Meet the Birmingham teen starring alongside Morgan Freeman + Luke Hemsworth–plus, where to watch

Last Spring, Bham Now reported on a new movie with a star-studded cast filming in Birmingham–Gunner.

The film centers Lee Gunner, played by Luke Hemsworth, who tries to save his children Luke and Travis from a group of dangerous criminals after a camping trip gone wrong.

Bham Now recently spoke to Birmingham-native actor Grant Feely, who starred alongside Hemwsworth as Luke Gunner, to talk about this exciting new project. Plus, find out how you can stream Gunner.

About Gunner (2024)

Gunner is an action-packed thriller starring legendary Oscar award winner Morgan Freeman and Westworld star Luke Hemsworth, and produced by Vestavia Hills resident Joel Shapiro.

Shapiro is a big fan of Birmingham as a location to shoot films. In 2018, he produced a movie called Into the Ashes, starring Frank Grillo and Luke Grimes from Yellowstone. More recently, he produced Assassin, starring Bruce Willis, which was shot in Bessemer and Birmingham.

The script for Gunner was written by Gary Scott Thompson, creator of the Fast and Furious franchise—one of the most successful franchises of all time with over six billion dollars in total gross revenue.

Meet local rising star Grant Feely

Gunner‘s youngest and brightest new star is Vestavia Hills’ own Grant Feely.

At only 12 years old, Grant already has an impressive resume, including a role as young Luke Skywalker in the Disney Plus TV series Obi-Wan Kenobi and supporting roles in Five Nights at Freddy’s, Creepshow and more.

We asked Grant what it was like to star alongside A-list actors in Gunner.

“My favorite co-star was probably Connor DeWolf, who played my brother. I didn’t meet Morgan Freeman, unfortunately, but I probably would have gotten star struck around him.

With Luke [Hemsworth], I didn’t get starstruck because he cracked a joke and broke the ice immediately, so it was really easy to be around him.”

Grant Feely, Actor, “Luke Gunner”

Filming in Birmingham

Several Birmingham locations were used in the filming of Gunner, notably the historic Sloss Furnaces, which you can see in the trailer.

According to Grant, filming in his own city was a refreshing change for him.

“Usually I have to travel all over the place, and it was cool being able to be at my house and then 30 minutes later be on set.

We filmed in a lot of historical locations here in Birmingham. I’ve been to field trips to some of these places, so to see them without being there for school was pretty cool.”

We asked Grant how he got inspired to start acting, and how he balances his work with school.

“I got interested in acting after watching behind the scenes videos of my favorite shows and movies at the time on YouTube, and one day I realized I want to be part of it.

I went to my mom, and we started going to acting classes in the area, and it just went from there. My school is really great with balancing and helping me when I have to leave and go out of town for periods of time.”

Catch Grant Feely acting in other upcoming projects like short film Devotee, and an episode of Chicago PD premiering late September.

Stream Gunner on Amazon Prime

Want to see the action for yourself?

Gunner is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

Are you going to check out Gunner? Tag @bhamnow and let us know!