Writer-Director Bill Wittliff with his star Willie Nelson on the set of “Red Headed Stranger.”
Bill Wittliff (Screenwriter/Co-Producer/Director) was born in Taft, Texas, in 1940, and grew up in the rural communities of Gregory and Blanco.
His first screenplay, “Barbarosa,” came to Willie Nelson’s attention in 1973, in the days when Wittliff “would go hear him at those chicken-wire joints where he’d play. Chicken wire around the bandstand protected  the musicians form flying beer bottles.” Wittliff and Nelson eventually brought “Barbarosa” to the screen in 1980, co-producing along with co-star Gary Busey.
“Red Headed Stranger” has been a dream of Wittliff’s and Nelson’s since the album release in 1975. Never satisfied with Hollywood’s ideas about the project, they ultimately decided to produce the film independently and at home, in Austin, Texas. The film is especially significant for Wittliff, since it marks his directing debut.
“I see what I’m writing as I’m writing it, so directing is just an extension of the whole creative process for me,”says Wittliff, whose own drawings served as the extensive storyboards used during production.