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The indie picture “Band of Robbers” staring “Criminal Minds” actor Matthew Gray Gubler, “American Sniper” actor Kyle Gallner, and aspiring actor and co-director Adam Nee, premiers at the Kentucky Theater Feb. 3.

A modern adaptation of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” producer and UK journalism professor John Winn Miller said the project has been ten years in the works, beginning when his son-in-law, co-director Adam Nee, had an audition for a Huckleberry Finn film.

After a bad imitation of Martin Sheen’s Kit Carruthers from “Badlands,” Miller said Nee did not get the role, but was inspired to adapt the tale of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn with his brother, now co-director of “Band of Robbers,” Aaron Nee.

The ensemble cast and producers were assembled through favors and relationships of the main actors, Nee, Gubler and Gallner, according to Miller.

“They all had busy schedules and they were buddies, so they were kind of donating their time,” Miller said.  “We had to work around all of their TV schedules, so it really was kind of a family thing. It was buddies, friends, relatives — me, I was one of the producers and so was my wife. The cinematographers wife was one of the producers.”

“Avatar” antagonist Stephen Lang, who plays Injun Joe, is the father of one of the producers and one of the crewmembers, and was also the co-star of Miller’s daughter Allison Miller on “Terra Nova.”

“He’s this big time actor, he’s been on Broadway, he’s been in a bunch of big movies, and he came in and he didn’t think he looked ugly enough,” Miller said. “So he stuffed cotton up his nose to make his nose look deformed, which also had the effect of whenever he spoke he was like an open mouth breather and even more ominous, but he was so dedicated.”

TV star Melissa Benoist, who plays the lead in “Supergirl,” didn’t have a relationship with the rest of the cast, but from the first day on set was courteous and excited about production.

“The first day that she showed up on the set she walked around, introduced herself to every crewmember and shook their hand, and I’ve never seen anybody do that,” Miller said. “But all the actors were like that. Matthew Gray Gubler sent out for coffee for 60 people and then he brought a food truck in for the last night.”

Gubler has been a part of many indie projects, from directing a music video with The Killers to his first role in a Wes Anderson film.

 “He went to LA because he wanted to be a director, and he convinced Wes Anderson to hire him as an intern,” Miller said. “He was terrible. Wes Anderson fired him, so then when Wes Anderson was making (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) there was a role for a bad intern. He hired Matthew Gray Gubler for his first acting job, and then Matthew’s second audition after that was ‘Criminal Minds.’”

Following the event will be a question and answer session with co-director Adam Nee and producer John Winn Miller. Tickets can only be purchased online at https://tugg.com/events/83152.