Commission Votes to Suspend Permit
At a special session on Saturday, the Livingston City Commission voted unanimously to halt the permit held by Bonfire Pawn Shop LLC, the company producing Daily Wire's movie Pawn Shop. Commissioner Cindy Daniels introduced the motion after residents voiced worries about effects on local businesses and the city's sole food bank, plus insufficient warning about risky stunts. The commission said it would obtain a legal opinion from the city attorney on modifying, pausing, or canceling the permit, with the issue returning before the commission by 5:00 pm on October 5th.[S1]
The production was originally scheduled to film in downtown Livingston through October 10. Police Chief Wayne Hard said the department has received complaints on a daily basis since filming began, though there have been no reports of violence. Deadline has reached out to the film's producers at Daily Wire and Bonfire Legend for comment, as well as to the Montana Film Office.[S1]
Community Concerns and Safety Issues
From the start of shooting, residents have objected to what they describe as blank gunfire, pyrotechnics, and a staged car crash carried out without adequate notice to locals and businesses. They also criticized the movie's opening sequence, which seems to depict ICE's fatal shooting of Renée Good in Minnesota in January. The Livingston Food Resource Center (LFRC) said in a statement that street closures and armed guards have made it harder for clients who already struggle to meet basic needs, and that those clients should feel safe when getting food.[S1]
The Livingston Fire Department said it was on standby for stunts using pyrotechnics, yet some residents claim they received no proper warning about sequences staged in their own front yards. The production lacks an IATSE contract, although it has a conditional start with SAG-AFTRA. A call sheet reviewed by Deadline names Danny Trejo, Harvey Keitel, and Henry Thomas in the cast.[S1]
Production Background and Labor History
This movie marks another pairing of Bonfire Legend's Sonnier with Daily Wire, after their earlier film Run Hide Fight: Infidels, which drew IATSE picketing. In South Carolina, multiple crew members left their jobs over labor complaints shortly before Jonathan Majors was hurt on set, an accident that left his co-star JC Kilcoyne requiring stitches across both hands after he fell through a window. Carter Boehm, a producer on Rust, is part of the Pawn Shop production team.[S1]
The official synopsis for Pawn Shop describes a young federal agent in Minneapolis who, after chaos erupts and his partner is badly injured, is left on his own and must survive a situation that grows more perilous. He takes refuge in a neighborhood pawn shop, where he is stuck alongside a traditional Hispanic father and the man's progressive college-aged son, pushing three very different people to face fear, clashing values, and a crisis that challenges their bravery and shared humanity.[S1]
