Pursuit

Pursuit is a 2022 action-thriller directed by Brian Skiba and filmed and partly set in Arkansas. The story centers upon a hacker searching for his kidnapped wife, which brings him in conflict with his crime-lord father.

Emile Hirsh stars as Rick Calloway, a New York–based computer hacker in search of his recently kidnapped wife, Rachael (Shelby Yardley). He hires some goons and starts attacking various people associated with the cartel he believes to be behind the kidnapping. This brings him into contact with Mike Breslin (Jake Manley), a cop with the New York Police Department, whose own pregnant wife (Alexandria DeBerry) was recently murdered by an unknown group of people for an unknown reason, being tossed off the balcony of their apartment. Searching for information, Rick attacks a local drug dealer just as Mike is about to arrest him. Rick later demands answers from the bouncer at a nightclub, whom he murders right as the cops arrive and arrest Rick.

In custody, Rick offers to help Jake find the people who murdered his wife if Jake will help him, since he is being transferred, for an unstated reason, to Arkansas. Mike accompanies Rick to Arkansas, where Rick is immediately kidnapped during a violent attack. As it turns out, Jack Calloway (John Cusack), Rick’s father, had orchestrated the kidnapping. Rick’s rampage has been affecting the bottom line of Jack’s criminal enterprises, and one of his partners, Frank Diego (Andrew Stevens, also a producer), has put out a huge bounty on Rick’s head. Frank suspects that his son John (Graham Patrick Martin) knows where Rick is, and he threatens the life of John’s boyfriend to make him find Rick. Meanwhile, Mike and local sheriff’s deputy Zoe Carter (Elizabeth Ludlow) are also searching for Rick. John goes to the rice mill where Rick is being held and starts to torture him, but Rick breaks free, leaving an explosive trap that later kills both John and Frank. Rick goes to his father’s house to confront him about Rachael’s disappearance and learns that his wife had been murdered by an associate, William Dodge (Nick Benseman), due to her having made a deal with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Mike, Zoe, and Sheriff Taye Biggs (William Katt) arrive, but Jack drives off. Rick discovers where his wife is buried and then buries William alive nearby; he then goes to the fair to collect his son, Troy (Valor Hirsh), who had been under the care of Jack all the while, and Sheriff Biggs warns him never to return. The movie ends with Mike, back in New York, being sent a message with the identities of his wife’s murderers—he loads a gun and starts to leave his apartment.

Outside of a few establishing shots of New York City, the entirety of the movie was filmed in central Arkansas in 2021. Parts of Little Rock (Pulaski County) along Capitol Avenue stand in for New York City. The historic Marlsgate property near Scott (Pulaski and Lonoke Counties) served as the palatial estate of Jack Calloway, and the film featured a great deal of aerial footage shot in Lonoke County. A Lonoke (Lonoke County) fire department truck can be seen in one scene. Another scene takes place at Jimmy Doyle’s Country Club in North Little Rock (Pulaski County), and Doyle himself can be seen playing fiddle.

Pursuit went direct to video and did not receive a theatrical release, save for a brief release in the United Arab Emirates on February 3, 2022, where it grossed a total of $13,420. Lisa Kennedy of the New York Times stated that the movie “will try to look as if some actual thought went into the screenplay,” while Julian Roman of Movieweb wrote, “I could easily pick apart its flaws but honestly had fun watching the carnage.” Leslie Felperin, writing for the Guardian, concluded that “this is the sort of film you could quietly sleep through on a long-haul flight and not miss anything.” In a documentary about the making of the movie included on the DVD, Hirsh said that he took inspiration for his character from Elon Musk, billionaire businessman and known associate of criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

For additional information:
Felperin, Leslie. “Pursuit Review—Barbecue-Loving Gangster Dominates Hacker Thriller.” The Guardian, June 5, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jun/05/pursuit-review-barbecue-loving-gangster-dominates-hacker-thriller (accessed September 23, 2026).

Kennedy, Lisa. “‘Pursuit’ Review: An Action Thriller Destined for the Bargain Bin.” New York Times, February 17, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/17/arts/pursuit-review.html (accessed September 23, 2026).

Kwasnik, Brianna. “Actors John Cusack, Emile Hirsch to Film in Downtown Little Rock.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, July 22, 2021. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/jul/22/actors-john-cusack-and-emile-hirsch-film-downtown-/ (accessed September 23, 2026).

“Pursuit.” Internet Movie Database. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15106860/ (accessed September 23, 2026).

Roman, Julian. “Pursuit Review: A Pulp Actioner Loaded with Bloody Twists.” Movieweb, February 17, 2022. https://movieweb.com/pursuit-review/ (accessed September 23, 2026).

Staff of the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas