It was Sean Brosnan (son of Pierce), who introduced John Schneider to Jason Kirkpatrick during the making of My Father, Die, an upcoming movie shot in Louisiana at John Schneider Studios. Both John and Jason had parts in it and became acquainted as a result.
“We first met on the set of My Father, Die,” confirms Jason. “Directed by Sean Brosnan, it is a gritty film that will have its premiere at South by Southwest this spring. We had a great scene together and Sean just let us play it over and over.
“John was throwing some really great improvisations at me and we just clicked… John is a great scene partner and said he wanted to work with me again. He gave me his card and a few weeks later he has me at his studio working on Like Son.
“My father and brother passed away in the spring and early summer so I was back and forth from Oklahoma and was not able to be a part of Anderson Bench. Then I was around for Inadmissible.”
“My first day on the set of Like Son was a funeral scene,” remembers Jason, discussing the first film he did with Schneider, “and there was this trio of young girls singing. Their harmonies were so tight and the sound they made still haunts my memory of that day.
“The scene is the funeral of a young girl who has been brutalised and murdered and the whole day was sombre and extremely sad. The bunkhouse at the studio was turned into a Baptist church for that scene and as it was my first time at the studio, I didn’t realise it was a set – I thought John actually had a church at his studio.”
“I make most of my living as an actor playing the comic relief redneck or the scary redneck or the funny scary redneck, so it was nice to get to play two different roles that I usually wouldn’t have the chance to play. I am a more salt-of-the-earth type guy, so to get to play a lawyer – someone who says multisyllabic words – was a treat.”
When asked what he likes most about collaborating with John and producer Alicia Allain, the actor who featured alongside Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg in the 2013 action thriller 2 Guns replies, “First of all Alicia and I have a kind of funny backstory or time traveling connection…
“When I was a teenager in my small town of McAlester Oklahoma, Hollywood came to town to film a movie. I was fascinated because I had already been bitten by the acting bug in community theatre and school. My dad worked at the state prison where some of the film was being shot and he would get me onto the set to watch them work.
“This was also Alicia’s first film role, I believe, and when we met last year she asked me where I was from and I said ‘Oklahoma’ and she says, ‘Uh huh, McAlester right?’ It blew me away that she could just guess my hometown. Then she told me the story about how she got stuck there for a few months…
“What I love about working with Alicia and John is their positivity, drive and pure love for making movies. I was a big dreamer and playing pretend was how I spent my childhood.
“Going to John Schneider Studios to make movies is like going over to a friend’s house to play Cops and Robbers. It is a lot less like work and more like being with family. I would make movies there all the time if I could.”
I ended the conversation by asking Jason to reveal his plans for the rest of 2016 and beyond. “I have a friend from Oklahoma that lives in L.A. now who has written a film that I love and we are talking about filming it here in New Orleans this summer.
“I am working on writing a film that has been spinning around in my head for a few years and hopefully going to John Schneider Studios as often as I can.”
For more information on Like Son, go to the film’s official Facebook page.
To learn more about John Schneider Studios, visit either the Facebook page or the official website.
