Why Jill Wagner’s ‘Legend Of 5 Mile Cave’ Movie Was A Bucket List Item

Time travel to the late 1800s and early 1900s tonight for a bit of romance and mystery with the premiere of Jill Wagner’s new INSP movie, “The Legend of 5 Mile Cave.”

Airing on Sunday (June 9) at 8 p.m. EDT, the western flick stars Wagner (“Mystery 101,” “Teen Wolf”) as Susan, a widowed mother of one trying to save her family’s farm from foreclosure in 1920s Kentucky.

When a mysterious man, Sam Barnes (Adam Baldwin, “The Last Ship”), arrives to rent a room at the farm, he begins to bond with Susan’s son (Jet Jurgensmeyer, “Last Man Standing”) and recounts to him the late-1800s Arizona tale of legendary gunslinger and accused robber Shooter Green (Jeremy Sumpter, “Friday Night Lights”) and the 5 mile cave.

Told in two timelines, the “past and present collide in this tale of action, adventure and drama,” the synopsis reveals.

To tease fans even more, Wagner, while speaking with International Business Times, opened up about fulfilling a career dream of hers with this movie, what it was like working with the cast and how the action star in her felt about her character not getting in on the gunslinging.

International Business Times: “The Legend of 5 Mile Cave” is your first time doing a period piece, right? Have you always wanted to do one?

Jill Wagner: Yeah, crossed it off my bucket list. I’ve always wanted to do that. I’ve always said I wanted to do a western. I wanted to play Annie Oakley (sp?) in something, but that hasn’t happened yet. Fingers crossed. But, yeah, I’ve always wanted to be in a western, and I’ve always wanted to do a period piece, so it all came together in this one film.

IBT: Did you enjoy that genre growing up, or was it just that you hadn’t done one yet and you wanted to give it a try?

Wagner: Yeah, I think it was part of my childhood, that’s why I wanted to do it. Because I would always go to my grandparents’ house, and I’d stay up all the time with them when I was younger, and my grandpa would always have, you know, guns were always going on in the background, and I would get lost in it. So, I think it reminds me of my childhood, and it’s nostalgic. So, I just really wanted to do one.

IBT: When you first read the script, what about it excited you the most?

Wagner: I mean, the whole part. I would honestly have to say it being a period piece really excited me the most, but then it was just the story. It’s a simple story, and it’s really about the art of storytelling in a simple way. And it takes it back to the old westerns, and it was even shot in Arizona on a set that they did a lot of those old westerns.

I, unfortunately, did not get to see that part — that set — because I wasn’t in that part of the movie, but I think it’s just really cool that they were allowed to shoot there. I was just excited about the story itself, and I was also excited about the fact that it’s something that I could show my 9-year-old stepdaughter, and I won’t have to censor it in any way. It’s wholesome and something parents don’t have to worry about their kids watching. They can rest assured that it’s going to be a good, wholesome film.

IBT: You obviously got to do some action in "Teen Wolf," but then in this movie, of course, you’re pretty much the only character that doesn’t get to do any stunts. Were you kind of feeling a little left out?

Wagner: Yes, and it’s so funny because I always — it’s just so funny that you say that because, I mean, I got started in action. That’s kind of where I thought my career was gonna go. I would’ve loved to have been a stunt girl or something like that. It’s in my blood; it’s fun for me to get that adrenaline going. I just love it. And, so, when everybody else is around me and doing all of this, it’s like, “Ugh, Jill just wants to jump in.”

I know my character shouldn’t, but I just really want to jump in and help. But it’s interesting because Susan is a strong woman, but she does all of that without fighting. So, she’s a character that — she’s somebody that I would like to hang out with if I lived back in that time. She’s just a good, solid person.

IBT: How was it working with the cast? There were two timelines in the film, and you mainly worked with the actors in the present day timeline, right?

Wagner: Yeah, I worked with Adam Baldwin and Jet [Jurgensmeyer], and they were both amazing. I mean, I just really think that Jet — I’m excited for his career, I really can't wait to watch him grow in this industry because I think he’s such a delightful young man. I mean that in every sense of the word. He’s so positive; he’s like a little ray of sunlight. He’s so awesome to talk to. He’s got such a good outlook on life.

Then, to add onto that, he’s super talented. He can play the guitar, he can sing. I’m just really excited as an actor to see where he takes all of that because there’s so much he can do, and I think he’s really grounded in his choices and his thoughts. He’s a kid, but he also has this bit of old soul in there, and he gets it. So, I think he’s really amazing.

And, of course, Adam is so — I mean, he’s just proven, right? He’s really talented, and I think he just brought it. He brought Sam to life in a way that I think was really honest and true, and I just loved working with both of them. It was a real treat.

IBT: After getting to do your first period movie, what did you think of the experience?

Wagner: I was so stressed out when I did “5 Mile Cave.” I was so — I was stressed out about it, it scared me, but, at the same time, it excited me because as an actor, I guess, if you challenge yourself and you stretch yourself and you go out of your comfort zone, sometimes you can be rewarded for that, and it’s a good experience and the outcome is good.

Other times, not so much. But I was excited to do a 1920s rural southern accent, and it is — there’s a definite dialect change. There’s a cadence to the way that you speak. It’s slower. So, yeah, I had to constantly be reminded to be in that mind-frame and not fall out of it. So, that was definitely different for me, but it was also fun and rewarding at the end.

Catch Wagner (and her 1920s accent!) in “The Legend of 5 Mile Cave” when it premieres on INSP on Sunday (June 9) at 8 p.m. EDT.