Daily Wire Completes ‘Pawn Shop’ Filming Despite Leftist Opposition
Daily Wire finishes filming ‘Pawn Shop’ in Montana after facing political pushback and permit issues.
2 min read
Despite multiple attempts to shut down its latest production, The Daily Wire completed filming of its movie ‘Pawn Shop’ in Livingston, Montana, this week. The project, which follows an ICE officer struggling after his partner is seriously injured, faced significant political opposition from the city’s authorities.
We just wrapped production on our upcoming movie Pawn Shop! 🎬
Ben Shapiro, editor emeritus of The Daily Wire, claimed that the city’s decision to revoke filming permits was politically motivated. “Let us be clear: there’s only one reason the city commissioners ruled they were going to stop our production on the street: politics, pure and simple, and they pretty much admitted it,” Shapiro said on Tuesday’s episode of his podcast.
Shapiro criticized the city’s actions as a form of censorship, arguing that the First Amendment was being violated. “These people are not even hiding the ball. These censorious jackasses just want things they do not like barred by law. It is that simple. They don’t give a sh*t about free speech. They don’t like free speech. Free speech is just for them. It is not for the people who oppose them,” he added.
The film, directed by Michael Polish, stars Danny Trejo, Harvey Keitel, Henry Thomas, Myles Clohessy, CJ Salvador, Noel Guglielmi, and Paris Bravo. “Livingston put us through it,” said lead producer Dallas Sonnier. “Protests, a suspended permit, a seven-hour hearing, but our team showed up anyway and finished strong.”
“Pawn Shop is the movie we set out to make, and I am proud of every cast & crew legend who stayed on that set until the last shot (of a Jeep getting blown to pieces),” he continued. The Livingston City Commission voted unanimously to reinstate the project’s filming permit on October 5 after a nearly six-hour special meeting. The permit was reinstated under the condition that the production erect black fabric screens around any “violent activity” due to potential “psychological impact” on the community.
Protesters caused major disruptions, forcing the production to increase security from no armed guards to six. Performers were also confronted by protesters screaming, “You guys are fascists,” and others used bullhorns to yell “action” and “cut” during action scenes, endangering the cast.
Some media outlets celebrated the permit’s revocation, with The Bulwark’s Will Sommer running a piece titled “A Small Montana Town Tells Ben Shapiro to F*** Off.” The AV Club called The Daily Wire an “ultra-conservative white nationalist media company,” while The Daily Beast dubbed the project an “unhinged MAGA movie” and a “MAGA fever dream.” The New Republic described the film as “unbelievably offensive” even before it was released.
Despite the challenges, the cast and crew finished filming anyway.
Source: Daily Wire
