Scott Hamm Duenas Talks Acting and Producing FINAL WAGER

Lara Rosales

Movie poster for "Final Wager" with money flying around and a woman and two men, including Scott Hamm Duenas, placed in the corner of the poster.

Ever since the premiere of Die Hard, fans have been having the never-ending argument of whether it is a Christmas movie, an action movie or both. Many movies have tried to fall into that discussion, creating films that can be seen on Christmas or all year round. Final Wager, directed by Kenny Yates, falls into that category.

Scott Hamm Duenas acts in and produces the movie, hoping people will want to come back to this movie even when it’s not Christmas time. As the leading man, he does a great job of bringing the story together, and as a producer, he wore many hats to make sure the movie was what he and his team hoped for.

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Scott Hamm Duenas about his work in Final Wager, upcoming projects and what he enjoys doing the most on set.

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This interview with Scott Hamm Duenas has been condensed for length and clarity.

Scott Hamm Duenas 

Lara Rosales: In the movie, you are an actor and a producer. When you take a project on like that, do you wear two different hats? When you’re acting, you’re just thinking about that, and when you’re producing, just thinking about that. Or do you feel that they’re interconnected at some point?

Scott Hamm Duenas: You have to wear quite a few hats, even more than just those two. Because [Final Wager] is an independent film, we don’t have a huge budget and a huge studio backing. So, when you come on as a producer, you’re doing four or five things. On top of that, this one I acted in, and I was in it a lot.

I was really involved in all the pre-production and post-production, but when it came to the days of just being on set and acting, everyone knew they just had to let me be an actor that day. You have to worry about your lines and being present for the other actors. You had to balance it. And I would say the shoot days were definitely the lightest days of producing, or, as I call it, problem-solving. And then before and after the movie was heavier in the production regard.

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Acting or Producing 

LR: Do you enjoy acting more than producing? Or is it something that, because they’re so different, you enjoy both things?

SHD: I started this journey in this business as an actor and just as an actor, and I loved it. I got the acting bug inside, and this is what I want to do with my life. So, I always loved performing. I love acting and playing characters. I never thought in a million years I was going to be producing one day. Always thought that was for billionaires, but the industry changed so much with the streaming and being able to make things, not on film, but on video with all this technology.

I thought it would be cool to start creating our own content with all the different people I’ve met over the years: writers, directors and people who are trying to work their way up in this business, too. If I had to pick, I would still say I’m an actor at heart.

Final Wager is the fourth film for me as a producer, and I’m really starting to like it. I’m also still learning so much as I go and trying to learn from my partner, who is a producer first, not an actor first. I would say I’m an actor first, but I’m really getting the bug on this producer thing. And I can see myself down the road producing stuff that I don’t have to be in or don’t want to be in. I just would rather focus on that side of the filmmaking process.

Michael Madsen standing in front of a Christmas tree in a red and white sweater.
Pictured: Michael Madsen in Final Wager

Pros and Cons of Streaming Services

LR: You mentioned something that I wanted to touch upon with streaming services. Do you think that for indie movies, streaming services are helping them to get closer to viewers, or are there some cons to working with streaming services?

SHD: I think it’s a double-edged sword. I think it’s both. And I’m not trying to cop out on the answer, but I’ve already experienced both, just in a couple of movies that I’ve made in a couple of years. Right now, I would say it’s definitely easier to get your movie on a streaming service because they even have independent distribution centers that are just hands-off.

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They just say, “We’ll get your movie on some platforms,” and that’s it. We’ve been lucky enough to have gotten bigger distribution where they’re more involved in trying to market the film and doing things and helping you get on platforms foreign and domestic.

But I also think that really saturates the market because there are so many movies. So you have to fight like hell to get streams, to get clicks, to get to the top of that algorithm. It’s so hard without a big budget to get in that realm. That’s the hardest part. We’re flooded right now with content, which is good because I’m rooting for everybody in this thing. You want everyone’s stuff on there, but then again, it’s so flooded that it makes it extra difficult to get to make your movie stand out.

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Evergreen 

LR: That leads me to my next question. There’s a lot of content coming out during Christmas. There is a Christmas theme to [this movie]. It’s very important to the plot, but it’s also a movie that could be watched at any point of the year. So, do you think there’s an importance to giving Christmas movies that extra twist that could make them watchable throughout the year?

SHD: You really hit on something. We knew with the themes of this movie that it wasn’t going to be like a very Hallmarky or Lifetime type of thing. I mean, there are elements of that to it. But it’s gambling, and it takes place in a bar. There’s cussing. There are some adult themes to it. It was originally titled The Christmas Gamble.

Once this is all said and done, seeing what we put together, this movie can be watched, really, at any time. So we think it’s more of a movie that takes place on Christmas, not a Christmas movie. We retitled it, and we got some distributors that agreed and said, “Yeah, let’s try and run with this and put it out as something that people can watch year-round.”

I link it to Die Hard. That debate whether it’s a Christmas movie or not. It takes place on Christmas, there is a Christmas party, and there’s Christmas music. There’s Christmas, but it’s not a Christmas movie; it’s an action movie. So you can watch it anytime in the year. I’m hoping that’s what Final Wager catches on to do too. You can watch it at Christmas because it takes place on Christmas, but you can watch it anytime because it is a movie about a gambler.

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More to Come 

LR: It’s that special hook, like you were saying with Die Hard, that keeps people, even people who haven’t seen it, wanting to watch it because that debate surrounds the movie. So I think that’s also a good thing to get people interested. And in this particular movie, toward the end of the movie, it kind of gives the feeling that there’s more to come. Is there an idea to get a second movie or to move forward, or was it just to sort of give the audience that vibe that something else was happening, but that’s it?

SHD: Wanted to leave it like that, open-ended. Me and the gentleman who wrote it, Jerry Artukovich, were kicking around some ideas about where this could go. You could take it to Vegas, where they’re going, and start from there. We wanted to not close the door on it, but nothing concrete. We wanted to see how it does and see how audiences respond to it. And if, after a year, we look back and say, “Hey, this movie did pretty well, and audiences seem to like it,” we may make the next chapter and see where it goes.

Nowadays, the sequels are everything. Sequels are huge, and I would love to play that character again. I would love to dive into this some more, too. The response has been generally good, which I’m so happy about. But some people have questions about it, like, “Are you really rewarding gambling?” I think that there’s still a lot of story to tell. But yes, you’re correct; we wanted to leave the door open to make another one if we felt that it was right.

Scott Hamm Duenas holding a coffee cup while sitting in front of a table full of cups and food.
Pictured: Scott Hamm Duenas in Final Wager

Specifics 

LR: Is there something specific that you look for in a character when you’re starting a new project as an actor? Is it something specific that you’re looking for that attracts you to producing a movie like this?

SHD: I’m not gonna front, as far as when I’m out there as an actor, I take these auditions, and I really just want to work. There are definitely characters I want to play, but I’m still at the level where occasionally I’ll get offered something, but for the most part, I’m grinding and trying to stand out. Some [of the roles] I may love, and some of them I’m like, “Oh, that’s not really me,” but I still want to work. When I have a little bit of say under the banner of the production company that myself and my partners have started, I do look for things I like.

My partner and I are not soliciting outside scripts yet, we’re too small for that. But my writer friends will come up with something I may love. For this one especially, because I was in the world of sports gambling for a long time, I loved it. I played sports for most of my life. So this one was personal to me. With sports gambling, you used to have more of a stigma on it than it does now. Back in the day, it wasn’t like that.

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When I have more control like this, I like to play parts I connect with or maybe it’s just something I always wanted to play. The next movie we have in post-production right now — I’m not one of the stars, but I love it. I love the script, and have a supporting part. 

What’s on the Horizon 

LR: Is there something right now that you’re working on and that you’re excited about?

SHD: Obviously, getting the word out about Final Wager, especially over the holidays and right now, too. We also have a lot of focus on the next movie called Kat Crime. It’s about three young influencers who are trying to get their true crime YouTube channel going and they stumble onto something where they end up being sort of right into the middle of the case. I play the town sheriff, but you don’t know if he’s a good guy or a bad guy. You find out at the end if he’s helping or hurting this whole time. So I’m excited about that.

And then we have two things coming. One is a horror movie about trying to raise a child, which is kind of creepy because I have two small kids. Then we are trying to make one of these streaming series that are six to eight episodes, but it’s all brand new to us. We’re trying to learn more about the process because it’s so much different than making films.

Thank you, Scott Hamm Duenas, for chatting with GGA! 

Final Wager is available to stream on Apple TV+.

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