SCOTT BROCATO:
Well, let's first start with the incident that gained Canaan prominence.
ROSS KAGAN MARKS:
I'll let Troy take that one.
TROY BOWER:
A normal day. That day, the kids had just gotten home from school. COVID had just begun, and I got a phone call from my wife saying, “Hey, have you heard from Canaan today?” And I said “No, I was actually home that day. I said “No, I hadn't seen him since he left the house early this morning.” And she says “Well, I just talked to a coworker, and apparently he's dummy and a hero all at the same time”. And I said “Well, what do you mean?” And she told me. She didn't have a whole lot of detail, but that she knew that there was a fight that he was involved in at the gas station. Well, I'm only about two miles from that gas station, so I jumped in my truck and went down to the gas station and calling Canaan every step of the way, and he wasn't answering.
And I got to the gas station, and they had it roped off, you know, yellow tape. And they weren't letting anybody nearby. So I started driving back to the house calling Canaan, and he's not answering. So I finally called the gas station, and the lady described what had happened that day, and she was terrified. She was frantic. You could hear it in her voice. And she kind of explained what happened. She said some guy had just gotten off the bus there, the Greyhound bus, and was trying to take this lady's kids. She had three young children. She was an easy target, didn't have a boyfriend or a husband or a father with her. And this guy decided he wanted those kids, and nobody could stop him. Until Canaan showed up.
SCOTT BROCATO:
We're talking a high school wrestler, a junior in high school, 6’3”, 280 pounds?
TROY BOWER:
6’4”, 285. Yeah, and solid muscle. He was rock solid. He had just competed in the state championship up in Albuquerque two weeks earlier, so his season had just concluded. And his body was still ready for action. He had heard the commotion across the street, and thought that maybe it was a dad or an uncle kind of playing with the kids in the parking lot until he saw the lady fall to the ground with the baby strapped to her back and he thought, no, this is a little more serious than a dad playing. And he's seeing people kind of running away from the scene. So he drove across the street into the scene.
And by the time he got there, the commotion had gone inside the Chucky’s convenience store. He walked up to the door, and the people that had tried to stop this guy were battered and bruised and bleeding profusely. He got to the door and they were on the phone with police and they just kept saying he's going to get the kids, he's going to take the kids. And Canaan asked the one guy if he was OK, but the guy was bleeding horribly and didn't speak any English, so Canaan just opened the door and charged in. Didn't care what he was facing. He just knew that this lady was in there by herself with her kids, and this guy, and he knew he needed to get inside.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Was any part of you surprised at all by his action? The way he reacted, was that in keeping with his character?
TROY BOWER:
Yeah, there was nothing about that that was surprising. In fact, we heard so many people, whether it be his teammates or his classmates or people he worked with, anybody that knew Canaan closely, all said the same thing, in that they were not surprised to hear that it was Canaan. And in fact, some of them said, “Well, now I'm no longer impressed, now that I know it's Canaan, because that's just who he is every day”.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Well, he was very well liked in high school.
TROY BOWER:
He was very popular from the time he was very young. Actually, we enrolled him in school a little bit early. His birthday kind of fell, you know, where we could wait a year or put him in a little bit early, and we opted to put him in school early. But he was still bigger than the people that were several months older than him and he just had this huge, kind, compassionate, gentle heart. And made friends with everybody. It didn't matter if you were five or fifty, and he was very, very well liked. He was athletic, he was intelligent, but he treated everybody with equal respect and kindness.
ROSS KAGAN MARKS:
Tell him about the story that you told me about the iPod.
TROY BOWER:
Yeah. So the iPod, he was around the age of five or so. He was in kindergarten when he wanted an iPod. Those were new at the time. And my wife and I talked about it and thought, well, you can have an iPod, but those are expensive. And I'm not going to buy it for you. If you want it, you can earn it. You can do chores around the house, you can go around the block helping neighbors with any chores that they have, and you can earn the money and buy it yourself. I just felt like that would show him a level of responsibility to take care of this expensive item if he paid for it himself. And of course, the tooth fairy might have slipped in an extra 20 bucks or something, you know, on those lines, to help him out. But this five- or six-year-old boy finally raised enough money to have his iPod.
And right before we were due to go purchase it, we had been in church that Sunday morning, and the message in church was about helping the less fortunate. And he came home, and I apparently had a conversation with my wife because she came to me a little bit later and she says “Canaan would like to talk to you”. So I went to the table, and he explained to me that that message in church had really affected him. Again, he's like 5 years old. And he said that that that message had really affected him. And he decided that his $400.00 for this iPod would mean more to these people in other countries that needed to eat that day or didn't have fresh water. And as a dad, I tried to initially talk him out of it. I gave my wife a look like, you know, I don't know what they're going to do with this money. You know, I don't really want to give $400.00 that's going to pad somebody's wallet. I didn't feel real good about it, but I kind of caught myself. And I looked at Canaan, and I wasn't surprised, even at five years old, I wasn't surprised thatthis is what he wanted to do.
But I kind of caught myself. And in that moment I said, you know, I can either let this happen, and just trust that something good and positive will come out of this. Or I can stop it. I can get in his way and really be an obstacle. And what kind of ramifications will that have going forward? Because if I stop it now, he's going to hesitate the next time he wants to do something kind, the next time he wants to do something to help somebody else. So the best thing I can do is just get out of his way and let him do what he wants to do. But I saw, as a dad, I saw how hard he worked for that $400.00. Like, that took him months to get that money saved up and it was a lot of hard effort. So I saw not just $400.00 being donated to somebody, I saw all the time and the effort. But that kid was so proud when he handed over that money. And he immediately got to work to try and earn another $400 for his iPod.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Says a lot about his character.
TROY BOWER:
It surely does.
ROSS KAGAN MARKS:
At a young age, very young. Yeah. So when Troy says he's not surprised that Canaan burst into a situation of extreme danger, when most of us would just run the other way, right? I mean, I know I certainly would if I hear screaming, yelling and I don't know that my first instinct, quite frankly--not that I'm a huge coward--but I'm not...I don't know that I would run into that gas station. He ran right in there. But when Troy tells the story that at five years old, he was doing for others, that just speaks to that he was a unique human being. Which is why it's important that we honor him in the movie.
SCOTT BROCATO:
His life, unfortunately, was cut short last year by a motorcycle crash. Did he talk about his plans for his life before he was...?
TROY BOWER:
He would talk about it if you asked him. Canaan kind of...he lived in the moment. Canaan didn't have big plans for the future. He was kind of a “I want to let today take care of today” kind of a person.
But I do know that the two things that were very often spoke of was: he talked about possibly being an engineer, while simultaneously talking about wanting to be a mechanic. And I would ask him, why a mechanic? I'm not saying that that's an invaluable career. But why is that something that you're interested in? Because those guys don't have Christmas Eve off, or the day after Thanksgiving off, a lot of times they don't have Saturdays off, you know, and a lot of times they don't make a lot of money. And you're a big kid, with a big appetite. So, you know, you're going to need a bigger vehicle than most of us need, and you need more food than a lot of us need. So why a mechanic? Are you sure? And he would just say, “Dad, because I want to be able to help people that can't help themselves. I want to be able to fix something that those people can't do themselves if they're taking their vehicle to mechanic, it's because they need the help and I want to be able to help them”.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Ross, what drew you to Canaan’s story? And what made you decide to take the extra step and make a movie about it?
ROSS KAGAN MARKS:
As Troy mentioned, it was during COVID. And I remember sitting at home and sitting with my wife and this story came on the news about a 16 year old hero in Las Cruces. So right away that had my attention, because anything Las Cruces is important to me because this community is so important to me. So a local boy who was fearless, utterly fearless and heroic, and barged into a situation that could have caused some great bodily harm, but he would had no thought for himself, only about helping and saving others. So right away, especially during the time of COVID, when there wasn't a lot to celebrate, there wasn't a lot of stories that were particularly uplifting. It was more stories that COVID cases are this, that COVID deaths are this, this business is shut down. It was not a particularly uplifting time. And here was an uplifting story. So it really moved me and inspired me.
And I thought two things. I thought, number one, this is a very special human being, a unique human being. And number two, he’s from my community. And so I view my goal, my mission, is to celebrate my community on film. I'm a filmmaker. I teach film at New Mexico State University. I run the Las Cruces International Film Festival. So I really want to grow the film industry in New Mexico and tell New Mexico stories. “Walking With Herb”, the last film that came out, was a was a Las Cruces story with a Las Cruces writer, Joe Bullock. And so here's a great Las Cruces story, the Canaan Bower story, and so I immediately thought about that.
And then I heard, tragically, that Canaan had passed away, which made the story tragic, but not really, the more I dug into it. Because when I sat down with Troy and his wife recently, I said, how did you reconcile the loss of a child? What could be more difficult? I have three children, and I can't imagine anything more difficult or more challenging than losing one of my children, as the Bowers had with Canaan. And they said, you know, Canaan had fulfilled his mission on Earth. And we all have a mission. And God said, you've done your work, and now it's time for you to come home. And I thought that's not only a great way of looking at it so that you can reconcile and be at peace with it. But it's also, from a faith standpoint, really the message of the movie, right? So right away he gave me the premise for the film: that we all have a responsibility, we all have a duty as human beings on this planet to make the planet better, to do for others, to help others. Some of us, it takes a lot longer; and some of us, it takes a number of smaller incidents to kind of earn our way to the promised land, earn our way to Heaven. But Canaan did it at a young age, and there were a number of incidents, he (Troy Bower) told you about the situation: the IPod at five years old. But Canaan was this type of, you know, an Angel on Earth. I mean, he really was a very special human being.
So the film, it's going to be a faith-based film. It's going to be a spiritual film. It's going to be an inspirational film. And I like those kind of films. As I've gotten older, I find doing work that is uplifting not only helps me as a storyteller, because I'm uplifted and I'm motivated--because making movies is hard, right, working 12, 13, 14 hour days, for months at a time--and it's just, it's really a lot of hard physical work and mental work and emotional work. So to have a story that's uplifting and motivates you every day to get out of bed, to go to set, and this story is exactly that for me. And I know if it's that for me, it's going to be that for others.
SCOTT BROCATO:
How did you approach Troy and his wife, Kara?
ROSS KAGAN MARKS:
So Mary Haarmeyer, who is a writer and producer, and she and I are collaborating on two films, said “Hey, do you know about Canaan Bower?” And I said, “Yeah, of course I know about Canaan Bower”. She says, “Well, I think it would make a great movie. Would you be interested?” I said, “I'm very interested.” I said, “I've been interested in that story since, you know, 2020 when the incident occurred, I've been interested in this story”. And she said, “Well, I think we should have a conversation with his parents about turning into a movie”. And I said, “I'm, I'm all in.”
So we we sat down, we had dinner, the Bowers and I and Mary Haarmeyer, and we talked about, you know, came in and...you know, it’s important to me to honor Canaan. And I live in this community, so I'm not a Hollywood outsider coming in from New York or LA, and I'm just going to take Canaan's story and manipulate it for the benefit of a successful financial movie. No, it's much more than that. I live in this community. And I’m going to see the Bowers quite a bit and I'm going to see their friends, they're going to see my friends. So I have an obligation to honor Canaan and their family in a way that is pleasing to them. So I told them, which is important to me, I said, “First of all, we're going to finish the script, and you tell us if you approve the script, are you OK with the script.” So I'm not going to do a film that they're not signing off on. But the most important thing to me when I finished the film and the film's finished and we have the big premiere--and you can be sure it's gonna be a great big premiere here in Las Cruces--I want Troy and his wife to come up to me and say, This film honored our son. Thank you. We're proud of this film. And if I did that, then I'm successful.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Isn't this your first nonfiction film?
ROSS KAGAN MARKS:
This would be the first film, yeah, that's based on a true on a true story. This is an actual character where I have an obligation to honor that person.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Well, that's why I was going to ask: if this was more challenging in certain aspects than shooting a fictional film.
ROSS KAGAN MARKS:
It is. It is challenging. To be honest with you, I've done, I’ve developed right? So you develop movies all the time, and you never know, you know, how they get made or when they get made. So for every movie that I make, I’ve probably developed 8 or 10. So I've developed several stories that were true stories, true life stories, actual people. And it's always been challenging because, you know, they are unhappy with their portrayal, or they don't feel that certain scenes from their past that may be true, but they don't want them exposed to the public. So it's always a challenge.
But you know, with Canaan, there's not a lot of skeletons in the closet. I'd have to work really hard to make him come off as a bad dude because this guy was a pretty amazing kid.
And the Bowers, we talked about this; they said, we're comfortable, we trust you, and we're going to share our lives with you. Which is brave of them to open up their lives to the world, and to us. But to open up their lives to world to see, because there are elements of the story that are difficult to retell. There are elements of the story that will be difficult for them to relive. There'll be elements that will be difficult to watch on screen, but at the end of the day, the end result is worth it, because this is a story, a faith-based inspirational story, that can really elevate and motivate and inspire millions of people.
SCOTT BROCATO:
And have you started casting yet?
ROSS KAGAN MARKS:
No, the first thing we're doing is we're developing the script right now. I don't know--you know, it’s important to me that we cast someone who is believable as Canaan, right? So to cast someone that large that can act--most actors are tiny—it's going to be tough, but we'll do a nationwide search. I'm happy to be working with a casting director right now in the two films I'm making who is amazing, the most gifted casting director I've ever worked with. So I'm confident that we can do a nationwide search and find someone that can play the role of Canaan. There's nobody that comes to mind that's a recognizable actor that is that age and that size. So I have a feeling we're going to have to dig a little bit.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Well, Troy, I'll let you have the last word. What do you want audiences to take away from the final film after it's made about Canaan?
TROY BOWER:
Canaan's character, I think, is huge. He was such a man of character, even at a very young age, and it seemed like he had God's provision over his life. It seemed like there seemed to be some direction over his life, even from a young age. And so we spoke with Ross and his team, and I'm very, very comfortable and confident that our vision aligns with what our hopes and dreams are. We want to inspire others to show that love and that kindness and that compassion that the world so desperately needs. So we we're all going through something. Every single one of us is going through something. And I would like us to just see making kindness normal, because Canaan was those things, yet he was still popular. He was still awesome on the football field. You don't have—there's not a tradeoff. And there's a lot of people out there that that want to do the right things, but they're afraid of the tradeoff. Or maybe they just don't know how, and they just don't...maybe have the size to do it, because they know that the world will squeeze them and push them down.
ROSS KAGAN MARKS:
But Troy has a wristband on. Tell him what the wristband says.
TROY BOWER:
“Be a Canaan"
ROSS KAGAN MARKS:
And so that what that means is: do the right thing. Be a good person. So he gave me one of those when we had dinner, and a few days later I was at the grocery store. And I was walking to my car and I had my groceries. And I saw a big wrapper on the ground, and I just walked past it. And then as I walked past, I thought, you know, Be a Canaan. Canaan would stop, he'd pick up the wrapper, he'd put it in the garbage. So I stopped. I went and got the wrapper, I picked it up, I put my groceries away, then I threw away the wrapper. And I said, that's exactly the impact I want the movie to have! I want people to see the movie, and after they watched the movie, think twice about what's the right thing to do. And let's do the right thing, because that’s what Canaan was. The impact of the dinner and the wristband that I was given, that's exactly what I what we hope the movie accomplishes.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Ross Kagan Marks, Troy Bower, thank you for coming in and talking about Canaan and the forthcoming film with KRWG Public Media.
TROY BOWER:
Now I'm excited about it. Thank you for your time.
ROSS KAGAN MARKS:
Thanks Scott.
