BTL Radio Show - 12/15/2025 with special guest RYAN FRANCIS talking about SPEED TRAIN

 

Welcome back to another week of BEHIND THE LENS!  And it’s the final show of 2025!!   And this week, we shine a light on a man who’s a producer, director, writer, and actor in his latest film, SPEED TRAIN - RYAN FRANCIS.

 

I have had the pleasure of knowing Ryan for over two decades.  I reviewed his first short film and multiple feature films thereafter, and interviewed him.  And over the years, he has moved from being an actor in front of the camera to going behind the camera into directing and, most recently, also producing.  And now he brings us a fast-paced, entertaining futuristic film that posits some interesting questions for us as individuals and a society - SPEED TRAIN.

 

SPEED TRAIN is set in a distant future where tech reigns supreme and a disgraced tech genius hijacks a bullet train and uses the brain-chipped passengers as weapons. As chaos erupts, rebels, cheerleaders, and an FBI agent must battle AI threats and mercenaries alike. With time running out, they fight not only for survival but to reclaim their freedom from a world slipping into digital control.

 

Directed by Ryan Francis and written by Ryan Francis and Judah Ray, SPEED TRAIN stars Nicky Whelan, Scout Taylor-Compton, Oliver Masucci, Louis Mandylor, Jade Patteri, Liana Ramirez, Mike Manning, Kristos Andrews, and Devanny Pinn.

In this very candid, fun, and unfettered conversation, writer/director/producer and actor Ryan Francis discusses his career growth from acting to directing, highlighting his recent film SPEED TRAIN, as well as discussing at length some of his prior films of late in which he only acts or serves an Executive Producer versus directing; notably, “Reverence” (in which he has a killer death scene - pun intended), “The Jurassic Games: Extinction”, “Trail of Vengeance”, “The Flood”, and “3 Days in Malay”.  He also discusses two upcoming films he’s excited about, “Bruton” and “Bring the Law.”

 

As we specifically dig into the making of SPEED TRAIN, Ryan shares the challenges of directing a futuristic sci-fi film in 12 days with a small budget, praising his team, including DP Nico De La Fere and editor Austin Nordell.  A large portion of our conversation also discusses the film's themes of AI and human reliance on technology, which is something that plays a major role in SPEED TRAIN.  An interesting aspect of our discussion also revolves around the challenges of the film industry, the importance of maintaining a passion for making movies, and the need to bring audiences back to the theater experience.

 

Now, mind you.  This is only a 50+ minute portion of our interview.  There is still more that we covered on other cinematic subjects, such as distribution, but I’ll have that for you at a later date on www.behindthelensonline.net.  But right now, here's director/writer/actor/producer RYAN FRANCIS talking all things SPEED TRAIN and more!

 

You can see SPEED TRAIN right now in theatres and On Demand.

 

And that’s it for this week and this year!  If you missed any episodes, you can find them all on www.behindthelensonline.net, Podbean, iTunes, multiple other podcast platforms, and on our YouTube channel.

 

But never fear, I’ll be back on January 5, 2026, to kick off year 12 of BTL Radio Show with my guest, my friend, RIC ROMAN WAUGH, talking GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION.  And if you think 20+ years of knowing Ryan Francis is a long time, how about over 40 years knowing Ric and his brother, Scotty, who is also a director.

 

So until January 5, 2026, have a safe and happy holiday season.  Go to the theatres.  See lots of movies.