It’s been 15 years since Tanner Beard released his Western ode to his home state.
“The Legend of Hell’s Gate: An American Conspiracy” tells the story of how Hell’s Gate at Possum Kingdom Lake came to its name. The 2011 film is told through three outlaws’ expeditions and encounters through 1870s Texas.
Beard, who is from Snyder and is now based in Fort Worth, did just about everything behind and in front of the camera on the film. He’s credited not only as the writer-director, but as an actor and producer.
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The venture was Beard’s first major project, and one that he thought never aligned with his definitive vision for the film, which was made in Texas cities like Granbury and Palo Pinto.
Now, a little older and a little wiser, Beard is putting out a director’s cut of the film this fall under a new title — “Once Upon a Time in Texas.”
“A lot of people have kind of said, ‘Yeah, I don’t know what this is. Is it a director’s cut? Is it a new movie’?” Beard said in a phone interview. “We’re like, ‘Yeah, it’s both.'”
Time and legends
“Once Upon a Time in Texas” will open in select theaters on Oct. 16 and hit video-on-demand on Nov. 17.
Beard pulled out all the stops for the film, including shooting 20 minutes of new footage, digitally remastering the original film negative, revising deleted scenes, adding new visual effects and composing a fresh musical score.
However, the most important part was getting Lou Taylor Pucci to reprise his role as a Kelly, since the framing device of “Once Upon a Time in Texas” is his character in the early 1900s retelling the events of “Hell’s Gate.”
Another thing Beard is excited for people to check out is the historical aspect of the film, which features a who’s who of famous Western figures like Doc Holliday, Bass Reeves, Belle Starr, Jesse James, Sam Bass and Quanah Parker.
“It’s really cool to say that all those characters are all in one movie,” Beard said.
Tanner Beard (left) behind the scenes of “The Legend of Hell’s Gate: An American Conspiracy.”
The genesis of the new cut came after Beard retained the rights to “Hell’s Gate” after a decade.
When he went back and looked through the footage, he realized that the film had actually been shot in 4K, which Beard said was a relatively new format at the time back in 2009. That realization, plus the lingering feeling that he wasn’t able to tell the story he wanted to, pushed Beard to get to work on a new cut.
As for why he feels “Hell’s Gate” didn’t align with his vision, Beard said that’s due to time constraints when making the movie and his own young naivety. He turned 25 years old on set and was still figuring things out.
That’s why he’s excited to put “Once Upon a Time in Texas” out as a way to thank the cast and crew for their hard work all those years ago.
“This is kind of my very late hopeful apology to not knowing exactly what I was doing when I was 25,” Beard said.
“Once Upon a Time in Texas” stars Pucci, Beard, Eric Balfour, Henry Thomas, Clive Standen, Jenna Dewan, Summer Glau, Kevin Alejandro and more.