AMFM Magazine exclusive interview by Paul Salfen
When Sean Mullin set out to make a documentary about the West Point rugby team, he thought he was making a sports film. Four years later, after unprecedented Pentagon approval and never-before-seen access to the United States Military Academy, the West Point graduate and former Army captain has delivered something far more powerful.
Brothers on Three, which opened in Regal Cinemas nationwide on November 7, 2025 (timed perfectly for Veterans Day), follows the Black Knights’ 2023 season as they defend their 2022 national championship. But the matches are almost beside the point. What Mullin and his co-writer/producer Brian Anthony (captain of West Point’s 2001 rugby team) have captured is something rarer: an intimate, stereotype-shattering look at a group of young men who are as comfortable writing poetry and playing guitar as they are tackling at full speed.
“This is the most authentic and refreshing portrait of positive masculinity I’ve ever seen on screen,” Mullin says without hesitation. “These guys are tough and kind. In a culture that keeps telling young men they have to choose one or the other, here’s living proof you can be both.”
Getting that proof on film was no small feat. Brothers on Three marks the first time the Pentagon has ever approved a documentary without distribution already in place—a leap of faith Mullin repaid when Regal partnered with Military Movies to launch the film in theaters nationwide. Streaming rights are currently being finalized for a 2026 release.
The trust wasn’t handed over lightly. Mullin (class of 1997) and Anthony’s shared history on the very same rugby pitch opened doors that would have stayed locked for outsiders. “The fact that we both played there helped tremendously,” Mullin admits. “But I was still shocked at how quickly West Point Public Affairs got it. The Pentagon took longer—they wanted to know how we were going to distribute it. I basically said, ‘Trust me, we’ll figure it out.’ Four years later, here we are.”
What surprised even Mullin was how much the program had evolved since his playing days. “Everything we did informally—trust, commitment, love—they’ve now codified. There’s an official team value system. There’s even an official team tattoo you earn after five semesters. They’ve formalized the brotherhood, and it’s made it stronger.”
The statistics back that up. A typical West Point graduate has roughly a 1% chance of reaching general officer rank. For rugby players? That jumps to 3%—a 300% increase. “That’s a massive statistical anomaly,” Mullin says. “A big part of the film investigates why.
The answers aren’t found only on the field. One of the film’s most powerful moments—an impromptu poem delivered by cadet Connor Fahey in a dimly lit bar after hours—crystallized everything for Mullin. “That was the moment I knew we had it,” he remembers the director. “We were just rolling on a DSLR, off the clock, and he gave this incredible poem. I turned to my DP and said, ‘Okay, this isn’t a rugby movie anymore.’”
Mullin’s own journey to this moment has been anything but conventional. After graduating West Point and serving as an infantry officer in Germany, he finished his military commitment as a captain in the New York Army National Guard. On September 11, 2001, he became a first responder at Ground Zero, spending months as Officer in Charge of the soldiers working the site while still pursuing stand-up comedy and screenwriting at night.
That duality—soldier and artist—eventually led to his breakthrough scripted feature Amira & Sam (2014), a post-9/11 love story he scraped together $300,000 to shoot in three weeks. The film won ten festival awards, landed theatrical distribution, and launched a career that now includes seven consecutive features that have played in theaters—Brothers on Three being the latest.
Asked for the mindset that keeps him going, Mullin laughs. “I was raised with toxic positivity. My dad was an entrepreneur who literally banned the word ‘problem’ in our house. Everything was an ‘opportunity.’ I know it sounds corny, but I still believe things are going to work out. Little bumps? They’re just nudging you in the right direction.”
Early audiences are already feeling that nudge. On the film’s ongoing theatrical tour, Mullin and the team host Q&As every night. “People come up afterward and say they feel inspired, motivated, like they want to go achieve more,” he says. “If we leave people feeling better about the world and about young men, especially, then we’ve done our job.”
With a Buzz Aldrin documentary already in production and roughly a dozen other projects in development, Mullin shows no signs of slowing down. But for now, he’s savoring the moment he promised the Pentagon he would deliver.
Brothers on Three is now playing in select Regal Cinemas nationwide, with additional cities being added weekly. A 2026 streaming release is forthcoming.
As Mullin puts it simply: “Tell stories you love with people you love. If you can do that, you’re winning.”
After watching Brothers on Three, it’s hard to argue otherwise.
