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The team behind opioid crime thriller “King Ivory” had a somewhat unorthodox journey to the Venice Film Festival this year.

When a delayed flight from New York meant they missed their connection by a matter of minutes, the group of six — including stars Ben Foster and Melissa Leo, plus producer Jeremy Rosen and writer/director John Swab — found themselves in Munich on a long waitlist for the only other plane going to Venice that day.

Thinking that the chances of them all getting seats were fairly slim, Rosen made what he describes as an “executive decision,” hiring a Mercedes Sprinter van for a seven-hour drive that took them from Germany into Italy through the Austrian Alps.

“It was truly like a camp trip… a camp trip for privileged children,” he notes. There was also a hint of danger — Swab claims that about halfway into the ride, he spotted Rosen “falling asleep at the wheel.

Exclusive: After being forced to halt production with the launch of the SAG-AFTRA strike, the crime drama King Ivory from writer-director John Swab (Ida Red) is back up and running once again, in and around Tulsa, Ok, having been named just recently as one of 39 productions that will benefit from a SAG Interim Agreement.

Previously unannounced actors who have been able to return to set, pursuant to the agreement, include James Badge Dale (The Departed), Ben Foster (Hell or High Water), Michael Mando (Better Call Saul), Rory Cochrane (Black Mass), Ritchie Coster (The Dark Knight), George Carroll (The Town), Sam Quartin (Candy Land), Academy Award nominee Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves) and Academy Award winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter).

While production on the majority of studio projects has been shuttered, amidst a dual strike by SAG-AFTRA and the WGA, the actors guild is offering interim agreements to the projects of “truly independent producers,...

John Swab directs One Day as a Lion, starring Scott Caan and Marianne Rendon. With Frank Grillo and J.K. Simmons.

An American thriller, but with a mild, almost family-friendly aspect to it.

Movie Review

From other films by this director, we expected something much rougher after Little Dixie. Nothing like that, because One Day as a Lion gives us almost the same, but with a much softer tone, as if precisely the title was a kind of parody of what actually happens, which matters little.

A plot that is consciously lost in the setting. Swab wants, as in many of his other films, more to portray the atmosphere of Central America than to tell us a story that lasts. It entertains, it doesn’t overwhelm, it knows how to keep a leisurely pace and say what it wants: let’s not look for the story behind these almost puppet characters,...

The Purge franchise started out as a uniquely conceptual suspense-filled horror thriller that was a scaled down, home invasion flick. Then, the sequels started exploring more and more of the concepts that surrounded a dark holiday in which people can act out their darkest desires without legal repercussions. The star of the sequels, and action movie journeyman, Frank Grillo, was kind enough to speak to JoBlo for his latest film, Little Dixie, where he spoke about the possibility of closing out the series.

You know, we keep bouncing back and forth. There is a script. James DeMonaco wrote it. And he wants to direct the last one. He had directed the last three or four. It centers on Leo, my character. They were high on it for a minute, then the put it on the back burner. And I just recently heard Blum[house] say they weren’t sure when they...

Little Dixie is now available to purchase and rent on-demand from Paramount Pictures. The new crime thriller comes from John Swab and aims to be a throwback to gritty 70s films where the lines between good and evil is blurred. Recently, the stars of Little Dixie, Frank Grillo and Annabeth Gish sat down with us and speak on the inspirations for this movie and how differently tropes are handled in this film.

This is such an unrelenting movie, like gritty 70s films. What influences did you take to prepare yourself for this?

Fg: Whenever I do movie like this, specifically with John Swab, you know, [Sam] Peckinpah and Charlie Bronson movies are not only big influences with us, but with John Swab too. Which I love cause he’s only in his early 30s. He’s got a great repertoire of old films that he loves and old directors that he loves that he borrows from.

The start of the year is never a good time for movies, so it’s a good thing we can count on dads to save the day periodically. Starting with “Taken” a decade ago, fathers have become the go-to action heroes, saviors who will go to any lengths to right wrongs and rescue lives. The latest example of this is “Little Dixie,” a February release that pins an increasingly hostile father against a Mexican cartel.

Continue reading ‘Little Dixie’ Review: Frank Grillo’s Latest Is Another Gritty ‘Taken’-Esque Revenge Flick at The Playlist.

Several days ago, we were pleased to talk to Frank Grillo, star of Little Dixie. He told us about the movie, his career, his upcoming projects and… Charles Bronson!

A charming person we talked with, thank you, Mr Grillo!

My name is C. Sheriff, and you we’re going to talk about Little Dixie. And the first thing is we saw Little Dixie, and it’s a dark movie. It’s very special. And we would like to know, what do you think that Little Dixie has that makes it different from other thrillers you have participated in?

Frank Grillo: I’ve participated in a lot of thrillers. I don’t know that it’s entirely different, but we have a main character who really lacks a great deal of emotion. Not to say he’s emotionless, but he’s very pragmatic, and he’s very non-sentimental in the way...

Screen Rant is pleased to present an exclusive clip from Little Dixie, a new action film distributed by Paramount Pictures. Arriving in select theaters and on digital platforms this week, the revenge thriller follows what happens when a deal between a corrupt government official and a dangerous drug lord goes wrong. Doc Alexander (played by go-to action hero Frank Grillo) is an ex-special forces operative who finds himself trapped between a rock and a hard place as forces feud around him, but everyone else better duck for cover when he moves to protect what's his.

Little Dixie is written and directed by John Swab, who recently worked on Candy Land and Body Brokers. Aside from Grillo, it stars a powerful cast that includes Eric Dane (who has been making waves in Euphoria) as Governor Richard Jeffs, who gets Doc into the mess, and Annabeth Gish (Mayfair Witches) as Doc's associate Billie Riggs.

Today it is our pleasure to ask John Swab, director of Little Dixie, some questions before the movie premieres in a few days. Firstly, thank you for your time to be interviewed and, first things first: What sensations do you have on the premiere of Little Dixie?

A: We are very excited to premiere this in Rotterdam, then share with the rest of the world. All of these are labors of love. Little Dixie we are especially proud of.

Q: You team up again with Frank Grillo after Ida Red (2021) and Body Brokers (2021). What is your relationship with the star? Was Frank Grillo the inspiration for Little? What does John Swab bring to it and what does Grillo bring to the movie?

A: Frank has become a dear friend and collaborator to myself and producer, Jeremy. We think of him as our modern-day Charles Bronson. With a film like this,...

Little Dixie is a thriller movie directed by John Swab starring Frank Grillo. With Eric Dane and Annabeth Gish.

Frank Grillo impersonates a man that navigates between two seas and between borders, a classic anti-hero who due to the circumstances has to become a hero to save his daughter, Little Dixie, whom the movie is named after.

This is a movie of black and white contrasts with grey areas in which everything happens in dark tones with even darker characters. This film which has its source in the construction of classic cinema to, in a authentic and brutal style, destroy and separate itself from its genre.

In this film, the director, John Swab knows how to impose his own style.

Review of Little Dixie Beau Knapp in Little Dixie (2023)

This is a story for an adult audience that does not want to or know how to be able to please...

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Frank Grillo — he of the six-pack abs at age 55 and action roles in the MCU and movies like Boss Level — has recently been turning his attention to investing and company building.

In recent years, Grillo has become a partner in Village Pizzeria, a beloved pie spot in Los Angeles’ Larchmont Village. “The goal is to kind of expand out, just in the L.A. region,” he says. He’s an investor in Caliwater (co-founded by Vanessa Hudgens) along with the likes of Gerard Butler, Glen Powell, Ross Butler and Brooke Burke. And he tells THR, he’s “getting involved in a couple of different exercise equipment companies. It’s part of the whole being in your fifties, being fit and staying healthy — it all works into that.”

“Look, I’m not Brad Pitt,” he shares, “but I have a certain brand and I...