One of actors’ final works shown at Chandler festival

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

When Dan Smith came to Chandler earlier this year to help promote the film “Mr. Wonderful,” he said he hoped it would be viewed by many partly because it’s one of the final films starring longtime actor Michael Madsen.

He also hopes audiences will view it because it’s a quality independent film with a compelling story.
The coming-of-age drama recently became available on Amazon Video. Non-Prime customers can rent it for 30 days for $2.

“In the indy film world, story is king — not how many stars are in it,” Smith, who lives in the greater St. Louis area, said during his visit to Chandler. “We don’t have big budgets — but we have big stories to tell.”

Smith said he and director Mark David said like many of his scripts, Mr. Wonderful is a story about real humans — with real everyday human problems.

Smith’s brother, Stuart, was with Dan the weekend they were in the Chandler area for the showing of Mr. Wonderful at the Chandler International Film Festival. The film ended up winning CIFF’s Best U.S. Narrative Feature Film award for 2026.

Smith said he traveled to Los Angeles, Austin, Delaware, his hometown St. Louis area and had plans to go to Iowa to promote the 1-hour, 47 minute film at festivals, in addition to Chandler.

Stuart Smith, who helped his brother obtain financing for, and is one of the co-producers of, Mr. Wonderful, said viewing a film with an audience is so much different than viewing it alone or with any cast or producers or directors.

“You get to see and hear so much more about how certain moments land, how it plays in a larger group in a theater,” he said.

Dan Smith has written a few other dramatic films that have been completed, such as “Wake” and “Texas Heart.” His “Impact: After The Crash” is a narrative-style documentary that looks at the wide-ranging consequences of a particularly catastrophic drunk-driving crash.

As a novelist, Smith’s credits include the 2018 Mr. Wonderful book that he says he added some dramatic elements to, that would translate well to film scenes. He’s written several historical books and scripts as well, including “Black Indians: An American Story,” which won awards and was aired by ABC.

Smith, known as “Daniel Blake Smith” on imdb.com, said working with seasoned professionals like Madsen and Priscilla Barnes was rewarding; veteran actors not only know a great deal about how movie sets and filmmaking work, but also appreciate independent productions in ways less-experienced actors might not, he said.

Barnes, probably best known for taking over Suzanne Somers’ role in Three’s Company and for her role in the Jane the Virgin series, has stayed plenty busy in TV and film through the years, with acting ranging from NCIS one-time roles to the feature film The Devil’s Rejects.

Madsen appeared in more than 300 films, TV shows and even lent his voice to a video game associated with one of his best-known roles — Mr. Blonde in Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 film Reservoir Dogs.

Smith said unfortunately, Madsen, who went on to appear in other Tarantino films, such as all three “Kill Bill” movies and “The Hateful Eight,” and Barnes might have become typecast for playing the same type of character more than once, preventing them from being cast in the most prominent studio films.

Madsen passed away in July 2025 at age 67 from a heart attack, about a year after shooting his scenes in Mr. Wonderful.

Madsen plays the middle generation in Mr. Wonderful. It’s a story of how his character, his father and his son all have a sort of life or identity crisis at the same time.

Smith acknowledged that the passing away of an actor does bring attention to their work — especially the final recorded work before their deaths.

“One of the last things Michael said to me was ‘You need a publicist,’” Smith said. “Truth is, it sounds horrible to say, but his passing was sad but also a blessing in terms of shining a light on his work.”

Email Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.

INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.