Film Director Asks, 'Why Leave Texas?'

Like many film directors, Daniel Millican would one day love to work with veteran Texas actor Matthew McConaughey, who owns the nearby LP Ranch and is known to occasionally shop in San Angelo.

McConaughey's recent Academy Award and his superlative performances in productions such as HBO's "True Detective" have added an entirely new dimension to his career — landing him, once again, squarely on the "A" List of actors, Millican said.

"He's really an incredible actor and I would love to work with him on one of my films," Millican said "The problem is, he's going to have many levels of protection before you can get to him. You have to have a lot of money and a really compelling script. But still I would love to work with him — after I get past his gatekeepers."

Millican knows what it takes to get the best talent for his movies. He has written, directed, produced and edited each of his five films. He has been compared to fellow filmmaker and fellow Austin native Robert Rodriguez.

Millican has even been known to compose and perform his own musical scores, and, like Alfred Hitchcock, cast himself in small acting roles in each of his films.

In a recent interview with San Angelo LIVE!, the director offered a comprehensive tour of his Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex studio offices, dished a little bit about a future project and discussed his relationships with actors. He also talked about the merits of making films exclusively in the Lone Star State.

Millican, 49, has made a point of filming each of his five movies in Texas. His experience has taught him quite a bit about the human condition — as it relates to Hollywood.

"My LA casting director told me there are four steps to approaching name actors," Millican said. "First, there's the offer. They have to respond to the material. ... Two, they have to know that the money is there. Three, they want to make sure its a director they want to work with. This is a big one. And, four: Actors want to work with producers they know who will be able to finish and pull the movies together."

Hollywood hasn't managed to corrupt Millican. Odds are you'd never recognize him if you ran into him at the local grocery store. Millican has a very unassuming air that belies his directorial career and relationship with several of the movie industry’s greatest talents. (He has won over 30 international awards for his writing, directing, editing and producing of films, television, music videos, commercials and corporate films.)

The director's Haltom City-based office complex has editing rooms, a stage and several other state-of-the-art filming accoutrements.

In the Beginning

Born in Austin, Millican moved to the D/FW metroplex area with his family at a very early age. He attended the University of Texas at Arlington in the 1980s and graduated with a communications degree. While in college he met his wife Jill, a former missionary, at a UTA campus Christian ministry.

Also while attending UTA, Millican met Lou Diamond Phillips — who would go on to star in “Young Guns", "La Bamba" and one of Millican's movies. At the time Millican was a freshman and Phillips a senior.

"Lou and I worked together in a booth back then, running the lights and sound for 'A Streetcar Named Desire' for the spring production at UTA," MIllican said. "What was funny was years later, when I was pitching my movie 'Bloodlines', I actually got my first chance to speak to Lou.. I said, 'I'm sure you don't remember me, but we worked together,' and Lou said, 'Oh, yeah,' and went on to describe exactly what I wore back then, which really cracked me up. But he really knew me. He really did remember."

After college, Millican started his career making corporate videos, training videos, and marketing videos.

The Movie Career Begins

Around 2000, Millican transitioned to movies with work on his first film, "The Keyman: Finding Redemption", starring Adam Baldwin. It was released worldwide by LA’s Artist View Entertainment.

Millican's second movie, "A Promise Kept", starred Sean Patrick Flannery, Joey Lauren Adams, Jeff Speakman and Mimi Rogers. This film — shot in Austin during the winter of 2002 and 2003 —was renamed "The Gunman" for US Video and premiered in January 2005 on the Lifetime Movie Network.[[{"fid":"8650","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Image/Screenshot","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Image/Screenshot"},"type":"media","attributes":{}}]]

His third movie, 2006's "Striking Range", (filmed under the working title "Bloodlines”) starred Lou Diamond Phillips, Yancy Butler, Glenn More shower and Jeff Speakman.
Millican specifically crafted his ourth film, 2008’s "The Imposter", for a Christian audience. It starred Kevin Max, Jeff Deyo and Kerry Livgren, and was released by PureFlix Entertainment.

Millican shot his fifth and most recent film, 2010's "Rising Stars", in Arlington. It starred Barry Corbin, Catherine Mary Stewart, Christian recording star Rebecca St. James and Fisher Stevens.

Millican's next possible project could be an action movie that would be — story-wise — based in Mexico. But the high crime rate and possibility of being kidnapped precludes actually filming in that country.

"There's no way to get insurance in Mexico because it's so 'Wild West' down there," Millican explained. "There is no way to do it. Even if I got Lou Diamond Phillips to participate, there's no way the insurance people would pay for it. So we film in Texas — at a location that looks like Mexico."

Around 2011, Millican decided to reincorporate the production of corporate, training and marketing videos back into his career.

"I left to find films, but suddenly, I came back to it and found an incredible fulfillment I didn't have before," Millican said, "It was a personal development for me."

Relationships With Actors

Actor Tom Wright has worked with Millican on each of his films. During a recent telephone interview from Los Angeles, the actor said Millican's initial work in the industry was very impressive because it was much harder to raise money to make independent films back then than it is today.

"He managed to pull together the funding to shoot a film in the Dallas area and I found that pretty remarkable," Wright said

Wright said he also appreciates a more collaborative and respectful working relationship with the director.

"Working with Dan allows me to bring more of my experience to bear," Wright said. "We have a very nice rapport ... It's very far from the 'line 'em up. Cut! Next scene!' process that most big-budget films have that is so far removed from personal experience."

Millican said he remembers one particular moment with Wright that created a trust that continues to define their working relationship.

"When we were working on 'Keyman' Tom looked at my rough cut and saw a scene that provided great movement for his character," Millican said. "But he advised me to cut the scene because it didn't really move the story along. It's not always easy to trust an actor. Usually, its 'I want more of me' or 'Cut it because I look silly or stupid.' But not Tom. Tom truly believes in the integrity of a story. ... He is definitely someone I picked over and over again. What I respect about Tom is I can trust him."

'Why Leave Texas?'

Despite what Millican describes as the "almost laughable" available financial incentives, the filmmaker says many people in the film industry consider Texas a magnificent place to make movies.

"In areas like south Texas you have these old buildings — the brick and everything that just says, 'Texas'," he said. "The buildings and landscape have characters of their own that filmmakers are inspired to incorporate into their work."[[{"fid":"8651","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default"},"type":"media","attributes":{}}]]

The Texas scenery is a big plus for the smaller scale film makers forced to tighten their belts after the economy went south in 2008, he said. Millican said he was forced to drastically drop the budgets of his fourth and fifth films — although recent advances in technology have helped bring him "more bang for the buck."

He said his insistence on keeping his movies Texas-produced is directly attributable to the state's natural beauty.

"You have everything here from the desert sparse brushiness of west Texas all the way to an entirely different look in the south Texas Beeville and Three Rivers area.," Millican said "Then there are the piney woods of east Texas and north Texas, which is really ‘Any Major City, USA.’ It’s really easy to keep it here.”

Ya’Ke Smith, filmmaker and Morgan Woodward Distinguished Professor of Film/Video at the University of Texas at Arlington, agrees with Millican's assessment of the state's movie potential.

“The bigger question is, 'Why leave Texas?'” Smith said in an email interview. “Texas is not only producing some of the most exciting new filmmakers, but it has so much to offer, including: the most bang for the independent filmmaker buck, a huge array of very varied geographical locales, and a supportive network of people and organizations that are willing and ready to help you bring your project to fruition."

One important point is that the artists who choose to work strictly in Texas do so because it is home, added Smith.

"It's the place where I found my creative voice and it's the place where most of my stories are set," Smith said. "It wouldn't feel right to shoot them anywhere else--their authenticity would be lost."

A representative with the Texas Film Commission was not immediately available Thursday to comment on Millican or the importance of filming in Texas. But Wright, as an actor who has traveled here every time he works with Millican, offered a unique perspective on the Lone Star State.

"At first, Texas was a big question mark to me," Wright said. "A lot of people have strong opinions about Texas, but I found that every city in the state is different. Dallas is one thing, Austin is another, Houston yet another. .. But what I really like about Texans is their blatant honesty. They are direct and very honest. You know exactly where you stand with them."

Millican agreed that the straightforwardness of Texan performers is very refreshing in an industry that is almost always anything but.

"Texans are laid back and easy to work with," Millican explained. "I love working here. New York will tell you to your face, 'Look, I don't like you, get away from me,' And New York is easier than LA. LA is 'never say no'. Because no one wants to turn down a film that might become the next Dead Poet Society. You don't want to make someone who is 'up and coming' angry. There is a real mentality in LA of 'don't make anyone mad'. So it is hard to get a straight answer."