Dog the Bounty Hunter Opens up About His 'Emotional' Experience Filming 'Hunter's Creed,' Plus an Exclusive Movie Preview

Duane "Dog" Chapman's experience filming Hunter's Creed was more than just a movie role for the Dog the Bounty Hunter star — it was a message about grief, mourning and faith. As the Cinedigm film makes its debut Tuesday, Oct. 6 on Video on Demand, including Apple, Amazon Prime Video and VUDU and on DVD at Walmart and Amazon, Chapman opened up to PopCulture.com about his "emotional" movie debut, and shared an exclusive preview of his role in the movie.

Hunter's Creed is the story of a man who loses his wife before reuniting with church friends to film the hunting show they had always dreamed of deep in the woods. The buddies' outing takes a turn, however, when the widower senses a dark presence in the woods that will eventually bring him face-to-face with death and his faith. Director Justin Jackola was looking for someone who truly embodied this journey to appear in the movie, and immediately locked in on Chapman, who had lost wife Beth Chapman to cancer in June 2019.

"It was right after my wife has passed away, so [Jackola] wanted someone who had been through a tragedy like that," Dog recalled to PopCulture, adding that while it was "emotional" to share his journey with fans through a new medium, his "hopes and dreams" have long been to appear in movies. The reality star joked that movies are much easier than filming his unscripted shows, because he is given lines to say instead of having to come up with his dialogue by himself.

Just because the lines are scripted doesn't mean the sentiment isn't 100% true. "You never know until the ratings come out, but I hope [the audience] knows [my performance] is true — that it wasn't a make believe," he continued. "It seems like when I go through a tragedy, it's easier for me to talk to people about how I got through it, how maybe they should get through it."

Dog isn't "afraid of his faith," Jackola told PopCulture in a statement. "He's open and honest about what God's done in his life on and off-camera. In his television show we have literally seen him pray on camera for help in finding his next bounty. ...It's a film about a man's intimate response to losing his wife to cancer, and Dog has experienced exactly that with his late wife Beth Chapman passing away to cancer." Praising Dog's "amazingly natural improv" as something that brought another level to his performance, Jackola said there was "a beautiful life of its own" given to the story through his involvement. Hunter's Creed is available today, Tuesday, Oct. 6, on Video on Demand, Digital Everywhere, including Apple, Amazon Prime Video and VUDU as well as on DVD at Walmart and Amazon.