Released : 2002 (Au)

Stars : Marcus Thomas, Kiefer Sutherland, Daryl Hannah, Molly Ringwald

"Ring of Fire" tells the story of two brothers, both competing in the 'winner takes all' sport of bull riding. Ely (Marcus Thomas), constantly compared to his superstar father who bit the dust on the circuit, has high hopes to be king rodeo. His brother, Hank, is a rodeo clown, who helps Ely play up the act. Trust a woman to come between the two men though. She's the leggy blonde sweetheart of the Rodeo, and - in his mind- Hanks' girl. When Hank catches his brother in a clinch with the woman he loves though it has the power to destroy their relationship."

"It's been sitting on a shelf here because the original distributor went belly up. Sorry to hear it's not going to be on the big screen, but at least everyone's work will be seen. Xavier Kollar directed the film, I was only the 2nd unit director. Which was an honour to do, cause I got to get into the chutes with the bull riders. The film was shot on the fly, low budget, etc, but the producers asked me to go out and get the raw footage of rodeos around California. It's always hard to make a film, and matching action and stunts from 2nd to first unit was difficult - I did my best to make sure what I was shooting blended in with what Xavier was doing. That being said, you have no idea the adrenaline rush it is to be in a chute with a 3000-pound bull that only wants to crush you. And then they open a gate and he gets a chance to do just that! It's really much closer to Gladiator sport than any I can think of, and these young guys throw their bodies against these bulls and somehow come out on top. The whole milieu, with the prize buckles, the 'buckle bunnies' - cowboy hats, tobacco juice, bar fights - even the way they talk is old Americana - I got the impression in this bull riding school in Nipomo, California, a few hours from LA, they were acting/talking/cowboying the way it had been done for 200 years. Robert Redford's son wrote the script, and it's unusual as he was able to get into the world of these bull riders, and their equally important counterparts - the 'rodeo clown' who is known as a bull fighter in their parlance. It's an amazing world, and the story hasn't been told before."

"There's never been a great film about this sport. There are two I can think of; "8 Seconds" and another I can't name. They always screw it up"

"I directed Daryl Hannah in her first film, a student film while we were at USC as students 20 years ago. She looked around one day and saw me and said, "What the hell are you doing here?" And I said, "Oh, you'll never see me on the set, I'm directing second unit." And she said, "You don't look like you're doing anything. I think you're making that up!" I still think she thinks I was just hanging around the set."

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