"I am really excited and nervous," 10-year-old Constance said. Many of her friends and relatives were present to see her co-star in the movie filmed mostly in Nashville, TN.

Constance co-stars with Philip Roebuck, a veteran of 33 feature films, in the full-length independent film about a man who decides to be homeless with his daughter (Constance) rather than hold a full-time job and be absent from her. The film follows the travails and joys of Constance and her father as they move from place to place, trying to find a place to sleep at night. The father decides on a plan to work an hour a day and live on $6 daily. The budget of the self-financed movie was $1,500.

After the movie, director Jon Russell Cring and Constance fielded questions from the audience.

"It was a lot of hard work but it was fun," Constance said of the less than two weeks it took to make the movie.

Constance wasn't allowed to comb or wash her hair and she had only two outfits for the two weeks of filming. Constance said that she convinced the motel owner to open the swimming pool after hours so that she could swim after a long-day of shooting the movie.

Cring said they were outside 24-hours a day while making the film. They began to see what it was like to be homeless. Most of the time, their environment was loud and brass and there was no sense of quiet.

"It is always a great endeavor just to find a place to rest, " said Tracie Cring, cinematographer and editor of the movie.

"At times is was beautiful, seeing the sunrise, but it was also ugly," Jon Cring said.

"We met many homeless people," Tracy Cring said. "Many of the locations where we (were shooting) were places that the homeless were."

"I felt homeless playing the part," Constance said.

One of the bad parts of making the movie was the ticks, Constance said. Constance found a tick on her head and one man associated with the film found five ticks on him.

"They were gross," Constance said of the ticks. "I never want to see a tick again in my life."

One woman in the audience, after seeing the movie, said she wants to see something done for the homeless.

"It was one of the finest movies I have ever seen," a; woman said of the movie.

Jon Cring said the ending of "6 man" has been a point of contention and he likes it that way. Art should make you think, he said.

Constance is the daughter of Cliff and Janis Owl and the granddaughter of Joan Hollingsworth and Clifford and Maggie Owl, all of Murphy.

  Hi--I just saw the $6 Man in Nashville. I found this film quite intriguing.  I have been doing a small amount of volunteer work with Hands on Nashville that involves feeding the homeless, some of it more hands on than the rest.  And I was one of the "Sweet Sixteen" arrested in March in a protest to bring attention to homelessness. So I am not unsympathetic to their plight though I am just learning more about the reasons people become homeless, etc., and even for age 55 can be naïve in many ways.  I found myself conflicted at the end of the $6 Man because I didn't agree with Blake's not finding some way for Natalie to have a more "normal" life.  Normal is subjective I know, but I think she needed school and a routine of day-to-day life that he could have found by aspiring to a downsized and alternative life from his previous one.  Imagine my surprise at finding myself in the midst of the judgment I try so hard to shoo away at the end of the movie.  And I find myself doubting my feelings even now and also find it hard to admit that I don't totally admire Blake for his stance against the way things are (though in many, many ways I hate the way things are myself). 

What I want to say is that the film brought up some good questions for me personally, and I think it will for others as well.  I would love to see a discussion group where people could talk about how they feel about it. 

Thanks for making this story accessible.

Kathy Halbrooks

THE CAST

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