The film is a sequel to the historical fiction Civil War-era movie, “Wild Faith,” which portrays life in the 1800s in Michigan, with the spotlight on a Civil War veteran trying to make peace with his losses and start a new life, despite the world resisting change around him.

These films are produced by Lansing-based film company Collective Development Inc., the same company that filmed “Harsens Island Revenge” in Alpena in late summer 2023.

The film, “Harsens Island Revenge,” is an adaptation of a book of the same title by Karl Manke.

The story follows World War I veterans who had their own Canadian whiskey smuggling operation on Harsens Island, an island close to Detroit. The Purple Gang, a feared Detroit bootlegging crew infamous for dangerous and unpredictable behavior, cornered the illegal markets in the city and heard that whiskey was coming onto the island without their control, leading to a fight between the veterans and gang members.

News Photo by Darby Hinkley “Wild Faith Christmas” actors Teyton Colbert and DJ Burch take a break between scenes on Tuesday while filming inside the Spratt Church at Besser Museum.

“Harsens Island Revenge” is due to release in early 2025.

“Wild Faith Christmas” will be in production for about 12 months before it hits theaters and streaming platforms. “Wild Faith” is available to view now on many streaming platforms, including Peacock, YouTube, and Amazon Prime Video.

“Wild Faith Christmas” is set after the events of the original “Wild Faith” movie, picking up on life with Emmett Murphy. In the new film, he and his father-in-law Edmond set out to take donated goods to a small Northern church hosting a group of orphans during the holiday season.

Director, lead actor, and co-producer Shane Hagedorn said the historic buildings located on the Besser Museum property provided the perfect backdrop for many of the film’s scenes.

“This is the second feature that we came to film in Alpena,” Hagedorn said. “Due to my wife’s history, coming from this town, and me visiting it,” they were happy to be able to film again in Northeast Michigan.

News Photo by Darby Hinkley Alpena actors Matt Southwell and David Usher pose during lunch break on Tuesday at Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan, where filming of “Wild Faith Christmas” has taken place this week.

“It’s beautiful,” Hagedorn said of Alpena. “Beautiful people, wonderful locations. We love Lake Huron … The Besser Museum has wonderfully partnered with us in helping tell these stories.”

He said the property allowed for a unique opportunity to step back in time.

“Some of these buildings don’t exist anywhere anymore, when you’re trying to tell a story that’s well over 100 years old, so Alpena does have a lot of history, and historical buildings,” Hagedorn said. “Just having the town embrace us and really welcome us made it an easy, easy decision to come back and film this one.”

He gave a little more background on “Wild Faith” and the continuing saga in “Wild Faith Christmas.”

“The original film, ‘Wild Faith,’ we shot that back in 2016, and it released in 2018,” Hagedorn said. “It’s been our most wildly popular film in terms of audience favorites, our most award-winning film. It’s on multiple platforms … It’s been seen and loved by millions of people worldwide.”

He said they are working on developing a TV series based on the movie “Wild Faith.” That series will be called “Hastings” and is still in development.

“We wanted to give something back to our audiences,” Hagedorn said. “And this is the perfect bridge from the original to the television series.”

“Wild Faith Christmas” is set in the same late 1800s time period, but takes on a warm holiday theme.

“This particular story takes on more of a Christmas tone, and we have some of our beloved characters coming back,” Hagedorn said. “The main character, Emmett, played by myself, the writer and CEO of Collective Development, DJ Perry, returns in a role of Ben Lily, another Collective Development producer, Melissa Anschutz, returns in a role in this. It’s just taking these characters back, giving it a Christmas tone, and they’re adventure films, but they’re films … about people helping people, and there are so many tones about camaraderie, about love, acceptance, and forgiveness.”

He added that the story features heroes protecting children and protecting the innocent.

Alpena actors Matt Southwell, David Usher, and Joey Lanier have roles in “Wild Faith Christmas.”

Southwell played “a bad guy” in Harsens Island Revenge.

In this film, he said he plays “the polar opposite of what I played in Harsens Island Revenge … He’s W.C. Porter, he’s a doctor, and he’s friends with the preachers. He comes from out of town, and he’s here to administer to the sick orphans on the orphan train. He’s helping, with his nephew, Will Porter, played by Joey.”

Southwell has done many movies out in California, but he is locally well-known for his outstanding performances on the Alpena Civic Theatre stage. He excels at comedy, but he likes to play straight roles, too.

“It’s a good opportunity to see my old friend, Preacher McMillan, played by Dave Usher,” Southwell said. “Dave and I both were in Harsens Island.”

Usher has been in several films and many plays at both Alpena Civic Theatre and Thunder Bay Theatre in Alpena.

“I played the preacher in Harsens Island Revenge,” Usher said.

This time, he plays a preacher again.

“My character is Preacher McMillan, and I’ve rescued these orphans from the streets of New York City,” Usher said. “And I’m taking them west to find homes for them. We will conduct an adoption event where the children will be adopted out. It’s a warm fuzzy, if you will. There are some bad guys in it, and we defeat them.”

He explained some of the circumstances around the conflict.

“This is a mining town, where I’m the church preacher, and they try to blow up the church because we don’t cooperate with them,” Usher said. “They wanted to start a program using the children as miners. And my message to them is, ‘These children don’t need jobs. They need loving families to take them in.’ That’s the whole premise behind this is there are always people out there who would like to take advantage of people, but, in this case, children who’ve had a hard start in life.”

Lanier, who has performed at both Alpena Civic Theatre and Thunder Bay Theatre, is excited to be cast in this, his first film.

“Will Porter, he’s going to be joined by his uncle,” Lanier said. “They help out all the orphan kids and make sure they’re OK, checking their health, keeping them safe. But also, mainly, what Will is doing is, he’s here to bring Christmas to the children, because not a lot of them have gotten to celebrate that. They don’t have any families … I’m that one person who’s close enough to their age to bring that kind of spirit to them. Like, let’s go Christmas tree hunting, let’s sing a Christmas carol. And it livens up their spirits.”

Tony Hornus, who has been working with Perry and Collective Development for over 20 years, is a producer and actor in “Wild Faith Christmas.” He’s also the “orphan wrangler.”

“The six orphans that I wrangle are all from this area,” Hornus said. “I think the youngest one is 6-and-a-half, but he’s going on 20.”

He said four of the six children playing orphans have had experience at Alpena Civic Theatre.

“They’re all experienced,” he said. “It’s a little different from being on stage, but actually, in a lot of ways, it’s easier, once you teach the kids not to look at the camera, and all that stuff. We do several takes — wide shots, closeups, reverses. On stage, you’re up there with no net. They’ve been outstanding.”

Hornus is glad the film is being made in Alpena.

“I love Alpena,” Hornus said. “I was not totally sold on going to the more rugged east side of the state, but now I’ve actually fallen in love with the place. I was telling my wife on the phone, ‘I could actually live here.'”

In addition to filming on the grounds of Besser Museum, parts of the film were shot at a mine created for this film in Hubbard Lake, Hornus said. They also filmed parts at a local RV campground.

He said there are about 60 people on the cast and crew, including about 20 extras.

Hagedorn is grateful to the Besser Museum and the Alpena community for helping to make this production a success.

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