Over the last 3 months I have been working intensely with rising short film and web content producers Apsis Motion Pictures. In the past, we had done some pretty nifty stuff- from a hilarious fight scene in The Bridge 3, to a weirdly comic split personality monologue by me in Strike a Post. Recently, The Reclaimation of Louis Ledbetter hit the internet to much approval, but little did most people know we had another project up our sleeves, going through post and priming for release. So now, on this July 4th of 2012, we’d like to present you with our sci-fi western epic action short, “The Frontiersman”-Â short film about liberty, self reliance, and killing bandits!
This was my first leading action hero role in a short film. Typically I play the villain or some creepy supporting guy. Those are always fun, but to put myself to the test (and in those boots!) was really a great step up for me personally. While technically I am an anti-hero and do have a very dark beat, it’s still a big first for me, and has been something I’ve been hoping to do since I started acting and training in martial arts and fights 3 years ago. Theodorus Collins was a great character to play around in, and I look forward to doing more with APSIS.
Many thanks go out to the wonderful cast: Vicki Parks, Abigail from Ninjas Vs. Monsters, was great to share on-screen chemistry with and helped me prep my character. Her performance was fantastic and really brought something new into the mix of our typically masculine driven projects. Can’t wait to get her in front as an action star herself.
I also was responsible for the action and fight choreography, as well as stunt coordination. Thankfully I managed to wrangle the best cast I could ask for! HUGE thanks to the stunt team we assembled. As you can tell by Louis Ledbetter, we’ve been fortunate to keep many of these guys around- and we hope to present you with more action sequences (and heck– dramatic ones!) featuring the amazing talents of these guys:
Kurt Skarstedt (lead villain of Ninjas Vs. Vampires and Browncoats: Redemption)
Gary Van Peebles
Dan Carter (From the Assassins Creed Kinect Video)
Robert Novich
Stephon Reynolds (from Nuclear Cowboyz and Six Flags America)
Julio Palacios
Orion Dye
Samuel Slater
Bruce Dwayne (Duanne Barbour of Cloud Eagle)
Each of them provided something unique to the video, whether it was a dynamic look, an incredible stunt flip, a great presence during a fight sequence, or some unexpected acting chops that really added flavor to the scene. If it wasn’t for these guys, this movie wouldn’t have worked and I KNOW they made me look good! Wrapped in fantastic costume design by Denise Loukus of Apsis Motion Pictures Costuming, we had a full house of bandits that rivaled any of the best episodes of Firefly or the craziest action moments of the video game, Borderlands.
Speaking of great looks- the prop and weapon design by Tyr Rollins was unique and awesome! Custom guns for a fantastic group of characters thanks to our awesome producer!
And as always Joel Loukus, a brilliant director and VFX artist, created such a wonderful rhythm in post that you never feel bored! (I hope!)
Music featuring tracks:
“Kilkelly” Cover by Jason McCann, Song by Peter Jones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXTtbZ_v5q4
“Conquest” by Stephen M Lloyd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLvsS6o0hJY
So thanks for all the brilliant work from the cast and crew! Be sure to keep an eye out for our next video: A huuuuuge samurai swordfight set in the Star Wars universe!