Redneck comedy 'The Dixie Times' may begin filming

By Scott Wright

CAVE SPRING, Ga. — If you're a Southerner who rolls your eyes at the typical Hollywood portrayal of life in the Deep South, local actor and writer Ken Wheeler 'spects you'll be pleased with his movie “The Dixie Times,” which he hopes to begin filming soon.

Wheeler, who penned the 120-page script himself, says the idea came straight from his imagination. His movie tells the story of The Dixie Times, a newspaper in the fictional town of Spring Valley, Ala. whose typical front page stories are usually something significantly less than earth-shattering.

On the Internet: www.myspace.com/dixietimes

“The local reporter is satisfied with her job but she has stars in her eyes,” Wheeler said. “She's looking for the big scoop in a town where a tomato the size of a cantaloupe is typical front page news.”

After the local sheriff passes away at the beginning of the film, a local moonshiner named Tanner -- played by Wheeler -- agrees to take over the sheriff's duties because no one else in the rural, farming community wants the job. Along the way, star-crossed reporter Alice Bentley gets wind of Tanner's moonshine still, and Tanner goes on a crime-fighting tear that eventually draws national TV attention.

“We're hoping to get James Best to play the role of the old sheriff,” Wheeler said. Best is perhaps most well-known for his roll as Roscoe P. Coltrane in “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

“But the movie is not a zany, 'Dukes of Hazzard'-type thing, nor is it 'Hee-Haw' or even Andy Griffith,” Wheeler said. “This is not a Hollywood adaptation of a redneck, this is the Webster's Dictionary version, which says a redneck is a white, Southern farm laborer. We're real rednecks, not want-to-be rednecks. This film is about how life really is in a farming community, not how Hollywood portrays it.”

In addition to writing and starring in the film, Wheeler has also had to perform a majority of the legwork necessary to help make sure his idea makes it onto the big screen.

“CMT has the script and we think they're very interested,” Wheeler said. “But when CMT makes a movie to television they shoot in high definition and we want to shoot this on 35-millimeter film, so I've also been in touch with Paramount Pictures.”

He's also pitched the film on the syndicated FM radio show “Moby in the Morning.”

“He read the script and then invited me to his studio in Roswell, Ga.” Wheeler said. “We talked and talked, and he told me he loved the idea. That night, he called me and directed me to producer Bo Bradshaw at Direct TV in Nashville. He also does some work for CMT and so now I've got him up there in Nashville nudging CMT for me.”

Wheeler said he feels certain CMT is interested in the script because he keeps getting notes from executives with the country music TV channel.

“CMT can take forever to evaluate a script, because instead of 'don't call us, we'll call you,' I keep getting periodic emails,” he said. “They're not giving me the brush-off.”

Wheeler, the son of cotton pickers from Floyd County, Ga., said he gained his appreciation for comedy from time spent listening to old folks sit around and tell stories when he was a kid. And his love of the South comes from the time he spent on his grandfather's 144-acre farm in Cave Spring, Ga. as a youth.

Wheeler found success as a writer of comedy early on, amusing teachers and winning school talent competitions beginning in the 5th grade. After high school, he bought a video camera and began filming comedy shorts to screen at parties for family and friends. When he auditioned for his first major role last winter and figured he'd have to learn the ropes and take his lumps. Instead, he made an immediate impression.

“There were 350 people at the audition, so I figured I'd never hear from them,” he said. “But I heard from them.”

The call-back landed Wheeler his first role, in “Dances of Death.”

“I hate horror movies, but it was a lot of fun,” Wheeler said. “It was a non-speaking roll but they gave me a lot of camera time and a lot of action and I learned a lot.”

Wheeler has since produced an independent Christian film and stars in a weekly soap opera show on the website www.urscene.com. He also plans to begin filming a movie titled “The Forbidden Truth,” another Christian film funded by Chick-Fil-A founder Truett Cathy, in March 2008. In between, he's attending all the auditions he can, usually in Atlanta.

“The studios usually use a casting company or sometimes the director will come with some personnel from a casting group, and they call you in and you read and act for the part in front of these people,” he explained. “They want to see how you portray that character.”

Wheeler, a salesman by trade who once worked at Midwestern Nurseries in Leesburg, hopes his talent as an actor and writer will soon allow him to take up the trades on a more permanent basis. He said that now, more than ever, he's hopeful “The Dixie Times” will be his ticket to make the switch to a full-time acting/writing career.

“We're planning on shooting a lot of the film in Cave Spring surrounding farms,” Wheeler said. “We'll probably shoot some of it on my farm, and we're going to several big scenes in the courthouse in Buchanon, Ga.”

Wheeler said as soon as he gets the go-ahead from CMT or Paramount, he and his actors are ready to begin filming.

“We need their camera crews, but when they say 'go,' we're ready to go,” he said. “I have my stunt team ready, my lighting team is ready. We can do the interior and some of the exterior shots this fall and winter, and we'll finish up the exterior shots next summer. I'm not putting the cart ahead of the horse, but I know they're interested and I'm very optimistic that this is going to happen.”