Interview With "Sovereign" Filmmaker Christian Swegal

The Next Best Picture Podcast

Tv & Film

4.2 • 542 Ratings

🗓️ 7 July 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"Sovereign" had its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Festival, where it received positive reviews for its performances from Nick Offerman, Jacob Tremblay, and Dennis Quaid, as well as Christian Swegal's writing and direction. Based on real events, the story follows a father and son (Offerman and Tremblay) who identify as Sovereign Citizens, a group of anti-government extremists, as they venture across the country and find themselves in a standoff with a chief of police (Dennis Quaid) that sets off an intense manhunt with tragic consequences. Making his feature directorial debut, Swegal was kind enough to speak with us about his work and experience making the film, which you can listen to below. Please be sure to check out the film, which will be released in theaters and VOD on July 11th from Briarcliff Entertainment. Thank you, and enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture and listen to this podcast ad-free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to The Next Best Picture podcast, and this is my interview with the director and writer for sovereign Christian Swagel.
0:08.0	Hello.
0:08.4	One one. Where is your emergency?
0:10.5	Exit 275 on the 40. These guys just shot a police officer right on the exit.
0:17.7	I need to ask you a few questions.
0:21.6	Maybe you can help me get to the bottom of what happened.
0:24.6	Can you do that for me?
0:26.6	You two were on some kind of road trip.
0:30.6	My dad travels for work.
0:33.6	There is no money.
0:34.6	It's all just numbers on a ledger.
0:36.6	And when it all comes collapsing down,
0:39.6	who do you think they expect to come around and clean up the mess?
0:43.4	What about school?
0:45.0	I'm homeschool.
0:46.2	He says that he wants me to be an independent thinker.
0:49.2	Powers and the people.
0:50.6	Always remember that.
0:51.8	We found some weapons in the van you were driving your father has
0:58.2	ever been violent next time made more for the head you know they wear bulletproof
1:07.4	busts it sounds to me like your dad doesn't like the government
1:12.4	that very much they demand that you big they're sick like that you know
	...

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