Latest updates on our film Billy Trigger as well as our experience working with Black Caesar himself, Fred Williamson!

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

For those not following our first full plunge into film production called BILLY TRIGGER, here’s the latest update on things. We are now 2 weeks into shooting, with 1 week left before the end of the shoot. Our wrap party will take place on Saturday, November 24th. Everything has been going well so far, although it has to be said that everyone is working their asses off, especially actor/stunt coordinator Anderson Bradshaw, writer/actor John Fallon (aka the Arrow) and director/editor Christian Viel.

This past week was the “meat” of the shoot in my opinion with tons of action scenes, a bigger crew and most importantly, the presence of legendary actor Fred Williamson, which was exciting for all of us, since it’s rare that we get “name actors” shooting movies in Montreal with us. What made the week that much cooler though was that Fred was….how shall I put this: ONE CLASS ACT! Not only was he completely professional and awesome in terms of his acting prowess, but he was extremely helpful on the set in various ways, passing along tips to our crew and cast, always remaining positive and most importantly, never acting like a “big star” or anything, despite the lifetime of experience he’s had to this point (can you believe that he’s 74 years old…looks great!!). I personally had no idea what to expect from him before we started this movie, but I honestly never imagined that he would be this inspirational and complementary to our film as a whole. At one point, he even told us that if we needed to put more money into the production, he’d be willing to give us a break on some of our arrangements with him. Straight up, how cool is that?! Truly a class act who we could not thank enough. All that to say, THANK YOU MR. WILLIAMSON!!

Being the “executive producer”, I personally tried not to bother the true creatives behind the project too much, but as per most Christian Viel films, I was asked to film a cameo for the film last Wednesday. I got to meet Mr. Williamson for a few minutes and he was constantly cracking jokes and remaining light on the set. I also love how he’s always holding a cigar in his hand, dressed to the nines and he even showed me his awesome Superbowl ring! (from the 1st Superbowl….ever!). My scene was a little more “action-oriented” than usual, but after a few takes, it all worked out. What was cool was that we weren’t exactly sure what the best way would be to shoot the scene (lots of bodies, lots of guns), but Mr. Williamson stepped up and offered some pretty cool ideas (he even grabbed me by the throat to showcase what he meant!) and that’s what we ultimately ended up shooting (it’s actually a pretty original sequence). That’s me on the right below, “trying” to look tough.

Finally on Friday, we invited a few local media outlets to meet-greet-interview the cast & crew, which was also a “first” for us, as we’re usually the ones being invited to set visits. Not many JoBlo.com staffers live in Montreal, Canada, but one of our theatrical reviewers does, Chris Bumbray, and he was nice enough to help us arrange the visit. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun, and we’ll surely link out to some of those write-ups in the coming weeks.

That’s it for now, but if you want to see more pictures and thoughts from folks working on the front lines, be sure to check out our film’s OFFICIAL SITE, or its Facebook or Twitter feeds. Christian told me that he’s going to try to edit together the first teaser trailer for the film before Christmas, so expect to see that on JoBlo.com around that time. Thanks to everyone who has continued to support us on this film to this point, including everyone on our awesome cast and crew and friends! So far, so good! 🙂

Look out behind you!!!