Root, Matt Jones, Kevin Alejandro
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Jonathan Gordon

Operator

David Klein

Composer

Artist

Audition

Deborah Aquila, Tricia Wood

Editing

Kevin Smith, Shea Kammer
All team (122)

• Filming took 25 days. The use of cameras from Red Digital Cinema Camera Company allowed director Kevin Smith to edit fresh footage immediately after the end of each shooting day. As a result, the fully edited and ready-for-release film was shown to the cast and crew just two days after filming wrapped. This took place at a wrap party.
• Samuel L. Jackson was initially considered for the role that John Goodman eventually played.
• The screenwriter and director Kevin Smith wrote the role of the pastor specifically for Michael Parks (1940-2017) after seeing him in Robert Rodriguez's *From Dusk Till Dawn* (1996). Smith later confessed that he would have scrapped the entire project had Parks declined to participate.
• Due to budget constraints, Kevin Smith had to film near Los Angeles.
• Nicholas Braun sustained a concussion during filming. It happened during a firecracker explosion, which caused a box to fall from a shelf onto the actor's head. Braun was taken directly from the set to the emergency room of the nearest hospital. The medical staff was shocked by the gunshot wound makeup applied to the actor.
• Due to the limited budget, the roles of minor characters were played by relatives and friends of the actors and crew members. Ivy Kline, the daughter of cinematographer David Kline, played one such role. Ivy was prepared for a long time for the scene where Carrie Bishop's character tells three girls to hide in the attic. When it came time to film the scene, Ivy genuinely became frightened and screamed, which was not in the script. Kevin Smith subsequently used this footage in the film with the girl's parents’ permission.
• In the scene where John Goodman's character yells at Stephen Root's character to get back in the car, Root stumbles and falls. The script didn't call for the fall, but the footage made it into the film. Root later recounted that Goodman's shout genuinely caught him off guard, and the fall was unintentional.
• Initially, Kevin Smith intended to film the execution of the first "prisoner" with a goat's head placed over his head. The special effects supervisor suggested that Smith probably meant a ram's head, as a goat's head is too small. Shortly thereafter, Smith found out that creating a ram's head would cost $5,000, which was the entire amount allocated for special effects, and he abandoned the idea.
• During the filming of the scene where his character is tied to the cross, actor Kyle Gallner experienced a genuine bout of terror. The rest of the film crew didn’t pay much attention to it, assuming the actor was getting into character.
• At the very end of the film, director and screenwriter Kevin Smith played a cameo role as a prisoner.
• Screenwriter and director Kevin Smith wrote the role of the pastor specifically for Michael Parks (1940-2017) after seeing him in Robert Rodriguez’s “From Dusk Till Dawn” (1996). As Smith later confessed, he would have abandoned the entire project had Parks refused to participate.
• Initially, Kevin Smith intended to film the execution of the first “prisoner” with a goat’s head placed over their head. The special effects supervisor suggested that Smith likely meant a ram’s head, as a goat’s head is too small. Shortly after, Smith found out that creating a ram’s head would cost $5,000, which was the entire budget allocated for special effects, and he abandoned the idea.