KYLE KAUWIKA HARRIS TALKS REVERENCE
"It didn't play by the traditional rules"
Daniel John
A desperate father and a more methodical, level-headed detective follow their own respective method of what they think necessary to find a missing daughter before time runs out. How did this come together?
'Reverence' actually began its life as a very different script set in a national park, when I revisited my slate looking for the next project, I realized the most practical, and creatively exciting, path forward was reshaping it into a small-town Oklahoma thriller. Whenever I choose a film to make, I’m always thinking about tone and how to challenge myself within genres I love, but in ways I haven’t explored yet. I’m drawn to stories that feel grounded, enigmatic, and quietly unsettling. Narratives where not everything adds up neatly and where the audience has to participate in uncovering the truth. For me, that’s the kind of storytelling that sticks with people. I want viewers to be consciously engaged, to feel like they’re on this unpredictable journey with the characters. 'Reverence' grew from that desire, to tell a story that isn’t just watched, but experienced.
You were in the U.S. Navy yourself. Did your own service come in handy here, writing Sadler’s military past, or in getting through tough moments on set filming?
Absolutely. A writer only has what’s authentic to them, and my time in the U.S. Navy, along with years of working alongside veterans, inevitably shaped Sadler’s character, and the film as a whole. I regularly collaborate with former military friends who now work as advisors, armorers, and safety leads on my sets. At this level of filmmaking, your team is everything. On 'Out of Exile', Charlie Mike, and 'Reverence', we conducted extensive training, blocking, and movement rehearsals with the actors. My military advisors are instrumental in helping me create authenticity and they guide everything from tactical movement to how a character holds themselves under pressure. I rely on their expertise not only to elevate the material but to prepare the cast to step confidently into those roles.
Before moving into features you were most known for your Emmy-winning documentary work. Is reality, truth, still an important factor in what draws you to a story now?
Very much so. I’ve always gravitated toward grounded realism, whether I’m making a documentary or a narrative feature. I’m fascinated by stories that unfold naturally without artificial beats or contrived interpretations. Even if I were to write sci-fi, it would need to be rooted in something very real. Films like 'Zero Dark Thirty', 'The Hurt Locker', 'Heat', 'Road to Perdition', 'The Shawshank Redemption', and many crime documentaries have shaped my sensibilities. And being Hawaiian and Choctaw, and spending several years working adjacent to tribal government, I’ve been drawn to telling stories that explore culture, identity, and heritage. Ultimately, I’m inspired by whatever I’m living through or trying to understand at the moment. That pursuit of authenticity is what guides me.
From the things that first made you want to tell your own stories to actually doing it, how did it begin for you as a filmmaker?
It really began in childhood. My grandfather had this incredible library, and wandering through it shaped my imagination early on. If I finished a book and talked to him about it, it felt like unlocking a new level of understanding. At the same time, I was exposed to mature, character-driven films like 'Cool Hand Luke', 'Badlands', later 'Last of the Mohicans', 'Unforgiven', 'A Perfect World', 'Thunderheart'. Those movies stirred something in me, long before I knew filmmaking could be a career. After college and the military, the pieces started coming together. I attended a cinematography school in Tempe, stepped way outside my comfort zone, and realized filmmaking was simply about taking the reins and showing others the way you see the world. I began writing novels and scripts, and in 2013 I made my first short during a forty-eight-hour film challenge. I failed miserably, which was the best education I could’ve asked for. I adapted quickly, and I walked away thinking, “Okay, I get it now. The next one will be better”. Then I spent six years making short films, music videos, and documentaries with a pair of filmmaker twins. That run became my true film school. It built the foundation that led me to the career I have today.
Was there art in your family, or is there anything you inherited from them, as a filmmaker, even if they weren’t artists?
Not so much visual art, but definitely music. Each side of my family brought a different musical influence, and that shaped my ear. I’m also a musician, and that sensibility overlaps with how I write and especially how I score my films. Books were another huge part of my upbringing. I devoured the Hardy Boys, Louis L’Amour westerns. Just anything I could get my hands on. Story, rhythm and voice I think that I inherited intuitively even if no one in my family was formally an artist.
Your last film brought the opportunity to work with the late Peter Greene, what was it like working with him?
Peter was a fascinating man. A tough exterior, but big heart. Once he trusted you, he was fully invested in the work. On set, he was easygoing, collaborative, and incredibly respectful of the process. He never tried to steal scenes or shift focus. He stayed locked into his character and gave everything he had. Off-camera, he was quiet until people gathered around him, and then he’d slip into that iconic Peter Greene presence everyone knows. The week we spent together on 'Out of Exile' was a real gift. After he returned to New York, he left me a voicemail. It was one of the warmest, kindest reflections I have ever received as a filmmaker. I still have it. I miss him, and I wish we’d had the chance to work together again.
You wrapped this one around two years ago now, and in that time you’ve already completed your next feature film 'The Huntsman', which is premiering in the U.S. now. A film adapted from the popular Judith Sanders novel?
We wrapped 'Reverence' in January 2024. From there, I produced 'Anywhere', and then we rolled straight into 'The Huntsman', which shot from late May through the end of June. 'Reverence' released in the U.S. in November 2025 and 'The Huntsman' follows this February. I have produced several films since then, some completed, others still in post. I was introduced to 'The Huntsman' by my producing partner, Nick Clement, in early 2023. He and Steven Whritner, who co-wrote and produced, brought the project to us with partial-financing already in place. When I read it, I was immediately struck by the ambiguity of the characters and the circumstances surrounding them. It didn’t play by the traditional rules of a serial-killer thriller, and that difference intrigued me. I have never made a film like that before, and some of my favourite movies exist in that space. So I knew it was a story worth pursuing.
