Making Movies With Daniel Campbell

Saline County is home to a creative and notable group of up-and-coming stars, all of who deeply love their hometown. Included in this talented set is none other than Daniel Campbell, a breakout filmmaker who is creating a name for himself in the film community.

Daniel has packed in a lot of diverse bodies of work since his career began in 2008. It was then that he worked on the film, “Nothing But The Truth”, in the casting department.

After that, he wrote and directed his first short film, “Antiquities”. Daniel shares, “We shot ‘Antiquities’ in Little Rock and Benton in 2010; it was produced by Josh and Miles Miller, who are both from Bryant. The film won a couple of awards in the film festival circuit and I was honored to be named Filmmaker of the Month by the Oxford American Magazine.”

For the next couple of years, Daniel worked in the production department on films and regional commercials. In 2011, he wrote and directed the short film “The Orderly” which starred Benton native Matt Newcomb, who was also later cast in the feature film “Mud”. Daniel recalls, “‘The Orderly’ had a great film festival run and we were fortunate enough to screen in Hamburg, Germany.”

That same year, he worked on the Oscar nominated documentary “Paradise Lost 3” which tells the story of the West Memphis Three and their court case. Daniel recalls, “That was an amazing experience. I had never worked on a documentary before and being able to work on one of that caliber was phenomenal. Eddie Vedder was a huge supporter of the West Memphis Three and the night they got released, I got the chance to hang out with him. That’s probably the only time I’ve been really star struck.”

In 2013, Daniel wrote and directed his third short film titled “The Discontentment of Ed Tailfair” which is currently making the rounds in the film festival circuit. It was recently accepted into the prestigious Academy Award qualifying Flickers: Rhode Island International Film Festival, which had over 5,100 films submitted and accepted around 200.

When asked how Daniel developed an interest and got his start in film, he replied, “I’ve always been interested in film. Growing up, I spent a lot of time watching movies. My dad was a huge film buff and had amazing taste. By the time I was in high school I’d seen ‘Raising Arizona’ at least a hundred times. That’s where I developed my broad love for movies.”

He continued, “Right out of college, I was working at a job that I didn’t really enjoy. I started researching the different aspects of film and realized how crucial casting was. As I continued looking into casting, I found out that Little Rock was home to a big time casting director, Sarah Tackett. I reached out and asked if I could work for her. After several months interviewing with Sarah, she hired me to work with her on ‘Nothing But The Truth’ starring Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, Alan Alda and Angela Bassett. From there, I’ve worked on several different films and commercials in various capacities.”

Daniel has had the privilege of working on several large-scale productions and worked with notable talent, and he shared some of his experiences. “I worked in the Production Department on the Jeff Nichols film ‘Mud’ which was filmed in Arkansas in 2012 and starred Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Sam Sheppard and Ray McKinnon. McConaughey was great to be around. He wore prosthetic teeth in the movie and when he had them in, he was Mud. He never broke character when the teeth were in, but as soon as they were out, he was back to himself. It was amazing to see him in character and watch him perform.”

In regards to Reese Witherspoon, Daniel says, “[She] was only in town for a few days, but was great when she was on set. Sam Sheppard was a little intimidating to me, just because he is such a legend.”

Daniel continues, “I got to know Ray McKinnon really well at the Little Rock Film Festival a few years before working on ‘Mud’. He was at the screening of ‘Antiquities’ and afterwards pulled me aside and gave me a very encouraging ‘keep going’ type of talk. He’s been really supportive of me since we met.”

Daniel is currently working on his first feature film “Antiquities” which is in development, and they are exploring Saline County locations as a possibility to shoot. The film is very loosely based off of his first short film, also entitled “Antiquities”.

At the 2010 Little Rock Film Festival, Daniel met Graham Gordy, a central Arkansas native who has an impressive screenwriting resume.

Daniel shares, “I was fortunate enough to co-write the script with Graham Gordy, who is also one of the producers on the film. We have some really well known talent attached to the project at the moment and I’m very excited to finally make my
feature film directorial debut.”

As he thinks ahead to the future, Daniel has high hopes of winning awards for his films, with an ultimate goal of making a feature film every few years starring an A-list cast. He’s off to a great start in making this dream a reality; he’s a three-time-winner of the Charles B. Pierce Award at the Little Rock Film Festival for three of his short films; no one else has ever won more than once. The winning short films have screened at Academy Award qualifying festivals across the country.

When asked where he calls home, Daniel responds with a simple, heartfelt answer. “My wife and I both grew up in Saline County and the majority of our families are still there, so we spend a lot of our free time in Benton, Bryant and Bauxite. Long story short, Saline County is home. It will always be home.”