Debra Granik, acclaimed director of award-winning films such as Winter’s Bone and Down to the Bone, seems to have a keen eye when it comes to spotting alluring qualities in characters for her films. As a feature director, her work helped jump-start the careers of Jennifer Lawrence and Vera Fermiga. Now, Granik’s latest work as a documentarian proves she can spot that star-quality in the real world just as well.

Ron “Stray Dog” Hall caught Granik’s eye while she was casting for Winter’s Bone. She recalls how she sat in a pew at a biker church and immediately noticed his unique disposition. “He was a curious person right from the get-go because he was so receptive as he wanted to discuss this project with us and go forward with it,” Granik explained following the world premiere of Stray Dog at the 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival this past June. Granik’s documentary is a heartfelt portrait of Hall, a passionate Harley rider and Vietnam veteran who wears his heart on his sleeve. In the film, Stray Dog takes us into his world, including his annual ritual ride from Missouri to Washington D.C. with fellow veteran bikers to commemorate the fallen Vietnam soldiers.

Granik remembers wanting to start a separate project involving Stray Dog when she had to say goodbye to him after finishing Winter’s Bone. She called it “a powerful experience.”

“Seeing him in his own element in the RV park he ran, seeing who his neighbors are, the ingredients in his life and how he quickly divulged the things he was in the midst of. Things you couldn’t tell about a person by just being external.”

Producers, Anne Rosellini and Victoria Stewart, as well as cinematographer, Eric Phillips-Horst described the intimacy the crew had throughout shooting. Granik commented on how crucial the smallness is to documentary, because it allows you to “run and gun” and try your skills in finding a subject that sticks. “The intimacy in our crew is what helps us form and write the movie as though we are living this life,” said Phillips-Horst.

The filming took three years from start to finish (about 230 hours of filming)—and in that time every circumstance was unexpected, said Stewart. “The fact is it is an uncharted territory that takes this loving patience to hack at, to shave, to retry and that parts extremely different,” Granik said.

The natural, honest portrayal of Stray Dog’s life has a lot to do with the type of attitude he emanates. “Ron was someone who’s attitude about a lot of things was ‘This is who I am.’ Ron was very welcoming in breaking down the barriers to let her and her team into his life, Granik said, adding that “access is the first route to make a portrait of anyone else you don’t know and you have to make sure that that’s there.”

Natalia Torres / Intern Blogger