Daily Wire Overcomes Leftist Shutdown Attempt, Wraps Montana Filming Of ‘Pawn Shop’

Multiple forces tried to shut down the latest Daily Wire production, but they failed again as the cast and crew finished filming this week in Livingston, Montana, and posted a triumphant photo to mark the occasion.

This update came two days after Ben Shapiro, editor emeritus of The Daily Wire, said the city’s decision to revoke filming permits was politically motivated. 

We just wrapped production on our upcoming movie Pawn Shop! ????

Thanks for the hospitality, Livingston. https://t.co/Jyla75cZrk

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) October 9, 2026

“Let us be clear: there’s only one reason the city commissioners ruled they were going to stop our production on the street: politics, pure and simple, and they pretty much admitted it,” Shapiro said on Tuesday’s episode of his podcast. “One commissioner named Cindy Daniels said, quote, ‘I’m not willing to sacrifice the resources of the safety, the security of the mental health of our community. Absolutely not. This wasn’t a Hallmark film. This wasn’t, you know, Christmastime in Livingston, and it wasn’t a romantic story.’”

Shapiro responded, “Well, I mean, I wasn’t aware that we had to fulfill your idea of what the story required. In fact, I’m fairly certain the First Amendment says precisely the opposite of that… That is content discrimination openly performed and a violation of the First Amendment.”

“These people are not even hiding the ball. These censorious jackasses just want things they do not like barred by law. It is that simple. They don’t give a sh*t about free speech. They don’t like free speech. Free speech is just for them. It is not for the people who oppose them.”

The project, known by its working title “Pawn Shop,” follows an ICE officer struggling to survive after his partner is seriously injured. He finds shelter in a local pawn shop alongside a traditional Hispanic father and his progressive college-age son. 

“Livingston put us through it,” said lead producer Dallas Sonnier. “Protests, a suspended permit, a seven-hour hearing, but our team showed up anyway and finished strong.”

“Pawn Shop is the movie we set out to make, and I am proud of every cast & crew legend who stayed on that set until the last shot (of a Jeep getting blown to pieces),” he continued.

Directed by Michael Polish, the film stars Danny Trejo, Harvey Keitel, Henry Thomas, Myles Clohessy, CJ Salvador, Noel Guglielmi, and Paris Bravo.

Shapiro added that the more the Left tries to fight The Daily Wire, the more it loses, and “the more justified our mission proves itself to be.”

“We are obviously right over the target. When you try to shout us down, you only make us more powerful. Your antics are not going to work. The film will be completed and it will be released and it will be highly successful. We call those feathers in our cap. Trophies over our mantel,” he added. 

The Livingston City Commission voted unanimously to reinstate the project’s filming permit on October 5 following a nearly six-hour special meeting over whether production company Bonfire Pawn Shop LLC had complied with its original permit. Filming had been halted for three days after public backlash and the permit’s revocation.  

The permit was reinstated on the condition that the production erect black fabric screens around any “violent activity” because of the potential “psychological impact” on the community. As Shapiro noted, it’s like the grown-up version of a safe space. 

Protesters had caused a major disruption in the town, forcing the production to increase security from no armed guards to six. People on set were also confronted by protesters screaming, “You guys are fascists.” Others used bullhorns to yell “action” and “cut” during action scenes, endangering performers relying on those commands.

Some media outlets celebrated the permit’s revocation. The Bulwark’s Will Sommer ran a piece titled “A Small Montana Town Tells Ben Shapiro to F*** Off.” The AV Club called The Daily Wire an “ultra-conservative white nationalist media company.” The Daily Beast dubbed the project an “unhinged MAGA movie” and a “MAGA fever dream.” The New Republic said the movie it hadn’t even seen yet was “unbelievably offensive.”

The cast and crew finished filming anyway.

More from this network:
Domains for Sale · GOTPeople.org · TheDSAPlatform · The Truth About Socialism

Donate to GOTPeople.org