Danny Trejo's Daily Wire Movie Gets Green Light in Montana — But There's a Catch

Danny Trejo's controversial Daily Wire movie has officially resumed filming in Montana, but there's a catch: The filmmakers must stop making life miserable for the people who actually live there.

After shutting down production on Pawn Shop for three days, the Livingston City Commission unanimously reinstated the film's permit on Monday, October 5, according to The Associated Press.

That reinstatement comes with some new ground rules: Stop interfering with the local food bank, keep private security from policing residents on public streets, and shield the public from violent scenes and excessive noise.

The decision followed a nearly seven-hour meeting over complaints that the Ben Shapiro-backed production had turned parts of downtown Livingston into an obstacle course of road closures, armed guards, blank gunfire, and pyrotechnics. Filming resumed on October 6, with the shoot scheduled to wrap on October 10.

Shapiro, however, isn't celebrating quietly. Instead, he's accusing city officials of political censorship.

"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," Shapiro declared on his eponymous show.

He specifically targeted Commissioner Cindy Daniels, who raised concerns about the production's impact on residents' safety and mental health, before accusing officials of violating the First Amendment.

"That is content discrimination openly performed and a violation of the First Amendment," Shapiro argued, later calling his critics "censorious jackasses."

City attorney Jon Hesse also made clear that the commission's decision was supposed to focus on whether the production had violated its permit, not whether officials approved of the movie's politics.

And residents had plenty to say about what was happening on their streets.

The Livingston Food Resource Center reported that road closures and armed security had made it harder for people to obtain groceries, with attendance reportedly falling to an 18-week low. Nearby coffee shop owner Taylor Wallace said his business had been disrupted so badly that he temporarily closed it.

"Nobody should feel unsafe in their workplace or at their home," Wallace told commissioners, per The Associated Press.

Police Chief Wayne Hard previously said his department had received complaints "on a daily basis" since filming began. Producers, meanwhile, told officials that protesters had also created safety problems, including allegedly driving through a barricade and interrupting stunt sequences.

The movie itself has already generated controversy. Directed by Michael Polish, Pawn Shop follows a federal agent seeking shelter with a Hispanic father and his progressive son during unrest in Minneapolis. The cast includes Trejo, Harvey Keitel and Henry Thomas.

A leaked script reviewed by The Associated Press reportedly contains scenes resembling the fatal ICE shooting of Renée Good, along with a storyline involving an immigrant linked to MS-13. Those elements have fueled protests over how the film portrays immigration enforcement.

The production headaches also sound familiar.

Daily Wire and Dallas Sonnier's Bonfire Legend previously teamed up for Run Hide Fight: Infidels, starring Jonathan Majors. The movie faced an IATSE picket over labor and safety concerns, then an accident in which Majors and co-star JC Kilcoyne fell through an unsecured window. Kilcoyne required stitches.

Sonnier's response to the earlier labor dispute? "We don't negotiate with communists."