A silver-screen debut for SCV director

Santa Clarita resident, CalArts alum to show first full-length feature film

A Santa Clarita resident and CalArts alum is showing his first full-length feature film this weekend at the Beverly Hills Laemmle theater.

“Gone Are The Days,” which is the silver screen debut for director Mark Gould, harkens back to the wild West, sharing a grisly veteran bank robber’s tale of redemption. The film

stars well-known actors Tom Berenger, Lance Hendrickson and Danny Trejo, among others.

“He’s going to do one last bank robbery and finds out about his daughter, whom he left many years ago, and now he’s on a path for redemption,” said Gould, sharing the basic synopsis.

The movie is shot using the anamorphic format common in old Westerns and the music is “old school western,” but it’s more in the vein of an “Unforgiven,” as opposed to a more traditional action movie, he said.

“It’s not a shoot ’em up,” Gould said, “it’s more of a dramatic narrative story-telling.”

He also shared his positive experiences at CalArts, coming from a small town in New Mexico, where he completed his undergraduate studies, in an interview with The Signal earlier this week.

When the Class of ’98 film school student arrived at CalArts, the smalltown college kid from Farmington discovered he was the only male American in the film school at the time, which was an amazing educational opportunity, he said.

“You get this awesome culture from around the world,” he said, “it just blew me away.”

He enjoyed living in Santa Clarita so much that after he completed his postgraduate studies, he ended up settling here, marrying and having children, he said.

Gould is optimistic the film, which is being distributed by the Lionsgate and Grindstone Entertainment Group, will be able to duplicate the positive reception the movie received in Durango, Colorado. The film premiere was recently held in the town where most of the movie was filmed, he said.

For Gould, the project—from collaborating with well-known stars, his cinematographer and crew, to watching his work in the theater—has been “the most rewarding experience I’ve had by far,” he said.

The movie is set to be released on DVD on April 10, and then it will be available in the “video on demand” market (pay services such as Amazon or Netflix).

But first, on Saturday, the movie is holding a red carpet debut at Laemmle’s Music Hall 3.

There are four showings listed for Saturday, but several of the film’s stars are planning to be there for the 7:20 p.m. show.

The theater is located at 9036 Wilshire Blvd., in Beverly Hills.

Nikolas Samuels/The Signal Mark Landre Gould poses with a wooden slab with the name of his movie, “Gone Are the Days,” outside his Saugus home on Thursday. He directed the movie, which premieres for a week in Beverly Hills on Friday and gets released on DVD in April 10.

Nikolas Samuels/The Signal Mark Landre Gould poses with a poster for his movie, “Gone Are the Days,” at his Saugus home on Thursday.