Clint Lilley, son of stuntman Jack Lilley, has continued the family legacy in the entertainment industry after winning “Best Western Film,” and other awards for his film at the Independent Shorts Awards in Los Angeles in October.
Lilley’s short film “The Geisha and The Gunfighter” is a story about a gunfighter named Samuel Kidd who meets Ichiryu, a geisha, while on a quest for a missing boxcar of gold, but is led to a new encounter. They go on a journey of vengeance against a mutual enemy and with one final showdown, true motives are uncovered — and Ichiryu and Kidd must face their intertwined destinies.
Lilley, a Santa Clarita resident, said two out of three days of filming took place “20 minutes from the door,” as he put it.
“Two out of the three days were filmed in Santa Clarita, basically at (the) SOS film location (SOS FilmWorks) in Agua Dulce. And then one day it was all the way out in the town of Llano, which is on the other side of Victorville, at a location out there. But yeah, for the most part, it was done, you know, near home,” Lilley said.
He recalled finishing up another film project when the opportunity came up to do the Western film.
“I just shot what they call proof of concept for a project, and it actually is a cop revenge indie feature. And I just finished that, and we were in post, and I ran into a friend of a friend, and he had the idea for a Western because they see me, they’ll think, ‘Oh, you came up with the idea for the Western,’” Lilley said referring to getting involved with the short film. “I said, ‘No, actually, I got to admit, it wasn’t my idea at first,’ but after I got my hands on it and messed it up a little bit then it became what it is.”
When asked how it felt to get the award for a movie he created, Lilley said he was floored.
“So, it’s exciting to me because I’m like going, ‘I’ve been in this business since I was a kid,’ but I don’t, this is all kind of new for me. So, it’s fun,” Lilley said.
He also credited the people who were involved in the project and seeing them put in the hard work to make something happen is great, and he described it as a team effort to get to the finish line.
