Shane Dax Taylor

Independent filmmaker Shane Dax Taylor's intimate family dramas boast some big names; Hollywood mainstay Val Kilmer, as well as country stars-turned actors Kris Kristofferson and Dwight Yoakum, played lead roles in his 2010 family melodrama "Bloodworth," which boasted a score from Grammy Award-winning music producer and composer T-Bone Burnett. After dropping out of film school, Taylor landed a job at ESPN filming collegiate and professional sporting events around the country. He stayed there for nearly a decade before deciding to strike out on his own as a director. In 2004 he released "The Grey," based on Frank Manley's novel about a young Southern boy (John Quertermous) inducted into the vicious world underground cockfighting by his cruel, alcoholic father (Mark Boone Junior). The film was a modest success on the film festival circuit and served as a calling card for Taylor to drum up support for his next film, an adaptation of author William Gay's novel "Provinces of Night." Released in 2008 and renamed "Bloodworth," the movie follows the exploits of family patriarch E.F. Bloodworth (Kristofferson), a hard-drinking musician who, having abandoned his wife and sons decades prior, returns to face their long-simmering rage. Though the film received generally positive reviews, it suffered from comparisons to the similarly themed "Crazy Heart."