The Survivalist is indeed the title of Jon Keeyes’ newest thriller, which may also be a good moniker for the experienced Dallas director himself.
While many Hollywood films have been hampered by delays as well as shutdowns as just a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, Keeyes has had his most productive year as a director and producer.
His longstanding producing colleagues at Yale Productions were the first to resume work underneath the Screen Actors Guild as well as other unions’ return-to-work standards, which were created last summer.
“We’ve been successful for eight films, and we’ve never had any incidents of COVID on any of the sets,” Keeyes added.
That’s correct, throughout the last 15 months, Keeyes has supervised eight films, three of that which he directed himself. Small casts and crews, low budgets, limited filming sites, as well as other condensed logistics are also all essential.
Rogue Hostage, starring Tyrese Gibson and John Malkovich, was one as one of the first movies to get union permission after the industry reopened in August.
Malkovich also appears in The Survivalist, a dystopian thriller set inside the near future that depicts people vying for land and resources in the wake of a devastating epidemic.
However, according to Keeyes, the project from rookie screenwriter Matthew Rogers had been in the works prior to the start of COVID-19 and simply needed to be slightly rearranged before production.
“It seemed odd that such a film was set five years after a pandemic,” he observed. “It wasn’t written with COVID in mind, but as the film progressed, it made logical to alter the virus’s name to something more current.”
Former FBI agent Ben (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) struggles to protect his family’s ranch, but he’s outmanned by a band of marauders led by a cruel commander (John Malkovich), who has links to Ben’s history as well as a young woman (Ruby Modine) who has sought sanctuary within his home.
In December 2020, filming took place on such a ranch in New Jersey, although the location isn’t specified. The whole cast and crew stayed in the very same hotel, creating a self-contained bubble, according to Keeyes.
“Being capable of keeping everyone together in under quarantine made everyone feel a lot safer.” “I joke that I feel safer on a movie set than I do anyplace else these days,” Keeyes added. “The actors and crew have the strongest friendship I’ve ever seen.” It translates upon that screen when you have that attitude.”
Why has Keeyes’ popularity suddenly risen after a more than two-decade career as a director? He attributes his success to his ability to handle the epidemic with caution, as well as eager distributors in need of material.
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