Michael Parks and the Making of Long Lonesome Highway

Why would a punk rock filmmaker spend 10 years and his own money telling the story of an actor most people have never heard of?

Michael Parks starred in Then Came Bronson, sang its theme song "Long Lonesome Highway" onto the Billboard charts in 1970, and walked away from the kind of career most actors chase. Decades later, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith brought him back in Kill Bill, From Dusk till Dawn, Red State and Tusk. Josh Roush met him on the set of Tusk, where Parks was in poor health and Josh was the young behind-the-scenes filmmaker assigned to look after him. They did not like each other. Then one day, alone in the trailer, Parks started singing an old Johnny Cash song to him.

In Episode 262, Christian Taylor sits down with Josh Roush, the director of Long Lonesome Highway: The Story of Michael Parks. Josh grew up in Middletown, Ohio, moved west at 19 to play punk rock in Orange County, and turned to filmmaking because it was a creative life he did not have to share with a band. He went from playing poker at Kevin Smith's merch nights to running cameras on Smith's podcasts, shooting his behind-the-scenes documentaries, and eventually directing his own features.

Josh talks about the friendship that grew out of that trailer: the stories about Lenny Bruce and James Dean, the margaritas, the three or four house moves he helped with. He explains why Parks wanted $25,000 to take part, how the first financing fell apart, and why the film was only made after Parks died in 2017. He talks honestly about waiting years for Quentin Tarantino, paying to re-clear all of the archival under fair use, and finishing the film for about $50,000. And he admits he hates being on camera, until a producer told him the film did not work without him in it. As Christian tells him, "It's this guy that decided to make this film because he saw something in Michael Parks."

WATCH THE FILM

Long Lonesome Highway: The Story of Michael Parks (2025) is available to rent or buy on Prime Video: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0KDZR30QEJ8VDQNOEKHUIPGO3H

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How Josh Roush went from Orange County punk bands to directing documentaries
• How a grumpy actor and a young filmmaker became friends on the set of Tusk
• Why Michael Parks asked for $25,000 to be in his own documentary
• Why the film went ahead without Quentin Tarantino
• How fair use let Josh tell the story with archival clips and photos
• Why photos can be harder to clear under fair use than clips
• How a documentary like this gets made for about $50,000
• Why a producer told Josh to put himself in the film
• What Michael Parks's career says about doing things your own way
• The five stages of an actor, in Michael Parks's own words

CHAPTERS

0:00 From Punk Rock to Filmmaking

5:41 A 10-Year Road to Long Lonesome Highway

8:36 Why Tarantino Isn't in the Film

10:36 Meeting Michael Parks on Tusk

17:06 His Son James, Kevin Smith and Poker

22:32 How Does Fair Use Work?

27:00 Making a Documentary for $50,000

29:29 Why Josh Stepped In Front of the Camera

33:42 A Man Ahead of His Time

39:28 The Five Stages of an Actor

42:12 Burden of Dreams and Werner Herzog

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Who was Michael Parks?

Michael Parks (1940 to 2017) was an American actor and singer. He starred in the 1969 series Then Came Bronson, and his recording of its theme, "Long Lonesome Highway," reached the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970. After years away from the spotlight, he returned in films by Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith, including Kill Bill, From Dusk till Dawn, Red State and Tusk.

What is Long Lonesome Highway: The Story of Michael Parks about?

Long Lonesome Highway: The Story of Michael Parks is a 2025 documentary directed by Josh Roush, who befriended Parks on the set of Kevin Smith's Tusk. It follows Parks's rise, the choices that cost him his early career, the losses in his life, and his late comeback, with Kurt Russell, Justin Long and Parks's son James among the voices in the film.

How did Long Lonesome Highway use archival footage without a big budget?

Josh Roush relied on fair use, with attorneys reviewing the cut. He bought Parks's films and recordings himself and used short clips where someone on screen is talking about what the viewer sees. When the film had to be re-cleared years later, some photos were swapped for clips, which Josh found easier to clear. He paid for only a few photos.

How much did it cost to make Long Lonesome Highway?

Josh Roush says the film was budgeted at about $40,000 and ended up at about $50,000 after a second round of legal fees. Kevin Smith helped finance it. Josh says profit was never the goal; he wanted to honor his friend's legacy and priced the DVD as low as the distributor would allow.

DOCUVIEW DÉJÀ VU PICKS

Josh's pick:

• Burden of Dreams (1982), Les Blank's documentary about Werner Herzog making Fitzcarraldo, which Josh calls a story of refusing to give up when everything goes wrong at once: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083702/

SPONSORED BY VIRGIL FILMS ENTERTAINMENT

This episode is brought to you by Virgil Films Entertainment, distributor of Super Size Me and the Oscar-nominated Restrepo, with over 25 years of distribution experience. https://virgilfilms.com

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ABOUT THE GUEST

Josh Roush

Director, Anti Current Multimedia

Josh Roush is a filmmaker from Middletown, Ohio, based in North Hollywood, California. He studied film at Cal State Fullerton and often writes, directs, shoots, edits and sound designs his own projects. He made behind-the-scenes documentaries for Kevin Smith's films, including Walrus Yes: The Making of Tusk, directed the punk rock thriller Wrong Reasons, and directs music videos for punk bands including Social Distortion and Bad Cop / Bad Cop.

Website: https://anticurrent.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/JoshRoush

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntiCurrent

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoshRoush

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/joshroush.bsky.social

ABOUT MICHAEL PARKS

Michael Parks was born in Corona, California, in 1940 and died in Los Angeles in 2017. He recorded several albums, played Jean Renault on Twin Peaks, and played Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in From Dusk till Dawn and Kill Bill.

ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST

Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers from Ken Burns to first-time directors. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Long Lonesome Highway: The Story of Michael Parks (IMDb): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7847308/
• Michael Parks (Wikipedia, source for the dates and credits above): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Parks
• Josh Roush (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Roush
• Tusk (2014), directed by Kevin Smith
• La La Land (2016), the film Christian quotes about loving something because someone else loves it