Two — and more — for Texas!

Historical accuracy will be a big factor when it comes to bringing the story of Gonzales to life for the immersive Texas Legacy in Lights experience that begins filming at a nearby ranch next month.

A highly experienced and impressive crew has been brought on board by director and native Gonzalean John Franklin Rinehart to help execute this cinematic vision. Two of those people who will make sure what is seen and heard on screen is as authentic as possible are lead costume designer Alison Freer and historian and armorer Kerry Hellums.

Freer, who grew up in Texas but has lived in Los Angeles the past two decades, has credits which include “Captain America: Brave New World” and “Rebel Moon” as well as several Nickelodeon shows and Amazon originals.

She said the chance to tell a story that hasn’t been fully explored on film — including the Battle of Gonzales and the Runaway Scrape — from a different perspective attracted her to the project.

“I went to elementary and middle school here. I swear I took five years of Texas history, like they covered everything,” Freer said. “But you know, what they never covered is the story of the Runaway Scrape — all the women and children, running and fleeing. And I love that that is included here.

“And we're really seeing a lot more of the point of view of what it was like for the women of the time. You know, we've heard every story about the soldiers. Of course, we'd be nowhere without them, but it's so interesting what women and children also went through as part of the Texas Revolution, as part of making Texas ‘Texas.’ That angle of it is truly what excited me about this project.”

Hellums, who grew up in West Texas, is a horseman and living history re-enactor with 40 years of experience in films, movies, and historical documentaries, bringing his simulated combat/tactical experience in mounted cavalry, artillery, and infantry to the big and small screen. His credits include “The Patriot,” “Gettysburg” and “Two for Texas,” which filmed in Dripping Springs with Kris Kristofferson, Tom Skerritt and Peter Coyote.

A chance to accurately portray the story of Gonzales’ struggle attracted Hellums to work with Rinehart, who he has known for “the better part of two decades.”

“There's what you call historians, and then there are those of us that delve into what history was like and the truth of it,” Hellums said. “We get involved with the time and period for which we are portraying without a 21st century attitude towards it. We view it for the realness of what these men, these women and those that have come before us, what they were facing at the day that these events came about. And in that, there's an enrichment of being able to not only understand those that have gone before us, but what makes the character of us today.”

Freer said the pressure to get even the smallest details on costuming right is great, especially as clothing from that era isn’t as easy to find as other periods in American or world history.

“The process is really just a ton of researching and pulling of references. I actually just read a book about women making textiles in their home in 1835 in Texas. Who knew there was an entire book written on it?” Freer said.

“I've reached out to a lot of re-enactor Facebook groups and gotten advice from them. There's some places that sell historical recreations that I purchased some stuff from. We've made a few things that we couldn't find, and I'm actually pulling and sourcing a lot of the costumes from two different costume houses in Los Angeles that specialize in this time period.

“You know, there's a lot (of stock) in late 1700s in England — the Regency era — and then picks up a lot with the frontier, from like 1860s on. However, 1835 and the early days of America, there is a little bit of a hole in the stock, so we've really had to get extremely creative,” Freer added.

Hellums said as a historical advisor, he will speak to the actors to help them get into the mindset of who their characters were and what their interest was in the moment when it comes to, for example, the Battle of Gonzales and ‘Come and Take It’ on Oct. 2, 1835.

“And out of that will come what you will see on the screen, the intensity of it, the trying to make sense of what ‘Come and Take It’ truly was all about —from a wedding dress to a battle banner to what would become the birth of the Texas Republic out of that,” Hellums said.

From a weapons standpoint, Hellums said the Mexican Army at the time was “using mostly European weaponry, discarded — or as you call Army surplus — Brown Bess muskets, and also the Baker muskets from the British Empire, so that's what we will use.”

“From the Texian side, you will also see that same type weaponry, along with the long rifle hunting rifles that were much more effective of longer range than the Brown Bess,” Hellums added. “We use much reproduction, but authentic reproductions, of those weapons, but in fact, there's a few pieces that are actually originals.

“It goes through me, and of course, a few others (like Freer) to historical accuracy of equipment, clothing and individualism of the frontiersmen,” Hellums said. “When you portray the Mexican cavalry, for example, you'll see that they were stationed at the Alamo and by most part, were overlooked from Mexico City, so they had to furnish much of their own uniforms, equipment and saddles. So the uniforms they were wearing were pretty much regulation coats, but after that, it goes into a little more in depth.”

Freer confirmed that some of the costume pieces that will appear in the movie are from both the 1960 John Wayne version of “The Alamo” as well as the 2004 John Lee Hancock film.

“United*American Costume Corp. in Los Angeles is owned by the daughter of John Wayne’s personal costumer, Luster Bayless, who recently passed away,” Freer said “He was John Wayne's costumer for all of those movies and started a real Western-based costume house. Unfortunately, a lot of the clothes from that John Wayne Alamo movie are kind of in tatters, but a lot of the hats are still in good condition, so we're using some of those. They have a melange of pieces from every Western movie possible.

“Also, Western Costume Co. here in Los Angeles made all the Alamo uniforms for the 2004 movie by John Lee Hancock and we are getting to use some of the pieces from that movie as well. We’re also leaning on some local Texas-based re-enactors, and the accuracy of their costuming has really raised the bar for us.”

Freer said some costume pieces will have to be made because of the challenge of recreating the Runaway Scrape.

“As that happened, it was raining and muddy and freezing,” she explained. “The three things you don’t want to work with in Hollywood are children, animals and mud — well it’s actually rain, because then that makes mud. We’re having to purchase and make a lot of things so we can basically ruin them in the mud for those scenes.”

Safety on set is a big factor when it comes to productions using authentic weaponry and has recently made headlines with the armor of the movie “Rust” being sentenced to prison for involuntary manslaughter for the shooting death of the cinematographer of that film when a live round was fired by actor-director Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal.

“Safety is a very big thing,” Hellums said. “You hear about these type of mishaps. As an armorer, those weapons are ours, and we inspect those weapons before they are used. We are the ones that will load them, we are the ones that will hand them to the various individuals that are going to use them on screen.

“Once fired, because we will load them with the correct grain amount and we have the flints — we are there for all aspects of this weapon. Once that weapon is fired, we're just off screen, and we'll take those weapons back in our possession. Nobody has those. It comes out of our hands to be used in the scene, and then it comes back in our hands immediately. We inspect every weapon on the set because we are the one that's responsible to load them, make sure they're fired, and we train the ones that are going to use them on how to fire them.”

Rinehart said he is proud of the crew that has been assembled for this production, which also includes head makeup artist Jessica Isam, special effects head Wes Aylor, field producer Pat “Shaggy” Welsh, co-writer and singer-songwriter Lukcy Charms and motion designer and VFX artist Graham Hutchins. Former Gonzales Chamber of Commerce operations coordinator Misti King has also joined as an associate producer on the film.

“As a proud Texan, it means everything to me to build this project with an all-Texas crew,” Rinehart said. “This film is about our heritage, and it should be created by the people who live it every day. We’ve assembled an incredible team of talented professionals from across the state, and together, we’re not just telling the story of the Battle of Gonzales — we’re proving that Texas has the talent, passion, and drive to lead in film production. My hope is that this project shines a spotlight on the opportunities that exist here and inspires more productions to invest in Texas filmmaking.”