We are excited to announce that Jennifer Obie Griffith has joined the cast of our Western TEXAS RED. She will play a mother who, with her two daughters, encounters Texas Red during his escape.
Jennifer is actually the one responsible for giving me the idea of making this film. At a fundraising dinner for the animal rescue league in Brookhaven, we happen to be sat at the same table and that evening she alerted me to this amazing true story. The rest is history, as they say, and since then Jennifer has been an essential source for connections in Franklin County as we plan our film. I am excited to now have her in our cast as well. In the picture above, Jennifer can be seen at an event in Meadville for the film with myself and the author of the unpublished Texas Red book, Don Simonton.
Our film Texas Red tells a true story of a manhunt which took place in the winter of 1940 in the Southwest region of Mississippi. Texas Red was a successful juke joint owner in a racially integrated community called Freewoods, a rare thing during this time period in the South. A group of white men led a raid on Texas Red’s cabin one night, leading to the killing of a young deputy named Hilliard Hall. Red and his partner the Oklahoma Kid, fled and were chased through the wilderness for a month by hundreds of men, including the FBI and National Guard. Red and the Kid were reported to have robbed establishments in the area before this raid but that has never been confirmed. The film follows the incredible chase, a powerful struggle for survival and justice.
Texas Red is one of our 12 Westerns in 12 Months. Click here to visit our IMDb page. Production begins in late January in Mississippi. We will be back with more casting announcements for Texas Red in the near future. To follow details about the project, please join our Facebook group Texas Red and follow the 12 Westerns in 12 Months.
-Travis Mills
