THE PIRATE KING
Section: Narrative Spotlight
Director/Writer: Josh Plasse
Logline: Returning stateside, Todd Gillis struggles to hold down work due to his condition and trauma from his time in Afghanistan . When his ex-wife sues for custody of his beloved daughter, Emmylou, Todd hits rock bottom. In an effort to impress his case appointed judge, Todd joins a pirate re-enactment crew that his daughter is fond of. Through a newfound community Todd begins a journey of healing he never expected.
Panelists: Josh Plasse, Rob Riggle, Jordana Brewster, Matt Barr, Billie Lourd, Adele Abinante
Premiered: March 16, 2026
Key Quote: ”I leaned a lot on my cinematographer, actually…we had a kind of call to action, if you will, [which] is ‘courage over coverage.’ We didn’t want to do a thousand and one different angles. We wanted to just let these guys play and so we actually had a very minimalist approach to the film, which helped ground everything. When you don’t move the camera that much and you just let people live, you get more drawn into the story. So, through visual storytelling, we were able to do a lot of that tonally,” director Josh Plasse told Deadline.
Deadline Studio at SXSW presented by Redbreast Irish Whiskey.
Having worked on the entire three weeks of production, I can confirm that we had to battle an absolutely terrible heatwave during a week of exterior shoots. However, everybody did indeed come together and charge through it quite admirably. Such a fantastic cast & crew!