John Schneider has been busy during a period when many entertainers have struggled for work. From movies, music and now his own line of CBD oils, Schneider has been a really active man. He credits this to his drive to keep going despite the obstacles.
One such act of perseverance came on his latest movie, released by Maven Entertainment. The movie, “One Month Out,” was almost lost to the flood that hit John Schneider Studios in 2016.
“The [movie’s] master hard drives were saved, but the room they were in had three feet of water in it so they got a considerable amount of moisture in them that I was unaware of,” Schneider said.
The files wouldn’t pull up at all on the computer so they had to be taken to a place that worked to recover them.
“Recovering hard drives is a long, tedious task that thankfully someone else does. The size amounted to 20 tb so this was a massive undertaking,” he said. “Then the sound had to be recovered by our guys in Burbank, California and they did a great job. This took from the end of 2016 until 2021 for me to get this movie back in shape so I could do a couple of final polishes and get it out by our deadline.”
The movie is a psychological thriller based on a true story and deals with Alzheimer’s disease. The film stars Laura Cayouette as Helen whose husband Red (Barry Bostwick) is suffering from Alzheimer’s. Red falls for a nurse (Brande Roderick) and decides to marry her. Much like all that had to be done to get this movie on screen, the story is filled with twists and turns that make the outcome unpredictable.
Schneider was able to draw Ruth Buzzi out of retirement for the film. Buzzi had stated previously that she would only come out of retirement if it was to work with John Schneider.
“I was so glad Barry Bostwick agreed to do the movie because shall we say older, taller good looking gentlemen such as Barry and maybe me,” Shneider said. “I think we’ve earned the right to sink our teeth in a fantastic role as men over 50 or over 60. There are certain roles that only people who have really lived life can play and of course it’s available on CineflixDOD.”
“One Month Out” comes on the heels of Schneider’s other recent movie, “Stand On It,” which is a tribute to “Smokey and The Bandit.” Many may not realize it, but Schneider has an uncredited scene at the end of “Smokey and The Bandit.”
“I’m very proud of that scene,” Schneider said. “I was just 16 years old and heard on the radio Burt Reynolds was in Town shooting a movie so I skipped school and went to the fairgrounds and found someone with a walkie talkie and tapped him on the shoulder.”
Before they could kick Schneider out, he said he was sorry for being late but traffic on I-85 was “a bear.”
“He told me where to go and even gave me a breakfast sandwich,” Schneider said. “So I spent the day on the settle, mostly with Jackie Gleason, which was amazing. It’s a much better story because I wasn’t supposed to be there. It’s a story of tenacity. I just went for it! Now 46 years later, I’m the guy in the black car, black hat and chewing the bubble gum.”
The popularity of that movie has led to the sequel beginning production called “Poker Run.”
In addition to his numerous slate of movies out, Schneider recently had a number one single with Cody McCarver on the Christian Country charts with the song “These Hands.” No stranger to the charts, Schneider has four number one hits and ten top 10 hits on Country Billboard charts.
He currently has a new album out titled “Truck On.” This album honors truckers and their importance to our country. It also serves as the music soundtrack for “Stand On It.”
“Smallville” was a tv series that premiered in 2001 and followed the story of a young Clark Kent before he became Superman. As reports recently surfaced that the CW Network may be in preliminary talks with Tom Welling to return to the role of Clark Kent in a “Smallville” Revival limited series, Schneider, who portrayed patriarch Jonathan Kent on the series, said he has not been contacted.
“I loved Smallville, but this is the first I’m hearing about this,” Schneider stated. “It seems to me if anyone may be unavailable, it would be me so if I were going to be a part of that, they should have already contacted me. I would think my politics may keep them from calling me and that’s ok. As far as I know there are very few people who have their own studio and make their own movies and who are perfectly happy not being part of that corrupt system and how Jonathan Kent is that?”
With his most recognizable series, “Dukes of Hazzard,” having premiered 42 years ago, Schneider still maintains a broad appeal to a fanbase from younger people to older. He attributes this back to his tenacity and his work ethic.
“My goal has always been to do what I do now with my wife Alicia,” he stated. “To tell stories I want to tell the way I want to tell them and with whom I want to tell them. I’ve been driven to that goal since the very beginning. I always considered everything I was doing as a step towards what I was really supposed to be doing which is making my own movies and music. It keeps me tireless. I go for everything with every fiber of my being.”
It’s been a long, successful career that being tenacious has helped him build. That determination and drive to create family friendly movies and music is what Bo Duke and Jonathan Kent would no doubt agree is very much John Schneider.
