When Edward’s wife is nearly killed by outlaws, he must decide whether or not revenge can be justice at the price of teaching his son, William, that violence is an answer.

Director’s Statement

Billy the Kid was a passionate response to emulate the films I watched in my youth. My writer and I wanted to create something that felt like the cinema we loved. The film’s script resonated with me because I felt it was thematically paralleling my struggle with my own apologetic nature. We wanted to craft a film that critiqued politeness and kindness. Often, kindness can be a good thing, but it doesn’t solve all problems. Assertiveness and passion can be a virtue too. Sometimes, in order to come out on top, we must accept that morality is a grey area. Sometimes morality is immoral.

The film is a revisionist Western that reinvents the genre by following a passive figure. It’s about viewing the Old West through the eyes of a nobody. This isn’t a film about Billy the Kid, this is a film about his father. He’s not a Western hero. He’s a typical farmer. He wants to keep peace and remain in the status quo so that the balance is not upset. This kindness is ironically what makes his son, William, turn to violence. By repressing his passion he has forced William’s hand. William ultimately becomes the Western villain he’s destined to be, not from violence, but from overprotectiveness. We were excited to reimagine a famous outlaw’s origin story and to flip the narrative on its head. We wanted to create an anti-hero through kindness instead of evil.