Sovereign tells the story of a father and son living under the Sovereign Citizen belief system, based on true events. The crime thriller follows them as they fight the system, following an anti-establishment lifestyle that leads them to the end of everything as they know it. The film was written and directed by Christian Swegal and stars Nick Offerman, Jacob Tremblay, and Dennis Quaid.
Swegal spoke to Eulalie Magazine about the process behind writing and directing his first feature film, as well as what it was like to work with this cast and crew in Arkansas.
Eulalie Magazine: As soon as the movie starts, it makes it clear that it’s based on true events. What about these true events motivated you, or inspired you, to bring this story to the big screen?
Christian Swegal: I’ve always been interested in fringe ideologies, whether it’s conspiracy theories or cults. How do people, or large groups of people, get involved in these movements? And how do seemingly rational people get involved in these moments? What’s the draw?
When I first heard about this crime, it felt like a great starting point to initiate a discussion about many themes that I’m interested in and things I think are relevant happening in the country right now. How does information get disseminated? Where are people getting their information from? I think there are themes about mental health that are very important to me, which are discussed in this film. Gun culture, fatherhood, masculinity, a lot of things that I think are important for us to be talking about. This crime, and it’s a tragedy, felt like fertile ground to explore many of those issues.
Eulalie Magazine: Do you think there’s an advantage, or does it feel less challenging when you’re directing something that you wrote versus something that someone else wrote?
Swegal: That’s interesting. I’ve written things that other people have directed. I haven’t been the only writer on things. I’ve been part of writing teams where others have directed the material. I’ve never directed anything that anybody else has written. But certainly, it feels to me that the biggest value I felt I had as a director was understanding the script better than anybody else. And so I do think it’s a huge advantage.
If I were to direct anybody else’s material, I would have to really invade that script and and even if I weren’t rewriting it, I’d have to live in it, because you have to understand the real intricate motivations of each character and be able to explain that and articulate it and sort of hold that vision. Writing it helps because you’re the one generating all of that, and you have to think about all those questions when you’re writing it.
Eulalie Magazine: As you were writing it, did you picture how you were going to put it on camera? And if so, was there any scene or any particular moment that you felt was a little bit challenging or more difficult to bring to the screen?
Swegal: It’s interesting because you have a version of the movie in your head that you write, and then once we arrived in Arkansas, things looked different than I anticipated. The locations that you get are arranged and laid out in a different way. Then the performances that the actors bring, even if you know that actor’s body of work, once you see them in hair and makeup, they become the person you know. That’s really where filmmaking is a collaborative medium.
That was a learning curve for me, as this was my first feature of directed seeing, where I had to open up to what was in front of me, rather than what was in my head. Because I think if you cling too tightly to what’s in your head, you miss a lot of the beautiful things that are happening and unfolding. Honestly, the most challenging aspect of making this film was the time we had to work with. It was very short.
We’re an independent film, and we had some bad weather. We had lightning strikes that took a day out of our filming schedule, and so probably the action set piece at the end of the movie was the most challenging.
Eulalie Magazine: As you watched this final result, was there anything that you wish you had done differently, or anything that you learned that you will bring into upcoming projects?
Swegal: I’m not sure if this is true, but I think it’s probably true that you’re never really satisfied. You’re always trying to improve. This is my first time watching anything that I’ve written and directed with a large audience, so even just getting the feedback from the audience, I think, is a huge benefit. That would probably inform, maybe, how I would structure telling a story in the future.
I think I learned some lessons through some successes that we had on the movie, certainly like our cast was incredible, and really, having the right team around you is so important. It was a positive lesson that I learned through success, rather than something that was a failure. There are probably always things that you do differently, but this was special because it was an independent film, and we got to work as a group and make the movie we wanted to make.
Eulalie Magazine: After getting to watch it with an audience and getting their feedback, was there anything in particular when you were making this movie that you wanted to stay with the audience, and that maybe you noticed it stayed with the audience when they watched it?
Swegal: My intention with this, and I’ve mentioned it a few times now, is that it’s a talking point of mine. I love films that really ask questions rather than give you an answer. I think we’re used to a passive viewing experience in a lot of movies. You watch a film, and you’re waiting for the answer to be given to you so that you can walk away. It’s a passive experience. I think movies that have affected me have always been films that have asked questions, and then I spend time afterwards thinking about it and talking about it with my friends. It leaves you with something to unpack after the credits.
I knew that presenting a complex issue through this crime that happened was presenting something complex in an honest way. There wasn’t going to be an honest, simple answer. So, I think what I wanted, what I hoped, is that people would leave the movie thinking about it. That pointed them in the direction of things to really think about and to question. If there was a general message of empathy and trying not to view things in such a binary way, that perhaps there’s a more compassionate way forward through some of these issues, if you really thought about what it would be like to be in the other person’s shoes.
Eulalie Magazine: These questions that you want people to leave the movie with, are they something that you think about when you’re writing the piece, or is it something that just comes naturally as you’re writing it, and then reading it back, you realize the impact that it could have?
Swegal: I think it’s intentional, because it’s stuff that drew me to the story in the first place. I felt like, “Oh, this is a story that really does touch on a lot of these things that I’m questioning myself as a just a person.” The writing of it was a way for me to explore a lot of those things. For instance, in Arkansas, there’s a scene of him going into a gun store, and there’s this wall of hundreds of automatic weapons in there that you can walk up to and buy.
When you’re in Arkansas and speak to the gun shop owner, who is a lovely guy with a family, a Golden Retriever, and a hunting background, I understand it. He’s got his business, and they have their way of life. But as somebody from Los Angeles or maybe a big city, or anywhere else, the thought that just a random person can go in and buy that kind of heavy artillery is so commonplace is really shocking. That’s just one of the tiny issues. Then issues around fatherhood and masculinity, and how do we teach our sons to be in the world? I think it was just a way for me to explore a lot of that stuff that I think about in my daily life.
Eulalie Magazine: One of the things that you mentioned is how you worked with this cast. You have actors like Nick Offerman and Dennis Quaid, who have long careers and are well-known. And then you also have Jacob Tremblay, who has been acting since he was a kid, and people have also known his work since he was a kid. So, is there a different approach to how you treat each actor based on that, or do you put them all on an equal level because of what they’re doing and what they bring to the table?
Swegal: My approach to the actors was just from a standpoint of gratitude. We were so lucky with this film to have such an incredible cast, especially given the size of the movie that we are. I think our cast is an all-star for an independent film. I’ve written the thing, and the whole filmmaking team really has a concept of what the movie is going into it, but then the actors are the ones who have to actually become that person. Because they have to become the person, they have an immediate sense of what’s true and what’s not true. They can’t do something false, because then it throws their whole thing off.
I just tried to explain the purpose behind the text, where I thought the character was coming from, and then it became a conversation about whether that feels honest to them or not. I think most of the time it did, but there were probably many instances where it didn’t, so we would work on it together and try to find what felt honest.
Eulalie Magazine: How do you part from a project like this and move on to something new, or are you always thinking of what’s next?
Swegal: That’s going to be tough. It was a dream come true for me to get to do a film, and to do a film like this. I’m now at the stage of realizing that this is out in the world, and it’s not mine anymore, and other people are going to have their thoughts about it and their opinions about it. And I can’t sit in the room with every single person who watches it and try to explain what we were trying to do. It’s a new experience for me. I am moving on from it kind of slowly and letting it go, and I think the best way to do that is to just start focusing on the next thing. I really hope we get a chance to do this again. I’ve a few projects that I’m working on now, which I hope to have ready soon.
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Lara Rosales
By day, Lara Rosales (she/her) is a solo mom by choice and a bilingual writer with a BA in Latin-American Literature known as a Media Relations Expert. By night, she is a TV enjoyer who used to host a podcast (Cats, Milfs & Lesbian Things). You can find her work published on Tell-Tale TV, Geek Girl Authority, W Spotlight, Collider, USA Wire, Mentors Collective, Instelite, Noodle, Dear Movies, Nicki Swift, and Flip Screened.
