Kevin Lewis and Oliver Trevena are the director and producer duo behind Misdirection, a contained neo noir thriller with Frank Grillo that builds a surprisingly big world inside a single location. Misdirection follows a couple driven to carry out a series of high-end heists to pay off a dangerous mob debt. When their latest break-in spirals out of control, the pair find themselves caught in a web of secrets, deception, and deadly consequences. Misdirection is now available on Digital from Cineverse. Shot in Serbia over fifteen nights on a small budget, the film is a case study in fast prep, actor focused directing, and the kind of persistence it takes to pull an indie feature across the finish line.

Here, without further ado, are Kevin Lewis and Oliver Trevena.

Key Takeaways

Relentlessness is a producing skill, not a personality trait. Misdirection went through consistent bouts of turbulence. Funding gaps, broken promises, Murphy’s Law persisted all the way up to roughly five days before shooting. Oliver was told by multiple people to forget about the project and let it go, but he didn’t. The takeaway is that persistence isn’t just motivational jargon, it’s a core production competency. If the producer stops pushing, the movie collapses. Misdirection took years to get off the ground, and the film only exists because Oliver and Kevin refused to let it die. Many people think movies are bought and sold based on the market itself, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes beating a movie into production through sheer will and force is the only path forward.

Speed unlocks instinct. Shooting in fifteen nights removed hesitation. With no time to overthink, decisions became intuitive and committed. That urgency created momentum and helped performances and directorial choices feel alive rather than labored. It’s always ideal to have more time, but there’s creativity in limitations, and some casts and crews work better under pressure.

Prep is freedom: obsess early so you can adapt fast later. Thrillers demand airtight logic. Kevin mapped character movement, information reveals, and physical continuity in advance so nothing unraveled under pressure. Thorough prep made the fast pace possible. Kevin calls himself a “big prepper”—months of notes, multiple contingency plans (A/B/C/D), then recalibrating once they were on set. He also describes basically hermitting in his hotel room instead of socializing because every hour on set equals money. The lesson isn’t to “be rigid”—it’s the opposite: deep prep lets you pivot without breaking story logic when the location or constraints change. As Churchill said, plans can be useless but the act of planning can be priceless.

Show Notes

Movies and Projects Mentioned

Misdirection
Paradox Effect
John Wick
Wick Is Pain (John Wick documentary)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Drive
Werewolves

Follow Kevin Lewis at:

IMBd: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0507425/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevinlewisofficial

Follow Oliver Trevena at:

IMBd: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3165541/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/olivertrevena/
Website: ollywoodmedia.com