In Standoff, it's On
Seven militiamen. One missing gun. One of them is guilty of a terrible crime, but can ex-cop Gannon (James Badge Dale) find the culprit in time?
Standoff at Sparrow Creek is writer-director Henry Dunham’s first film, a fact that may come as a surprise to anyone who’s watched it. The brutally tense, slow burn plot reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino or John Carpenter doesn’t set a foot out of place from start to finish.
On the other hand, maybe it’s not such a surprise. Dunham’s script (then titled Militia) was featured on the Black List, a collection of the best unproduced scripts of a given year. The script also won the Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition, earning Dunham a prize of $20,000.
So what was the first film that inspired Dunham to write? Was it Reservoir Dogs? The Godfather? Perhaps Network or 12 Angry Men? None of those. Dunham has said that his first inspiration was Ace Ventura. After seeing it multiple times in theatres, Dunham reportedly told his mother how funny he thought Jim Carrey was, to which she replied “yeah, he’s got great writers”. Dunham credits his mother’s reply as the first time he realized film’s were written ahead of time, rather than made up on the spot by Jim Carrey.
Who knows, maybe Dunham will someday find himself writing something for legendary funnyman Jim Carrey!
