A world-weary cowboy performs his ritualistic preparation for a monumental battle. He exits his barn and steps into the wilderness. A wild black bull struts in the hot summer sun with a deep sense of foreboding. The cowboy surveys the landscape instinctively sensing the presence of the giant beast he is about to face. As the bull and the cowboy meet face-to-face in the field, we have the ultimate battle upon us. It’s man versus beast, who will be the victor?
"I wanted to make an epic, one that is imbued with mythology. I wanted it to have something larger than life about it, a certain flamboyance, and tragedy often found in great opera. With that in mind and my love of the Leone Dollar trilogy it’s a small leap to arrive at the story for Rodeo King. Here we have the archetypal man, an all American cowboy, the mythological hero readying himself to face and battle with nature’s mythological beast. It’s primal; it’s dramatic but also incredibly surreal. The realism of whether this situation has or would ever occur is irrelevant. What matters is that we feel we are seeing an epic, we can all empathise with the struggles and simple pleasures of the narrator. We have all had days where we just feel weary of it all, tired of constantly fighting the rat-race, and yet completely ready to push on to tomorrow. Sometimes all it takes is for that little grey cloud to cross the sun and we’re once more warmed, comforted by natures rays. The tragedy of the piece lies in the reveal at the end. We realise that we’re not so far removed from nature’s beasts after all; in fact we are one and the same. I wrote the script some four to five years ago during a particularly challenging time for myself. I am the cowboy, I am the bull...so are we all."
A world-weary cowboy performs his ritualistic preparation for a monumental battle. He exits his barn and steps into the wilderness. A wild black bull struts in the hot summer sun with a deep sense of foreboding. The cowboy surveys the landscape instinctively sensing the presence of the giant beast he is about to face. As the bull and the cowboy meet face-to-face in the field, we have the ultimate battle upon us. It’s man versus beast, who will be the victor?
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"I wanted to make an epic, one that is imbued with mythology. I wanted it to have something larger than life about it, a certain flamboyance, and tragedy often found in great opera. With that in mind and my love of the Leone Dollar trilogy it’s a small leap to arrive at the story for Rodeo King. Here we have the archetypal man, an all American cowboy, the mythological hero readying himself to face and battle with nature’s mythological beast. It’s primal; it’s dramatic but also incredibly surreal. The realism of whether this situation has or would ever occur is irrelevant. What matters is that we feel we are seeing an epic, we can all empathise with the struggles and simple pleasures of the narrator. We have all had days where we just feel weary of it all, tired of constantly fighting the rat-race, and yet completely ready to push on to tomorrow. Sometimes all it takes is for that little grey cloud to cross the sun and we’re once more warmed, comforted by natures rays. The tragedy of the piece lies in the reveal at the end. We realise that we’re not so far removed from nature’s beasts after all; in fact we are one and the same. I wrote the script some four to five years ago during a particularly challenging time for myself. I am the cowboy, I am the bull...so are we all."
Jason Julien-Connage
http://argonautpictures.co.uk/project/rodeo-king/
http://tiny.cc/RODEO_KING_PRESS_KIT
https://www.facebook.com/Rodeo.King.Movie/
https://twitter.com/RodeoKingFilm
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5831320/
https://www.instagram.com/jasonjulienconnage/
Los Angeles World International Film Festival. BEST ACTION MOVIE AWARD GRAND JURY WINNER 2016
CINEMAGIC LONDON BEST SHORT FILM 2016
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