

If Shapiro’s Daily Wire can continue creating art that is not easily boxed in and can attract right-leaning artists who perhaps aren’t as overtly interested in politics as character and story – Gallo and Sonnier are two prime examples – then it truly could become a ‘safe space’ for filmgoers who hate ‘safe spaces’ and the politically correct, socially crippling wokeism standards that come with them. ‘Shut In’ is a tight thriller that is directed efficiently and features a performance from Gallo that is truly something unique and worth the price of admission alone. It works because it is a piece of art devoid of the social pressures of today and the political trappings that so many artists have gotten caught up in, some even embarrassingly apologizing for their past work.
#Character info in shut in movie movie#
‘Shut In’ works not because it is a ‘conservative’ movie (though there is a slight religious theme running through, but Sonnier says the film ended up being shot “verbatim” from Melanie Toast’s script). “I have such an affinity for what they’re doing.” “I’m all in on the Daily Wire,” Sonnier said. READ MORE: Amazon’s hit ‘Reacher’ has a secret, disturbing subtextĪccording to Sonnier, Covid -19 shut down the movie in prep and after a call to Daily Wire to revive the project, it was shot in Nashville, Tennessee in 30 days. There was only one wrinkle: Hollywood didn’t want Gallo in the villain role or for there to be a villain role at all they preferred a dog. To give an idea of just how far Hollywood has gone in its sanitation of art, look no further than the rocky past of ‘Shut In,’ a movie that once had Jason Batemen attached as director and a major studio (New Line) behind it. In reality, Gallo was a fan of Sonnier’s darker, politically incorrect material and prepped for the movie in seven days by having a healthy tooth removed by a dentist and picking out his very specific (and oddly frightening) wardrobe for the movie.Īgain, not the type of film most would expect to have a Daily Wire logo or Ben Shapiro stamp of approval, but that’s exactly what makes Daily Wire’s foray into film different from those of past conservatives who promised, imaginary swords in the air, to charge into the leftwing cesspool of Hollywood and came back with material that feels like it was shot with little more than the budget scrambled together by a 16-year-old for his senior year film studies class.


We have the Gallo dossier from Moscow and so that’s how we got him in the movie.” On how he got Gallo to return to the world of acting after a nearly decade-long hiatus, knowing the divisive response he would receive, Sonnier jokes, “I worked with the Clinton Foundation. Gallo owns his villainous role, portraying a character few in Hollywood would take: a drug-addicted, remorseless child abuser with limited facetime on camera, instead relying on his voice and disturbing, never-still background presence to build tension. Instead he’s pushed Daily Wire into a genre-centric, populist take on film competing directly with dying studio content that has become ever more heavily reliant on IP-continuity and social messages corporate media and liberal pundits can get behind. Shapiro could have, understandably, taken the easy route and opted to produce some micro-budgeted faith-based film that plays to a very specific, but loyal, crowd. Sonnier’s films cold-shoulder blatant agendas in favor of stories that harken back to a time in cinema when mainstream studio content actually pushed the envelope and challenged political correctness.

The 84-minute thriller has plenty of merits on its own, but what is making Shapiro’s film efforts stand out from other conservatives who have jumped into the filmmaking world is that he’s ditched the focus on politics and instead put his trust in the hands of capable and mainly non-political filmmakers like producer Dallas Sonnier, the producer behind both ‘Shut In’ and ‘Run Hide Fight,’ as well as past cult favorites like ‘Bone Tomahawk,’ a gruesomely violent western/horror. That is the greatest accomplishment of Daily Wire’s first produced movie (last year’s ‘Run Hide Fight’ was picked up for distribution by them). Others have similarly written off the film by expressing more political discourse in their attacks than the movie actually has on display. Left-wing site Mary Sue led the charge in accusing Shapiro of making a “political move” with the casting of Gallo. READ MORE: Oscar-winning director speaks out on lack of sex scenes in superhero movies
