The Noble Hearts

For Russell Keane, it would all come down to this moment.

Today was the last scene to be filmed for his revisionist Western, "The Noble Hearts," a film that would either elevate his career or destroy it. For the past decade, the Melbourne native had made a name for himself directing high-grossing, if lowbrow, horror films, but after hit after hit, he grew tired of being considered this generation's John Carpenter or Wes Craven. He wanted-needed-something bigger.

The executives at First Fleet Pictures were befuddled by his pitch for a Western, and were especially thrown off by his insistence on having an African-American male lead; years before, Russell was stunned to learn that there had actually been black cowboys, and was determined to have a black cowboy at the centerpiece of his story. Eventually, the execs relented; Russell's name could open a film, and if "The Noble Hearts" was a hit, it would prove that the director's fans would follow him on any journey.

Russell's script was set in 1880 Kansas, and centered on a former slave, William Robbins, skilled in handling horses and cattle, who is hired by Mary Taylor, a young widow, to help manage the land her deceased husband left her. While resisting intense pressure from male neighbors to sell her property, Mary finds herself growing closer to William-and a forbidden romance blossoms.

Russell knew the film would collapse if the two leads weren't properly cast, and after extensive auditions he finally managed to find the right stars. Former MMA fighter Kristopher Stoddard was cast as William; the Brooklyn-born athlete/actor had drawn praise for portraying football player-turned-painter Ernie Barnes in an Oscar-nominated biopic. With smooth chocolate skin and a muscular physique, Kristopher had the physicality needed for the role-and his performance as Barnes proved he could hit the right emotional notes as William.

First Fleet wanted Russell to cast a fellow Aussie as Mary, and the director found his female lead in Becca Carmody, a highly acclaimed stage actress from Broken Hill, New South Wales who had won raves for portraying a university student accused of smuggling hashish into Thailand in the film "Innocent Criminal." Tall and fair, with reddish-blonde hair and ocean-blue eyes, Becca's beauty was so striking that it often seemed to overshadow her talent.

Although Kristopher and Becca had great chemistry together at the outset of the summertime shoot in Alberta (substituting for Kansas), Russell wanted to wait until the very end of the production to film their love scene. He wanted Kristopher and Becca to become as familiar as possible with each other, to understand each other instinctively. Though he had previously worked with actors who resented his numerous takes, Kristopher and Becca both seemed to welcome his shooting style; with each new take of a given scene, they seemed to draw closer to each other.

Every time he watched the dailies, Russell was struck by how visually excited-perhaps even aroused-Kristopher and Becca seemed to be by each other, even during intensely dramatic scenes. He decided that he would change things up when shooting the love scene. Multiple takes wouldn't do for what he was envisioning. It had to look as spontaneous and as raw as possible-and thus, it could only be done in one take.

Now, after several weeks of filming, the moment had finally arrived. Russell had filmed plenty of love scenes in his horror movies, but there was a different energy on the closed set in the moments before this particular scene began. Russell, Kristopher, Becca and Russell's longtime cinematographer, Lachlan Cassidy, all seemed to know something special was about to take place.

As he watched on the monitors, Russell was blown away by the intensity Kristopher and Becca exhibited. As they kissed, as their bodies writhed together, as Kristopher's brown hands caressed Becca's pale breasts, touched her pink nipples and gripped her full arse, Russell found himself almost overcome by erotic emotion. The sight of Kristopher's lips on Becca's alabaster neck was as exhilarating as anything Russell had ever seen. Either these were two of the finest actors he had ever worked with, or the passion was real, tangible, unrestrained.

In his script, Russell had simply written, "Mary and William kiss and begin to make passionate love." He never imagined just how hot the scene would turn out to be.

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Even before post-production had been fully completed, First Fleet held a test screening for "The Noble Hearts" at a mall in Southern California. Before the screening, a First Fleet representative told the audience that the film was Russell's latest, but that it was not a horror film. Sitting in the back of the audience, wearing sunglasses and a hat to disguise his appearance, Russell was devastated to see twenty-five percent of the crowd immediately leave.

Yet the audience that remained seemed to enjoy the film, applauding at the very end when Becca, wearing heavy makeup to portray an aging Mary in the 1930s, tells a historian about her fond memories of William. Russell was thrilled when he was told that eighty percent of the audience had rated his film "excellent" or "very good" on the scorecards, and that the love scene was repeatedly noted as the highlight of the film.

Several months later, "The Noble Hearts" was released to critical acclaim, with a ninety-two percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, ultimately becoming another box-office hit. As was his usual custom, Russell hung a framed poster for his latest movie in his home office. He chuckled as he read the tagline printed underneath a photo of Kristopher and Becca embracing:

"No one imagined it could happen."