IATSE crew protests against Jonathan Majors' Daily Wire action film in South Carolina

A protest has emerged on the South Carolina filming location of Jonathan Majors’ upcoming action movie by The Daily Wire and Dallas Sonnier’s Bonfire Legend, after the crew exited the project late last week.

The union, IATSE, has declared a strike concerning a variety of work-related issues at the Gaffney, SC, set, according to our sources.

It’s uncertain what the current status of the production is; however, we've heard that filming is proceeding in certain ways despite the strike. 

The production firms are searching for crew replacements, while the union advises against others taking these roles.

The script and direction come from Kyle Rankin (Run Hide Fight). Though both the name and storyline remain undisclosed, the film reportedly follows the style of classic '80s and '90s action flicks such as Red Dawn and Toy Soldiers, revolving around young boys joining forces against hostile forces.

Majors takes the lead role and serves as an executive producer, yet it’s primarily a matter for Ben Shapiro and Dallas Sonnier, overseeing production for The Daily Wire and Bonfire Legend, respectively.

The strike doesn’t seem to pose a significant threat to the ongoing project.

In a declaration shared with Deadline on Thursday, Sonnier mentioned: “We're too engrossed in being awesome, detonating stuff, flying helicopters, and eliminating villains on film to get distracted by a handful of people with banners on the pavement claiming an invalid ‘strike.’”

Other producers involved in the unnamed project are Caleb Robinson, Mike Richards, Jason Ramos, Travis Mills, Lillian Campbell, and Sydney Aucreman.

Kristopher Kimlin (Young Washington) is directing photography, with David Guglielmo (The Standoff At Sparrow Creek) handling casting. Vincent Reynaud (Kandahar) serves as the production designer, while Emma Fleming (The Last Stop In Yuma County) manages costume design.

The film marks another collaboration between The Daily Wire, Bonfire Legend, and Rankin, who previously wrote and directed their movie Run Hide Fight, featuring Isabel May and Thomas Jane, which had its premiere at the 2020 Venice Film Festival.

This untitled film is Majors’ first in four years, following his departure from numerous projects after his 2023 conviction for assaulting a former girlfriend. 

The actor has been working to reinstate his career and is set to star in the supernatural revenge thriller Merciless by Martin Villeneuve, as we reported in the summer of 2024.

Before his conviction, Majors was riding a wave of success with lead roles in major movies like The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Creed III, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Magazine Dreams.

The Daily Wire and Bonfire Legend continue to take on opportunities to revive the careers of 'canceled' actors. 

These conservative media outlets, having produced their largest project yet—the TV series The Pendragon Cycle—have also sought comeback film roles for Armie Hammer and Gina Carano following her departure from The Mandalorian.