The Long Journey of ‘Hard Miles’

Northwest Arkansas native R.J. Daniel Hanna directs Matthew Modine in new cycling movie out this April.

By Kody Ford | Photography Courtesy Pensé Productions

When R.J. Daniel Hanna grew up in Bentonville, he often rode his bike to school. But the Bentonville of that time was very different. The Razorback Greenway hadn’t been built. The idea of Bentonville being “the Mountain Biking Capital of the World” was beyond a pipedream. But years later, when he returned home to premiere his latest film, “Hard Miles,” at the Bentonville Film Festival (BFF) he saw a changed town as he and the film’s producer, Christian Sander, biked various trails around town. He said, “It was a fun change of pace riding through the woods, from the 21c Museum Hotel down past my parents house and back.”

For Hanna, this was a big moment. “Hard Miles” was his second film as a director (he also is a co-writer with Sander) and he chose to premiere it at BFF with star Matthew Modine in tow.

“BFF is a big part of the town now and getting to show people like my parents and family and friends this is what I’m doing and experience it with an audience was a once-in-a-lifetime homecoming experience,” Hanna said.

Executive produced by Scott Sander and Pensé Productions, “Hard Miles” is the true story of Greg Townsend (played by Modine) and the Rite of Passage cycling team. Townsend is a strong-willed social worker, who during his time at RidgeView Academy — a medium-security correctional school for juvenile offenders — put together a ragtag group of teens and gave them the challenge of their life: a seemingly impossible bike ride to the Grand Canyon. Townsend, the school’s coach and welding teacher, leads his crew of Woolbright (Jahking Guillory), Smink (Jackson Kelly), Atencio (Damien Diaz) and Rice (Zachary T. Robbins), while fellow social worker Haddie (played by Cynthia Kaye McWilliams) follows along in the “SAG Wagon” (Support And Gear) as they head towards one of America’s most awe-inspiring natural landmarks. Other notable actors in the film include Leslie David Baker “The Office” and Sean Astin “The Lord of the Rings.”

While Modine is the main character, he’s also the heart of the film, delivering a powerful performance as an obsessive, compassionate, patient and aggressive person. Townsend isn’t just trying to help the boys on his team heal, he’s also looking for healing himself. Modine nails the subtleties of the character.

Modine said, “When we look back at the teachers, mentors, relatives, coaches, those people who’ve had the biggest impact on our lives, it’s often the same people who we actually hated at the time, and it is them — those ‘pain in our butt’ people — that end up having the biggest impact upon our adult lives. Because they pushed us. Because they cared.”

The story of Townsend and the ROP team had been covered in publications, and Sander felt the story could translate well to the big screen. He said, “When I first heard about Greg Townsend’s cycling team, I immediately thought it had a lot of ingredients for a classic sports movie. It has underdog kids we want to root for, sweeping natural vistas and a challenging opportunity for growth. When the sport of cycling began to experience a huge tailwind during COVID, I knew the time had come to tell it.”

First, Sander had to get Townsend on board, which proved to be no easy task. Townsend never responded to any of Sander’s emails or calls. Finally, he reached out to Townsend’s wife on Instagram, begging her to go to bat for him, and she gave Sander their mailing address. Sander sent a handwritten letter imploring Townsend to let him tell the story. A few days later, he hopped on a flight for Denver, where he rode bikes with Townsend and his students. Sander said, “After seeing him in action, I was blown away.”

He continued, “There was something so simple, yet rare, about the mutual masculine respect I witnessed between Greg Townsend and the young men he taught, and I felt like we hadn’t seen anything like it in movies for a long time.”

Townsend signed on to the project and even became a consultant during production.

Making an independent movie can be a challenge regardless of the subject, and in an age of 3D superheroes on the big screen, selling investors on a cycling film can have major hurdles. Sander’s father, Scott, worked hard as executive producer to put together a diverse group of backers from many industries and backgrounds, all of whom had one thing in common: a love of cycling. One major advocate for “Hard Miles” was NBC Sports analyst and Olympic cyclist Christian Vande Velde. Diaa Nour,of Ventum Bicycles provided Townsend’s bike for the movie and George Hincapie’s eponymous outerwear company manufactured the kits in the film. Robbie Ventura, of Vision Quest coaching and other passionate cyclists joined in various degrees of support. The Sanders took meetings on bikes, trying to keep up with professional cyclists to present a simple pitch: “We want to make the best bike movie since ‘Breaking Away’.”

Sander and Hanna were old friends, having worked on Sander’s debut film as an editor and director of the opening credits sequence. Sander said, “Dan is great. … As a filmmaker, he’s so talented at every aspect of the craft; a true multi-hyphenate. His awards in writing, editing and directing reflect that. He also produces now, so he understands the realities of the marketplace and is able to balance that with his creative vision.”

Hanna was intrigued by the story of Townsend and his team.

“We thought it was an opportunity to tell the story of an incredible person who was also very human and down-to-earth, in a very cinematic way because of the incredible, scenic journey the characters embarked on,” he said. “We saw the story through Greg’s eyes but could also relate to the kids and our own experiences growing up, and saw a lot of humor there. I called on my own experiences in Boy Scouts growing up, the banter and interactions between the kids and Scoutmasters.”

Hanna and Modine had worked together on Hanna’s debut feature, “Miss Virginia” (about Arkansas native Virginia Walden). While Modine had used a bicycle for transportation in his early acting days in New York City, he was not a competitive cyclist, nor were the other actors. Hanna and Sander assembled the cast, clad in temporary kits, at RSI Studios for cycling lessons with instructor Dorothy Wong, who took them through the fundamentals — stopping, starting, signaling, gear changes, weaving, body positioning — all within a few hours.

Cast member Kelly, who plays Smink, said, “It was a lot to take in. Everyone was falling. It was hilarious and very humbling for all of us. Nobody looked cool. One time, Zach [Robbins] started tilting over, slowly, while still clipped in, and shouted, ‘Here we go!’ and then fully bounced off the pavement. That line made it into the film. Jahking was learning to emergency stop by squeezing the front brake and the rear brake simultaneously, and he went fully over the handlebars. Eventually we all got the hang of things and we went for a ride through the studio lot ‘streets.’ It was a blast riding all together as a group.”

“It’s an honor to tell the story of Greg Townsend and the amazing boys who had to overcome every obstacle imaginable, both in their hearts and on the sun-baked road, to show the world and themselves that they can accomplish something truly extraordinary.”

Filming took place in California, Colorado and Arizona. Hanna said the younger cast members chose to not see the canyon in advance so they could experience organically as their characters would. During the production, they dealt with sweltering temperatures, mountain lions and coyotes, and even a windstorm. Modine even had to hitchhike to town after borrowing a production vehicle that was low on gas. From a filmmaking perspective, Hanna faced issues with shooting the cycling sequences without relying on ADR, a form of vocal dubbing during post-production. Director of Photography Mack Fisher shot the film anamorphically to capture the emotional impact of the expansive terrain of the American West. They used a supercharged electric golf cart called GripTrix, which allowed them to keep pace with stunt cyclists Phil Gaimon and Cormac McGeough as they hit speeds of 50 mph at times.

While “Hard Miles” premiered at BFF in 2023, it had a major run on the festival circuit, including at Arkansas Cinema Society’s Filmland, Newport Beach Film Festival, Savannah Film Festival, BreckFilm, Naples International Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival. It won awards such as BFF’s 2023 Spotlight Feature, the Heartland Film Festival’s Jimmy Stewart Legacy Award, the Denver Film Festival’s Audience Award, and the Naples’ Audience Award. At the Puerto Rico Film Festival, “Hard Miles” won Best Narrative Feature, Best Cinematography and Best Supporting Actor (Cynthia McWilliams).

“Hard Miles” tells a fictionalized version of Townsend’s first cycling trip with youths, but Rite of Passage lives on — offering education, therapeutic programs and life skills development for at-risk youth with behavioral and emotional difficulties in schools throughout the U.S.

Hanna has come a long way since graduating from the University of Arkansas and the University of Southern California. All of his years grinding away as a film editor while writing scripts has paid off. His unproduced feature screenplay “Shelter” won a prestigious Nicholl Fellowship for Screenwriting from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. It was based on an award-winning short film he made. He recently finished his latest film “Succubus” — a horror movie starring Ron Perlman, Rosanna Arquette and Rachel Cook — that tells the story of a new father struggling with fatigue, emotional insecurities and a failing marriage who joins a dating app, only to swipe right on what may be an inhuman presence. A release date is not yet set for this film.

As for “Hard Miles”, the film will be released by Blue Fox Entertainment on April 5 in theaters across America. Hanna said, “It’s an honor to tell the story of Greg Townsend and the amazing boys who had to overcome every obstacle imaginable, both in their hearts and on the sun-baked road, to show the world and themselves that they can accomplish something truly extraordinary. I’m so proud of this film and our amazing cast who delivered performances full of humor and pathos. I hope audiences will fall in love with the unsung heroes of this story as I have, and feel inspired to try something new and challenging in their own lives.”

While Modine is the main character, he’s also the heart of the film, delivering a powerful performance as an obsessive, compassionate, patient and aggressive person.