directed by tiller russell

Tiller Russell began his professional career as a newspaper reporter, covering cops and courts in the San Francisco Bay Area. He found himself drawn to the movies and began interviewing filmmakers and writing reviews. One evening, Errol Morris told him, “you’re either going to spend the rest of your life interviewing people like me or go try your hand at this.” The next day, he quit his job at the paper and boarded a boat bound for South America. Six months later, he returned to the States to attend USC film school.

While there, he directed the documentary Cockfight, which played at festivals around the world, was nominated for an award by the International Documentary Association and aired on PBS. Next, he went to the Dominican Republic to shoot a documentary about baseball called Change Up. An early cut of the film — about two best friends who dream of coming to America to play in the Major Leagues — aired on Discovery. But the story wasn’t finished, so he continued to follow the protagonists over the past decade as their lives unfolded. He followed that up with One Strong Arm, a documentary about a half-paralyzed arm wrestler, which became the first film acquired by A & E Indie Films.

He was then hired as a producer on America’s Deadliest Season, the three-part pilot that launched Deadliest Catch.  This led to a stint in television at the Emmy-award winning production company Planet Grande Pictures, where he directed and produced a nonfiction series called Small Town Secrets (a sort of 60 Minutes on acid), a rockumentary about Juliette Lewis for VH-1, a pilot for F/X called Bordertown, and numerous TV other shows, while also acting as Head of Development. Afterwards, he directed the feature documentary Bad Boys of Summer about the inmate baseball team at San Quentin State Prison.

Between documentaries and TV shows he traveled extensively, making an art film in Japan and directing music videos for Texas songwriting legend Ray Wylie Hubbard. Together they collaborated on the screenplay for The Last Rites of Ransom Pride, his feature directorial debut. Starring Dwight Yoakam, Lizzy Caplan and Kris Kristofferson, it premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival before its limited theatrical run in the U.S.

He spent the last year directing and show-running a 10-part series for Discovery Channel called Kidnap + Rescue, as well as making a documentary about the disappearance of a DEA Agent in Mexico entitled Camarena. He is currently prepping his next feature film, a comedy called House of Pies.

– This was a 10-part series for Discovery Channel about the secret world of kidnapping and ransom. Each show was like a small movie punctuated by interviews from the people who survived.  I spent a year working on this, though each one-hour episode was actually shot in four days. The goal was to make high-octane action that was tactically sound and stylistically rock ‘n roll. To achieve that, we worked closely with members of LAPD SWAT and the Navy SEALS. The controlled precision with which those guys moved captured what Brian De Palma once called the “poetry of violence.”

– This movie starred Dwight Yoakam,  Lizzy Caplan, Jon Foster, Cote de Pablo, Peter Dinklage, Scott Speedman, Jason Priestley and Kris Kristofferson. Inspired by Peckinpah, Mad Max, Dylan and every comic I ever read, it’s a graphic novel Western about a bunch of despicable bastards and two bad bitches who cuss and kill each other. At its world premiere someone dubbed it a ” carnival of crazy,” which I take some pride in.  For the record, the look of the Dwarf,  played by Peter Dinklage, was inspired by Leon Russell and Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue. The movie premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival before its limited theatrical run in the States.

– This documentary is a work-in-progress 10-years in the making. It follows two young baseball players from the Dominican Republic competing against each other to achieve their lifelong dream: making it to America to play in the Big Leagues. An early version of this film aired on Discovery many years ago. But it seemed like the story wasn’t complete. So we’ve continued shooting for over a decade. At its essence, this is an epic coming-of-age film about friendship and the burden of dreams.

– This feature documentary was shot inside San Quentin State Prison. The “Q” has a no hostage policy, which means that if you are taken hostage while inside the prison, the administration will do everything in its power to get you out alive except release an inmate to obtain your freedom. The last time I heard that warning was when we returned to screen the completed film for the inmates. No screening I have been to before or since has compared with the weight and joy of that experience.

– This was a rockumentary for VH-1 about actor turned rocker Juliette Lewis.  Yes, she’s a nut – but I loved her. She possesses what the poet Federico Garcia Lorca called “duende”—the soul afire. Music projects are among my favorites to work on because I like running with the night people. But also because I believe, outside of comedians, musicians are among the bravest people in the world.

– This was a pilot for F/X. The premise was to illuminate life on the border by following the intersecting stories of a cop, a smuggler, a hooker, a vigilante and a peacenik.  Over the years, I have been drawn repeatedly to the borderlands because it’s one of the last places in “the Old America where the big guilt, political correctness and chain stores haven’t sunk in so deep,” to borrow a phrase from the songwriter Tom Russell.

– This was the first documentary I ever made. Didn’t really know a damn thing about the fine sport of cockfighting other than that it was visual, violent and controversial. We borrowed a video camera from a friend and lit out for Mexico. After winning the blessing of the Godfather of cockfighting in California, we were in. The rules of engagement were simple, he explained: “don’t point that camera over there because that’s where the cartel guys sit and they gamble a lot of money and don’t want to be f*cked with…” The film aired on PBS after being nominated for an award by the International Documentary Association.