From the gritty streets of Fall River, MA, "Jungleland" has had quite a journey since beginning production in the summer of 2018. In the story itself, two brothers Stanley (Charlie Hunnam) and Lion Kaminski (Jack O'Connell) are down on their luck but ready to fight their way out. The brothers try to escape their circumstances by traveling across the country for a no-holds-barred boxing match that becomes a fight for their lives. Along the way, they encounter Pepper (Jonathan Majors) a gangster who saddles them with the responsibility of transporting Sky (Jessica Barden) a feisty young thing, on their way to the big showdown. 

     "(From the lyrics of "Jungleland" by Bruce Springsteen: ) "They wind up wounded, not even dead" evokes the mood of Max Winkler's "Jungleland," starring Charlie Hunnan and Jack O'Connell as brothers so far outside mainstream society they are off the grid altogether. Like the invisible, the aimless, the unmoored, they are the walking wounded. With a script by Theodore Bressman, David Branson Smith, and Winkler, and featuring three very strong central performances and eye-catching poetic visuals, "Jungleland" is more of a mood-piece than anything else, and on that level it works beautifully. The mood is strange, sad, and hypnotic." 
- https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/jungleland-movie-review-2020

     We shot Jungleland over 29 days in a fat September of 2018. I was production coordinator, running the physical & digital production office in Fall River, MA. My first union POC film credit, again working beneath wonderful production supervisor, Janelle Canastra. And I actually stayed at Janelle's parents' house throughout production; Robin and Jeff are saints 🙌. Scott Free Productions / Romulus Entertainment / Big Red Films. Paramount Pictures release, 2020. Go see it.

     Based on an award-winning article in Esquire, Our Friend is a romantic drama from Scott Free Productions and Black Bear Pictures, filmed in Fairhope, Alabama in the Spring of 2019. My fourth consecutive film working under Janelle Canastra, we spent about three months in Alabama. I made some great friends on this film, had excellent conversations at the Tongue & Groove Drinkery in downtown Fairhope, and even got to see the Patriots lose another Super Bowl. 

     In the film, Jason Segel plays "Dane", the life-long best friend of Casey Affleck's "Matt" and his wife, "Nicole", played by Dakota Johnson. Dane is the glue when life starts to fall apart for Matt & Nicole after a cancer diagnosis; Dane becomes the family's confidant, care-taker, babysitter, comic relief and all-around spirit animal. During production, Segel was mostly quiet and kind, like life on the Mobile Bay, with the exceptions of a crazy Mardi Gras parade schedule, one behavior I won't mention here, and also the fact that Alabama choses to celebrate "Robert E Lee Day" on the same day as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 🤮. This production will remain forever in my mind, large like Segel's hulking, doughy frame and the coffees we would buy from The Coffee Loft, but also quiet, like Segel's company in public, and Alabama public officials on the topic of mass shootings. Not everything went perfectly, as it seldom does, but it sure felt good at the end. 

     The film premiered to mostly positive reviews at TIFF in late 2019. Producers for Scott Free moved next to "Earthquake Bird" while Black Bear Pictures and others from the production team would reconvene next on "I Care A Lot". 

     Filmed almost entirely in Cleveland, OH, "The Last Summer" is a coming-of-age romantic comedy set in Chicago over the final summer after graduating high school. With a cast that has been called "A Who's Who Of Young Hollywood", the film will premiere on Netflix on May 3, 2019. 

     Immediately following the production wrap of "Clemency", production supervisor Janelle Canastra enlisted Dan Lawler to join the production office in Cleveland.  Easter Egg: keep an eye on the Cincinatti Reds jerseys in the outfield, the film's costume designer, Carla Shivener assigned #39 to a player named "LAWLER".

     "Clemency" a dramatic feature film from writer / director Chinonye Chukwu is ​an absorbing and penetrating character study that pulls into deep focus the various ways in which people facing impossible ethical circumstances strive to achieve some state of grace.

     Bernadine Williams (Alfre Woodard) is a prison warden who, over the years, has been drifting away from her husband while dutifully carrying out executions in a maximum security prison. When she strikes a unique bond with death-row inmate Anthony Woods (Aldis Hodge), a layer of emotional skin is peeled back, forcing Bernadine to confront the complex — and often contradictory — relationship between good intentions, unrequited desires, and what it means to be sanctioned to kill.

     At the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, "Clemency" won Grand Jury Prize honors. The film will be distributed by NEON and has a theatrical release date scheduled Dec. 27, 2019. 

     "Clemency" stars Alfre Woodard, Aldis Hodge, Richard Schiff, Wendell Pierce, Danielle Brooks, LaMonica Garrett, Michael O'Neill, Richard Gunn, Dan Lawler, and Dennis Haskins.

     Rudy Gonzalez (Omar Montanez) is a Mexican-American teenager who does not find self-esteem in his home life, so he goes to the streets of Anaheim in 1984 to find it. What he discovers is Ska.

     Spider (Dan Lawler) and his gang of neo-nazi, drug-dealing, metal heads welcome Rudy into their flophouse in his time of need, but they have sinister motives, giving the boy drugs and spewing racism & hate as they go about their gangland ways. "Rude Boy - The Movie" is a nostalgic thrill ride with Skate (Sean Cruz) ripping off all the gang's cocaine, Katinka (Shandi Meekus Gustafski) spewing Russain mystery, and the rest of the Rude Boys dancing the night away.

     Live screening at Frida Cinema (305 E. 4th St., Santa Ana, CA) on April 16 at 9:30 PM. Tickets are $10 and available at thefridacinema.org

Dan Lawler on IMDb.com

     Check out Dan Lawler, Actor, on the Internet Movie Database IMDb.com!

     Recently added credits include "Rude Boy - The Movie" [2015], and "Charlie Murphy's Law" (TV Pilot) [2014].

     And check back soon for additional upcoming projects such as "Coded Court", "Lefthanded & Colorblind", and more!

        "Zombeavers" movie premiere in Los Angeles, CA at the historic Ace Hotel, downtown.

        Dan Lawler and Lindsay Haalmeyer Mouat were among the star-studded crowd Wednesday night for the Los Angeles premiere.  The film played and closed to uproarious laughter and applause, and was followed by an engaging Q & A with the cast and writer / director Jordan Rubin.

        Check out the gallery below for some shots from the red carpet at the event!  "Zombeavers" hits Netflix and Video On Demand on May 19, 2015.