PoliticsPro-ICE 'Pawn Shop' Movie Production Temporarily Halted Amid Disruptive Filming Claims
The Daily Wire is making a pro-ICE movie based on the Minnesota protests.
Oct. 5 2026, Published 5:27 p.m. ET
The city where conservative media company Daily Wire is filming a pro-ICE movie has temporarily halted the film's production over fears it will harm local businesses.
Citizens in Livingston, Mont., voiced concerns at a town meeting that the film, titled Pawn Shop, raised concerns about the film's disruptive schedule and the negative impact it could have on their community.
Montana Citizens Halt the FIlm's Production
The film makes a mockery of ICE protestors.
Citizens of Livingston specifically pointed to the harm the film could do to its sole food bank.
"They’ve taken advantage of the situation to make their movie," said City Commission member Cindy Daniels. "We’re not profiting off that movie. So they’re not thinking of the veterans that live on K Street. They’re not thinking of the food resource center.”
Furthermore, city members complained that they were improperly notified about the filming of hazardous stunts.
As a result, the Livingston Commission concluded, “A motion to immediately temporarily suspend Bonfire Pawn Shop LLC’s permit while seeking legal opinion from the city attorney in a timely manner to amend, suspend, or revoke the permit to come back to the commission not after 5:00pm on October 5th.”
The Film Makes a Clear Mocking Reference to Renee Good
The movie seems inspired by the Minnesota ICE protests.
Pawn Shop went viral in early October when The Bulwark obtained a copy of its script. Per the outlet, the film will focus on an Antifa siege of a Minneapolis pawn shop. The employees of the shop join ICE agents to battle a horde of progressive protestors and later MS-13 gang members, who both want to free a Hispanic man — revealed to be the leader of an MS-13 gang — detained by ICE.
The publication notes that the film has a "Renee Good stand-in" named Melanie, described as "40" with "fat blue hair" and a "Covid mask," who slams her Subaru into an ICE van. An ICE agent shoots Melanie twice through her front windshield.
- Alec Baldwin's 'Rust' Movie Resuming Production This Spring At Montana Ranch After Tragic Fatal Shooting: See Photos Of New Set
- Camera Crew For Alec Baldwin's 'Rust' Stormed Off Set In Protest Prior To Deadly Shooting Accident
- 'Mission Impossible' Crew 'Up In Arms' After Tom Cruise Film Moves Production To The Middle East, 'Morale Is Really Down'
Want OK! each day? Sign up here!
Residents Protest the Subject Matter and Production Habits
Residents have protested filming.
Livingston residents already voiced their displeasure with the production when they learned what it was about. During the filming of scenes, residents drove by and honked horns to ruin takes and disrupt filming.
"We want them to know: Don’t come do this s--- in our town,” one resident told The Bulwark.
Other residents complained to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle about the production. One woman complained that she felt she was being pursued by armed guards during the filming of one scene.
“I yelled, ‘What are you doing?’ at them,” said resident Alecia Jongeward. “One of them was like, ‘We’re shooting a movie.’ I was like, ‘Why are you running at me with guns?’ It was scary."
The Daily Wire's Movies Were Not Well Received
Ben Shapiro's attempt to get into movies has not gone well.
The Daily Wire, founded by conservative podcaster and media personality Ben Shapiro, has been attempting to break into the movie industry, though their movies have been criticized for depicting cartoonish conservative fantasies.
The outlet's last movie, Run Hide Fight: Infidels, sits at a 20 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The film was criticized for its paper thin characterizations of typical conservative bogeymen, such as liberal college professors, Black people, Asians and Muslims.
