Hell or High Water is a 2016 American neo-Western crime thriller film directed by David Mackenzie and written by Taylor Sheridan. Let’s see some amazing facts and trivia about it!
1.On April 18, 2012, Deadline reported that Sidney Kimmel Entertainment had acquired the heist film Comancheria, scripted by Taylor Sheridan, which SKE would finance and produce with Peter Berg of Film 44.
2. At Cinemacon 2016 in Las Vegas, a standee was presented for the film, revealing that the title had been changed to Hell or High Water.
3. Berg was potentially attached to direct the film. Endgame Entertainment and Focus Features were also among the studios bidding for the project against SKE.
4. The script won the best Black List script in 2012.
5. On April 2, 2015, it was announced that Jeff Bridges was set to star, while Chris Pine and Ben Foster were also in talks to join, and David Mackenzie was set to direct the film.
6. On May 4, 2015, Pine and Foster were confirmed to play brothers in the film, who commit bank robberies to save their family’s farm in West Texas, while Bridges would play a Texas Ranger set to catch the brothers.
7. CBS Films acquired the US rights to the film, which Sidney Kimmel of Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, Peter Berg of Film 44, and Julie Yorn for LBI, produced, along with Carla Hacken, Gigi Pritzker, and Rachel Shane serving as executive producers.
8. Sidney Kimmel Entertainment developed the project with Film 44, and OddLot Entertainment co-produced and co-finance the film along with SKE
9. Although the film’s plot takes place in West Texas, filming took place in Eastern New Mexico. Principal photography on the film began on May 26, 2015, in Clovis, New Mexico.
10. Filming also took place in other New Mexico communities such as Portales and Tucumcari.
11. Some rural scenes were filmed in the vast and sparsely populated ranch country of Quay and Guadalupe counties of New Mexico, including scenic shots of Alamogordo Valley south of Luciano Mesa.
12. The film premiered at the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2016. It began a limited release on August 12, 2016, in the United States, followed by an expansion on August 19, and a wide release on August 26. The film opened in the UK and Ireland on September 9, 2016, and opened in New Zealand on October 21, 2016.
13. Hell or High Water grossed $27 million in North America and $4.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $31.1 million, against a budget of $12 million.
14. In the United States, the film grossed $621,329 from 32 theaters in its opening weekend, for a $19,417 per theater average.
15. The following weekend, the film expanded to 472 theaters, grossing $2.7 million (a per theater average of $5,709).
16. The film began its wide release at 909 theaters on August 26, and grossed $3.7 million over the weekend, finishing 12th at the box office
17. Hell or High Water received critical acclaim, with many praising the film as revitalizing the western genre.
18. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 98%, based on 216 reviews, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The site’s critical consensus reads, “Hell or High Water offers a solidly crafted, well-acted Western heist thriller that eschews mindless gunplay in favor of confident pacing and full-bodied characters.”
19. The phrase “come hell or high water” typically means “do whatever needs to be done, no matter the circumstances”. It also refers to the “hell or high water clause” in a contract, usually a lease, which states that the payments must continue regardless of any difficulties the paying party may encounter. Both definitions apply to different parts of the plot in this movie.
20. The film is dedicated to David John Mackenzie (1929-2015) and Ursula Sybil Mackenzie (1940-2015), the parents of director David Mackenzie. Both died while he was making this film.
21. Toby offers his son a beer. Texas is one of ten states that allows underage minors to consume alcohol in specific locations, such as the privacy of home or in the presence of consenting and supervising family members.
22. Comancheria, the film’s original title, is the region of New Mexico, West Texas, and nearby areas occupied by the Comanche before the 1860s.
23. Chris Pine, who plays the younger brother, is actually two months older than Ben Foster.
24. The first two bank robberies take place in Archer City and Olney, Texas. These were towns used in the filming of The Last Picture Show (1971), which also starred Jeff Bridges.Taylor Sheridan: The actor-turned-writer who wrote the film plays a cowboy whose cattle are chased by a grass fire.
25. Dale Dickey and Kevin Rankin, who do not share scenes in this film, also appeared in Breaking Bad (2008) where they also did not share scenes. Both works were filmed in the state of New Mexico.
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