The Record Live
By Penny LeLeux
September 3, 2024
Woody Almazan, raised in Bridge City, and a former actor, as a teen, in many of Orange Community Players' productions, is hitting the big time with his first starring role in a feature film. "The Ecstasy of Gold: The Treasure of Jesse James" dropped on Amazon Prime and Apple TV Tuesday
"In 90 days it will be on Roku, Tubi and Peacock," said Almazan. "Everywhere but Netflix."
The film is a "spaghetti" western. A genre made famous by Clint Eastwood. The term was used for westerns that were produced and directed by Italians. This film is by Federico Alotto.
Almazan said the funny thing was the Italians came here to shoot the film in Austin instead of the actors going to Italy.
The synopsis of the film list on IMDb is as follows: "Colt Turner returns home eager to embrace his beloved partner Annie. His homecoming is met with a tense atmosphere, as Colt holds valuable information about the location of a legendary load of gold: the treasure of the famous Jesse James."
Almazan plays Jake Johnson, the leader of the bandits Colt formerly ran with. He said this may have been his "funnest" project to date. "I really got to be mean, romantic at times and funny," He said he really enjoyed playing the villain. Though stunts have been a big part of his career, Almazan said he really didn't have to do a lot of stunts in the film, though he was the fight coordinator (uncredited) in the film. He said crediting stunts isn't a big thing in Italy. He did ride horses in the film.
Almazan moved to Houston from Bridge City several years ago doing stunt work and bit parts in multiple shorts. In 2019 he came back to Orange County for his first starring role in "Shhh," an action romcom short film that was shot in Orange and Bridge City. The film received several awards in the festival circuit and even got Almazan a "Best Actor" nomination in a festival overseas. Following that role, Almazan started picking up more parts and even signed with a talent agent.
In April 2023, Almazan moved to Austin to find more acting opportunities. "The Ecstasy of Gold" is the first western out of production for Almazan. It started filming the summer of 2023
"It was shot during the hottest week of summer, June I think," he said.
He found out when they had the red-carpet premier in Austin a few months ago that the director and producers really hadn't thought of him as the villain. They had already looked at a couple of people, but they were blown away by his audition. They rewrote the part to better suit him. "I had no idea," he said.
Almazan hopes this leads to more starring roles in the future. He has a few other projects in the works. He has a guest starring role in "Old Wild Mob" produced by the same production company as "Ecstasy" that should be coming out in a few months. A short film, "Bloody Tears" is currently in the festival circuit and another feature, "Death Bike," a horror comedy is set to finish shooting in Houston as soon as schedules allow. He is also in the upcoming season 2 finale of the Paramount series "Lioness."
He was also recently reunited with his "Shhh" co-star, Reese Ravencraft, also an Orange County native. They recently shot a proof of concept for "Chasing Faith," a faith-based film that is being pitched to Angel Studios by Studio 220 Film in Jefferson County.
Almazan hopes to continue getting larger projects and syndicated series in the future. He is currently looking for a new agent.
Just a little fun fact... "The Ecstasy of Gold" is also the title of a musical composition by Ennio Morricone that is part of the music track of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," another famous Spaghetti Western featuring Clint Eastwood that was directed by Sergio Leone.
[Submitted by Michael Ferguson]
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