Punk rockers can make movies too: an interview with the star of Dark Arrows

There is something so intriguing about the term “first-time director” or “first feature film.” For better or for worse, it conveys that the person behind the project has fresh eyes for film, ambition and new ideas to display, the likes of which audiences have yet to discover themselves. 

Eric Gregson has spent most of his life in the hardcore music scene but now, after a lifetime of wanting to write and direct movies, his first feature film, Dark Arrows, is available for streaming and purchase. 

The film follows James McCollum (Tommy Green), a former Union Soldier turned thief, who gets entangled with the lone survivor of a slave caravan, Caroline (Shah G. Onwuka, Love at First Spite, Dash). The two must rely on each other for survival as enemies close in. The pre-Western period drama is years in the making and is a massive accomplishment for both Gregson and his crew. 

I sat down with Tommy Green, the lead of Dark Arrows, whose lifelong relationship with Gregson as bandmates helped him connect to a director and discover himself as a first-time leading man, let alone a screen actor. “The whole time we were in the band, he wanted to make a movie; we played together for 12 years, and then he sold his company to finance his first film,” Green says.

Green initially wanted to simply be “the guy who gets shot with an arrow.” I asked him how he went from this initial background character to playing James McCollum. 

“He said he wants me to be the lead in the movie, and I was like, ‘No dude.’ But we had this dynamic from being in a band, and with that you have different relationships, like a marriage with a bunch of people, so we have our own working relationship,” Green says.

When asked what he learned as a first-time actor from the director and the cast, Green says, “I learned a lot watching Eric. I found that it’s a miracle anything ever gets made. It’s crazy that anything happens because there is so much that goes into it, and we kind of benefited from being sorta punk rockers about the whole thing. We were jumping fences, went to places we probably weren’t supposed to film, just a bunch of hardcore kids from different parts of the country filming in LA.”

Onwuka was one of the more experienced actresses on the project, with 21 on-screen credits and experience on stage as well. Green attributed much of his success as a newcomer to his co-star’s abilities. 

“She’s the real deal; I got to watch an actual actor, and I would be in awe,” he says. “There would be times when her character needed to be depleted; she’s beat up, and in bad shape and crying, and for hours she would hold these amazing spaces while I’d be off camera crying; I don’t know how she does it.”

I ask what is next for Eric Gregson and Tommy Green. “As [Eric] would say, this is the demo to get the band signed,” says Green. “He created an entire world, wrote and directed the whole thing. Being punk rockers, you sew your own clothes; he made costumes, he did it all. He’s really good at this; it’s right up his alley.”

As for Green, he wants to tell stories too, while still being a rocker. “I want to tell compelling stories. I am in a band right now, and I’m working on a project called Fight Stories, which will be a movie that takes place here. It’s basically Salt Lake in the ‘90s when I was growing up,” Green says. Maybe he will get his chance to get shot by an arrow on screen.

Dark Arrows is available on YouTube, Apple TV, Prime Video and Fandango!

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MASBEDO and the Complex Nature of Arsa
Edie Arnold Is a Loser Brings Its Utah-Made Punk Comedy Home

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