Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Brendan Fehr, dolph lundgren, exclusive, interview, luke wilson, Saban Films, Scout Taylor-Compton, Shane Dax Taylor, the best man

The Best Man Director On Polishing Script & Created Layered Thriller

Director Shane Dax Taylor (Masquerade) talks to Bleeding Cool about his Saban Films action thriller The Best Man, Luke Wilson & more.

Shane Dax Taylor is passionate about his films to go the extra mile and break the typical mold, which was evident since his start in films starting with 2004's The Grey, which he wrote and directed. Occasional producer, he's also worked on Goldworth (2010), Isolation (2015), Close Range (2015), and Masquerade (2021). His latest action thriller in Saban Films' The Best Man follows a team of ruthless mercenaries who violently seize control of a remote resort hotel, former Special Ops soldiers attending their best friend's wedding must rely only on their wits and training to combat the terrorists and save the hostages held for ransom. Taylor spoke with Bleeding Cool polishing the script, working with leads Luke Wilson (Stargirl) and Dolph Lundgren, the ensemble cast, and filming within a two-week schedule.

The Best Man Director on Why Film is More than Your Typical Action Film

BC: What's the inspiration behind The Best Man?

Taylor: I was brought on as a director first. The script was already there, and then I came on in and grounded it a bit, made a couple of these actors in the film, Nicky [Whelan] and Scout [Taylor-Compton's] characters sisters, and made it more personal. I didn't want this villain to be the stereotypical one who comes and wants money; he wants revenge as well. Another big key for me coming on board was to be able to talk about bringing in my own touch so you can feel for these people. They're not innocent victims. In the first 15-20 minutes of the film, after the opening action sequence, you get to know these characters, and that was important to me. I brought that to the world as well.

How much did you change the script when you got on board?

The concept was there for sure. The three main characters in Brendan's [Fehr], Luke's, and Dolph's characters and I just worked on the wedding made Brook and Hailey, sisters brought full circle with this revenge aspect so. I also did it based on the location we had. We shot it in the Mountain Gods Resort in New Mexico, which is a character in its own right. It was a massive resort, so I fine-tuned it based on what we had. We had this casino, so we had a shootout and fights, and then we had this indoor pool, horses, and a bunch of different things I was able to incorporate within the script.

Can you break down the core cast itself and how that worked with Brendan, Nicky, Scout, and Dolph?

It's called 'The Best Man' so Brendan Fehr of 'Roswell' plays the title character. He and his two closest buddies are ex-military, so Dolph Lundgren's character Anders, who's their buddy as well as an action icon in and of himself, and then Luke Wilson plays Cal whose the groom. He's getting married and has a tough choice. "Who do I make my best man?" He goes with his cousin Bradley in the film. Brendan and those three guys are there. Nicky Whalen plays the bride, Brook, and Scout Taylor-Compton plays her sister Hailey. That's kind of our core five actors, and then Scott Martin, who's also produced from the film, he's an ex-buddy of these guys who's just kind of out for revenge in the film as Axel. Andrey Ivchenko from 'Stranger Things' plays the main bad guy. Chris Mullinax plays Chuck, the father of the bride. I was fortunate to have an amazing cast from top to bottom. A lot of times in these action films, you have one or two main characters, and then I was fortunate to have five or six that are quite recognizable and super-talented actors and actresses.

What did it mean to have Luke on board, and what did he bring to the set?

When you think of Luke Wilson in the title, like 'The Best Man,' you think of a wedding comedy. There's a wedding, but as far as the comedy goes, it's few and far between. This is a full-on action film, and this is one of his first action films ever. Having him onboard it and performing in these stunt scenes was quite amazing. We had a great stunt team. We worked with him, and he did a lot of his own stunts. I'm sure he felt that the next morning after we shot it, but he was a blast to work with, a funny guy, and down to earth. I enjoyed working with him for sure.

Brendan told me the shoot was about less than two weeks, was it difficult to condense everything in that sort of tight schedule, or was it more a run-of-the-mill experience for you?

It was difficult at times. I'd never done anything that short before, especially with these crazy action sequences. There's a big pool action sequence, a scene over a balcony that is in a trailer. There's a casino shootout inside a working facility. There were things like that where we would have two hours, and technically that should be two or three days. We were able to have a lot of prep time, so I was able to work with the stunt team, and the actors got to choreograph all these stunts. When we got on there, they were so professional that we were able to knock the stuff out. I'm extremely excited with how it turned out and especially these big action sequences. Hopefully, next time we'll have more than two weeks in the next action film.

What's the biggest takeaway from this film you got as it relates to your directing career?
Great question. There's a lot of action in this film, but one of my favorite scenes I ever shot was in a bar with Dolph Lundgren and Luke Wilson because these are two amazing actors and guys. Any film can go from action to action, but you have to care about these characters, and I feel the scene brought it home. These are two guys that you need to care about. That was a fun scene to shoot, because if you don't care about the actors and actresses, then why are we watching the film? For the action sequences? No, you need those moments in between there to make it that much bigger and better.

Co-written by Daniel Zirilli and C. Alec Rossel, The Best Man comes to theaters, on-demand and digital, on April 21st.

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