"Chain Link" tears down fence between right and wrong -
Local filmmaker explores what it means to be a
good person and do bad things
On Top of the Underground
Courtesy photo.Dylan Reynolds, (left)
director of photography Matt Gulley (center)
and assistant camera Chris Hall work on the
set of Reynolds’ “Chain Link.”
Peter Surowski
Valley News Staff
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008.
Issue 27, Volume 12.
When “Chain Link” hits the screen in Temecula, it will have come full circle, according to its creator.
Dylan Reynolds, a former Temecula resident and the film’s producer, director and writer, visualized
Temecula when he wrote the screenplay.
He based the main characters on people he knew in Lake Elsinore. Last August, when he filmed the
movie, he dragged the actors from his current home of Los Angeles to shoot in those locations he
visualized in Southwest Riverside County.
“Chain Link” will show during the Temecula Valley International Film and Music Festival, which
will take place Sept. 17-21.
“It will be a nice kind of cap-off for my first movie,” said Reynolds about the film fest showing.
“It’s very meaningful. My parents are out there and a lot of my family is out there in Temecula.”
Moreover, Reynolds had his first job in the movie business in Temecula. He worked as a
projectionist at the Edwards Cinema at The Promenade mall. He knew he wanted to make movies
long before he ever touched a projector, he said.
“I was always into movies since I was a kid,” he said, but his hopes for actually creating one seemed
dim. Then came the ’90s. “Slacker,” “Clerks,” “Reservoir Dogs” and a slew of other low-budget films
made it to the big screen and won over critics. It seemed possible to go out with friends, make a
movie and be successful,” Reynolds said.
He chose to make a movie out of his “Chain Link” screenplay rather than the handful of others he
authored because it demanded only a small budget. The film follows the life of a recently released
convict (played by Mark Irvingsen) as he tries to reestablish a relationship with his son. When the
mother of his son suddenly announces her plans to move away, the ex-con, whose name is never
mentioned in the film, feels his dream of becoming a family man slipping away. Faced with an
urgent need for money he commits a crime – robbing an elderly woman – to pay for his son’s mother’
s rent. When the woman he robbed turns out to be his mother’s friend and his son’s mother refuses
the money, lies begin to entangle the ex-con, leaving him frantic for a way to keep his son and keep
his transgression a secret.
The film explores the ethical gray area between what it is to be a good or bad person. The ex-con
shows he loves his mother and his son and a desire to live an honest life, Reynolds said, but is
faced with difficult choices. He could live an honest life working in the junkyard but lose his son,
possibly forever, or he could rob a person and keep his son near, if only for a short time.
“It says a lot of what I think of life, of people and of the human condition,” Reynolds said.
The image from the movie Reynolds chose for its poster suggests this theme. The ex-con and his
son (played by Luciano Rauso) walk on a dirt road next to an overturned car in a junk-strewn field.
“You got the image of a father and a son going fishing but then you got this rotting car,” Reynolds
said. “The overall theme [of the movie and the poster] is everyone has good and bad in them. It’s not
clear-cut. It says life is about the good stuff, but also the bad, rotting stuff.”
The ex-con was based loosely around a person Reynolds met in the Temecula Valley who was
convicted of vehicular manslaughter.
“That’s a very bad thing, but I know he was a good person but he did this one bad thing that messed
up his whole life,” Reynolds said. “Sometimes you can never get out from under that. You have to be
very strong to rise above it.”
Reynolds will be volunteering as an instructor at the Summer Youth Film Camp, which will take place
July 7-18. Along with other filmmakers, he will be teaching teenagers how to make a short movie. The
product will premier at the film festival.
For more information on “Chain Link,” visit www.chainlinkthemovie.com
For more information on the Temecula Valley International Film and Music Festival, visit www.tviff.com
Local filmmaker explores what it means to be a
good person and do bad things
On Top of the Underground
Courtesy photo.Dylan Reynolds, (left)
director of photography Matt Gulley (center)
and assistant camera Chris Hall work on the
set of Reynolds’ “Chain Link.”
Peter Surowski
Valley News Staff
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008.
Issue 27, Volume 12.
When “Chain Link” hits the screen in Temecula, it will have come full circle, according to its creator.
Dylan Reynolds, a former Temecula resident and the film’s producer, director and writer, visualized
Temecula when he wrote the screenplay.
He based the main characters on people he knew in Lake Elsinore. Last August, when he filmed the
movie, he dragged the actors from his current home of Los Angeles to shoot in those locations he
visualized in Southwest Riverside County.
“Chain Link” will show during the Temecula Valley International Film and Music Festival, which
will take place Sept. 17-21.
“It will be a nice kind of cap-off for my first movie,” said Reynolds about the film fest showing.
“It’s very meaningful. My parents are out there and a lot of my family is out there in Temecula.”
Moreover, Reynolds had his first job in the movie business in Temecula. He worked as a
projectionist at the Edwards Cinema at The Promenade mall. He knew he wanted to make movies
long before he ever touched a projector, he said.
“I was always into movies since I was a kid,” he said, but his hopes for actually creating one seemed
dim. Then came the ’90s. “Slacker,” “Clerks,” “Reservoir Dogs” and a slew of other low-budget films
made it to the big screen and won over critics. It seemed possible to go out with friends, make a
movie and be successful,” Reynolds said.
He chose to make a movie out of his “Chain Link” screenplay rather than the handful of others he
authored because it demanded only a small budget. The film follows the life of a recently released
convict (played by Mark Irvingsen) as he tries to reestablish a relationship with his son. When the
mother of his son suddenly announces her plans to move away, the ex-con, whose name is never
mentioned in the film, feels his dream of becoming a family man slipping away. Faced with an
urgent need for money he commits a crime – robbing an elderly woman – to pay for his son’s mother’
s rent. When the woman he robbed turns out to be his mother’s friend and his son’s mother refuses
the money, lies begin to entangle the ex-con, leaving him frantic for a way to keep his son and keep
his transgression a secret.
The film explores the ethical gray area between what it is to be a good or bad person. The ex-con
shows he loves his mother and his son and a desire to live an honest life, Reynolds said, but is
faced with difficult choices. He could live an honest life working in the junkyard but lose his son,
possibly forever, or he could rob a person and keep his son near, if only for a short time.
“It says a lot of what I think of life, of people and of the human condition,” Reynolds said.
The image from the movie Reynolds chose for its poster suggests this theme. The ex-con and his
son (played by Luciano Rauso) walk on a dirt road next to an overturned car in a junk-strewn field.
“You got the image of a father and a son going fishing but then you got this rotting car,” Reynolds
said. “The overall theme [of the movie and the poster] is everyone has good and bad in them. It’s not
clear-cut. It says life is about the good stuff, but also the bad, rotting stuff.”
The ex-con was based loosely around a person Reynolds met in the Temecula Valley who was
convicted of vehicular manslaughter.
“That’s a very bad thing, but I know he was a good person but he did this one bad thing that messed
up his whole life,” Reynolds said. “Sometimes you can never get out from under that. You have to be
very strong to rise above it.”
Reynolds will be volunteering as an instructor at the Summer Youth Film Camp, which will take place
July 7-18. Along with other filmmakers, he will be teaching teenagers how to make a short movie. The
product will premier at the film festival.
For more information on “Chain Link,” visit www.chainlinkthemovie.com
For more information on the Temecula Valley International Film and Music Festival, visit www.tviff.com
