I am Billy Brantley, an adjunct history professor at Florida State College in Jacksonville, Florida.  Prior to this,  while  stationed in the U.S. Army at a number of posts where Robert E. Lee had trod, viz., Fort Monroe, Virginia et. al.,  I became captivated by the Lee story.   My passion for the Lee story yearned to see a bio-pic, a la a Patton like rendering, but featuring the epic story of General Robert E. Lee's path to immortality.   A screenplay had to be written.  After a two year period of rewriting and submitting,  Hollywood saw Lee as a  hero of Dixie and declined interest in making a film.  A naive student blurted out, "make it yourself".  Thus, I bought a Sony X-R7 camera, created Lionheart Film Works & History Playhouse and began casting, choosing site locations, lining up period outfits,  filming, editing, and a myriad of other endeavors that led to  five years in making the movie Marse Robert.
    Key roles portrayed by Historical Society members  and thousands of acclaimed Civil War re-enactors from  five  southern states, features portrayals by astounding look-a-likes and rising, young talent in the acting field.   Superbly directed, this thrilling new release brings you as close to living history as you can get.
    Filmed in Virginia and other sites in the South in actual locations where Lee lived and walked 150 years ago, the film is finished in North Florida and is the first full-length, epic and historically accurate motion picture that dramatizes Robert E. Lee’s celebrated rise to fame during the Civil War.

Our Business

     The movie is edited using  iMovie HD 06 and Final Cut Pro via Mac OS X.  It is filmed with many key roles filled by Civil War re-enactors, local historical society members, local drama students, Orange Park playhouse actors, doctors, college professors, and students from Clay and Duval County American History classes.  Scenes are filmed on the James River in Virginia at Shirley, Westover and Carter Hall Plantations and in Richmond, Petersburg, Amelia Courthouse and at Appomattox Courthouse. 
       Many local Clay County people are in the film, e.g.,  the mayors of Green Cove Springs, Keystone Heights, Orange Park w/ councilmen and county commissioners  as far south as Ocala, Florida.    

Who We Are

    The first scenes were filmed in Ortega in Jacksonville, Florida in the fall of 2004.   Mrs. Beth Sumner Wiggins portrayed the role of Mary Custis Lee, the last surviving daughter of R. E. Lee.
    The last scenes with Robert E. Lee portrayed by former County Commissioner and U.S. Army Col. Wayne Spivey, were filmed on Fleming Island, Florida  in January, 2012. 

Permissions & Credits        

     Over 26 permissions and credits are accounted for from local, original and established artists and management groups in adapting musical background and  pictoral renderings for the film Marse Robert.