Wicked Spring | |
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![]() Film poster | |
Directed by | Kevin Hershberger |
Written by | Kevin Hershberger |
Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Stephen Lyons |
Edited by | Sunny Zhao |
Music by | David Russell |
Production company | LionHeart FilmWorks |
Distributed by |
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Release date |
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Running time | 102 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $500,000 |
Wicked Spring is a 2002 American historical-based dramatic war film directed, produced, and written by Kevin Hershberger, as his first narrative feature film. [2] [3] The fictional portrayal is based on several actual events from the American Civil War, notably fictionalizing an event that took place in 1862 during the Battle of Crampton's Gap. [4] The film focuses on a Harrison Bolding, a Confederate soldier in 1864 who, at night and with two other soldiers from his company, becomes lost while in conflict at the Battle of the Wilderness. The three meet and befriend a trio of Union soldiers that night, but don't realize it until the next morning when the six find themselves trapped between Union and Confederate defenses. [4]
Wicked Spring had a budget of an estimated $500,000, and while initially screening only at film festivals, aired for the first time on ABC Television WJRT in June 2005. [4]
The film was produced by Richard J. Perry (DJ Perry) and executive-produced by Leonard J. Krawezyk for LionHeart FilmWorks, and the MPAA rated the film PG-13.
In 1861, Harrison Bolding (Brian Merrick) bid farewell to his wife and went off to war. In 1864, during the Battle of the Wilderness, as fighting wears down and night begins to fall, Bolding and two other soldiers, James Hogg (Terry Jernigan) and After Stand Kennerly (Aaron Jackson) get separated from their company and in the darkness they become lost in the thick woods. They happen to run into three other soldiers, John Sunderlin (DJ Perry), Augustus Elliot (Curtis Hall), and Pietro Brolo (Mark Lacy) without realizing they are soldiers from the opposite side. The six weary men socialize by the campfire, telling stories and sharing any food they have left.
When the sun rises the next morning, the soldiers realize they are from different sides of the conflict. As tensions grow, they are also stuck in between the rest of the Confederate and Union soldiers, approaching each other. The two sides come closer and closer, before firing simultaneously. The barrage of fire kills all the men, ending the movie.
The Battle of the Wilderness took place in Spotsylvania and Orange County, Virginia. While all filming was shot in Virginia, none occurred at the actual battle site.
Filming was conducted over 29 total days between January and August 2000 at five different locations throughout Virginia. Total cast includes approximately 100 actors and re-enactors from across the United States.
Director Kevin Hershberger reunited almost the entire cast and crew from his previous short film, "The Nest" for the production of Wicked Spring.
Production was confirmed in December 1999, with announcement of plans to film in Virginia during 2000. [5] To maximize the budget, filming was broken up over most of 2000. The opening of the picture was shot over several days in January 2000, then production broke while the actors grew beards and longer hair and lost weight to film the battle scenes at the end of March and early April 2000. Gathering additional budget money, the production then shot in May 2000 for all of the character scenes of meeting in the woods at night, campfire and morning wake up before the next day's battle. With rain and other natural elements disrupting filming, production shot for an additional 3 days in August 2000 (at a different filming location) to finish out the film, shooting the important "letter writing" sequence which is important for the end of the second act.
The band Carbon Leaf wrote "Dear" as an original song for the movie's closing credits. The song appears as a hidden track on their 2001 album Echo, Echo. [6]
The Battle of the Wilderness was fought on May 5–7, 1864, during the American Civil War. It was the first battle of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The fighting occurred in a wooded area near Locust Grove, Virginia, about 20 miles (32 km) west of Fredericksburg. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, nearly 29,000 in total, a harbinger of a war of attrition by Grant against Lee's army and, eventually, the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. The battle was tactically inconclusive, as Grant disengaged and continued his offensive.
No Man's Land is a 2001 war film that is set in the midst of the Bosnian War. The film is a parable and marks the debut of Bosnian writer and director Danis Tanović. It is a co-production among companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Italy, France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. The film first premiered on 19 September 2001 in France. It later won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2002.
Carbon Leaf is a quintet from Richmond, Virginia, known for their alt-country, Celtic, and folk-infused indie rock. Though some of the band members have changed through the years, Carbon Leaf has been consistently creating and performing music since the early 1990s. The band currently consists of founding members Barry Privett, Carter Gravatt, and Terry Clark, as well as Jon Markel and Jesse Humphrey. Carbon Leaf is best known for the song "Life Less Ordinary", which debuted in 2004 and reached #5 on Billboard's Adult Alternative charts.
The First Battle of Rappahannock Station, as took place on August 23, 1862, at present-day Remington, Virginia, as part of the Northern Virginia Campaign of the American Civil War.
The Battle of Yellow Tavern was fought on May 11, 1864, as part of the Overland Campaign of the American Civil War. Union cavalry under Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan was detached from Grant’s Army of the Potomac to conduct a raid on Richmond, Virginia, and challenged Confederate cavalry commander Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart. The Confederates were outnumbered, and Stuart was mortally wounded. However, Sheridan’s 'sideshow' did not achieve any of its other objectives, and had meanwhile deprived Grant’s army of key cavalry functions at Spotsylvania.
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park is a unit of the National Park Service in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and elsewhere in Spotsylvania County, commemorating four major battles in the American Civil War: Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, The Wilderness, and Spotsylvania.
Charles Veale or Veal was an African American Union Army soldier during the American Civil War and a recipient of America's highest military decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions at the Battle of Chaffin's Farm.
William Charles "Jack" Davis is an American historian who was a professor of history at Virginia Tech and the former director of programs at that school's Virginia Center for Civil War Studies. Specializing in the American Civil War, Davis has written more than 40 books on that subject and other aspects of early southern U.S. history, such as the Texas Revolution. He is the only three-time winner of the Jefferson Davis Prize for Confederate history and was awarded the Jules and Frances Landry Award for Southern History. His book Lone Star Rising has been called "the best one-volume history of the Texas revolution yet written".
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The 24th Georgia Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was part of Thomas Cobb's brigade at the Battle of Fredericksburg.
The Virginia Arts Festival is a Norfolk-based non-profit arts presenter which serves southeastern Virginia, offering dozens of performances during the spring and throughout the year. Virginia Arts Festival performances have included international ballet companies, along with modern, contemporary, and ethnic dance companies; world-renowned soloists and ensembles in musical genres including classical, jazz, world, folk, rock, blues, bluegrass, country, and pop; opera; theater and cabaret; and collaborative productions with local arts organizations like the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
The 2nd Florida Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that fought in service of the Confederate States Army in the American Civil War.
The 12th Virginia Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment mostly raised in Petersburg, Virginia, for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, but with units from the cities of Norfolk and Richmond, and Greensville and Brunswick counties in southeastern Virginia. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia.
The 28th Virginia Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia. The 28th Virginia completed its organization at Lynchburg, Virginia, in June, 1861. Its members were raised in the counties of Botetourt, Craig, Bedford, Campbell, and Roanoke.
Army of Frankensteins is a 2014 American science fiction horror film written and directed by Ryan Bellgardt. It stars Jordan Farris as a time-traveling youth who, along with multiple versions of Frankenstein's monster, are pulled into the American Civil War.
Abram Penn, also known as "Abraham Penn" was a noted landowner and Revolutionary War officer from Virginia.
Levi Miller was a preacher and farmer from Virginia. During the American Civil War, Miller was a manservant for his owner's brother, a Confederate Army captain, and may have been enrolled as a regular soldier after the Battle of the Wilderness in May 1864. Miller's service is frequently used as an example of a black man who served as a soldier in the Confederate Army.
The 6th New York Cavalry Regiment, also known as the 6th Regiment New York Volunteer Cavalry and nicknamed the "2nd Ira Harris Guards", was a cavalry regiment of the Union Army during the American Civil War. The majority of its fighting was in Virginia as part of the Army of the Potomac.
Gary Hershberger is an American actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his television roles as Mike Nelson in Twin Peaks and Matthew Gilardi on Six Feet Under (2001–2002).
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