‘The Salamander King’ Opens Dallas International Film Festival With Austin-Set Indie Comedy
Austin Nichols makes feature directorial debut with heartfelt film about community, identity and keeping things weird
A group of lovable misfits band together to save their municipal golf course—and a way of life—at the heart of “The Salamander King,” the Opening Night film at this year’s Dallas International Film Festival.
Directed by Austin native Austin Nichols, whose credits include “One Tree Hill,” “The Walking Dead” and “The Day After Tomorrow,” and who will appear in the upcoming film “I Know What You Did Last Summer” (2025), the 94-minute indie comedy marks his feature directorial debut and will premiere Friday, April 25, at 7 p.m.
Set and shot in Austin, the film stars Ryan Hansen (“Veronica Mars”) and Adrianne Palicki (“Friday Night Lights,” “John Wick”) alongside Dulce Sloan, Justin Chatwin, Bill Wise, Bobo Hoang, Christopher St. Mary and Temple Baker.
“I’m so thrilled,” Nichols said. “When you get a call from a film festival that says, ‘We want you to be the opening night movie,’ it feels really good… it makes you feel like all these years of hard work meant something.”
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Comedy explores a city in flux
Nichols, who grew up in Austin before moving to Los Angeles, returned during the pandemic. It was there that a friend of his sister, screenwriter Drew Mackintosh, pitched him an idea about a beloved public golf course fighting extinction.
“I loved it—it reminded me of growing up here and going to these public golf courses,” Nichols said. “We tried to make it a TV show… finally Drew said, ‘Let’s just raise the money and make it as an independent film.'”
Produced by Jennifer Kuczaj, Christian Sosa and Jon Wrobleski, “The Salamander King” is a comedic ode to Austin’s changing identity and community.
A love letter to Austin
“I grew up in a town of 200,000 people, and now it’s 2 million,” Nichols said. “The skyline’s unrecognizable and dozens of our favorite places are gone… It’s really, really hard to watch happen and I still love it here. It still has great energy, the people are so nice and it still has the beating heart that it always had, but it’s scary because it’s leaving and it’s different.”
Filmed across beloved Austin landmarks—from the tree-shaded swimming holes of Krause Springs to the neon glow of Deep Eddy Cabaret and the scenic overlooks of Mount Bonnell—the film captures the city’s soul through both setting and story. There’s a two-stepping dance at Mama Dearest, rounds of chicken shit bingo, queso shared among friends and a soundtrack that tips its hat to Texas legends like Asleep at the Wheel.
“We didn’t want to make a movie just for people who live here,” Nichols said. “We really felt that anyone can relate to losing their home or losing identity… that can happen anywhere.”
Lessons from a career on set
Nichols said his years in front of the camera doubled as an education behind it. He spent his downtime on sets watching directors work, sitting in on tone meetings and production calls, and tagging along on location scouts whenever he could. “I always wanted to direct … I’m so glad I didn’t when I was 25. I didn’t know enough,” he said. “It took all of these years of things to be able to get to a place where I could actually direct a movie. And film school is great, but I don’t know that anything can really prepare you for directing a movie except directing a movie.”
Finding shooting locations proved a challenge, particularly when a key scene originally written for Barton Springs had to be relocated. “It’s hard to rent the whole place out,” Nichols said. “So I had my favorite swimming holes in my back pocket… Krause Springs saved us.”
Though “The Salamander King” wasn’t the movie Nichols expected to make first—”I always thought I’d make some strange, violent, weird movie”—he’s grateful. “This is the one that people showed up for… So I think I would love to keep making comedies.”
Heart and humor
The shift to comedy came naturally, but the emphasis remained on character-driven storytelling.
“I want the audience to connect to my characters… Whether it’s laughing or crying, I want them to feel something,” he said. “There’s something different that happens when there’s a connection… I always want there to be this tight string between my characters and the audience.”
“The Salamander King” screens Friday, April 25, at 7 p.m. at the Dallas International Film Festival. Find full details and pass options on their website.
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