The Actor Image

The Actor

By Michael Talbot-Haynes | April 18, 2024

NOW ON VOD! Whoa, Heaven, let your light showdown on the nifty indie crime feature The Actor, written and directed by Richard Blake. Shot in Texas, this movie opens with Hunter Durbin (Richard Blake), an actor from L.A., waking up shot in Texas. He is lying on the ground with a bullet hole in his shoulder. When he staggers up, he notices a body floating in the pool. He searches through the empty wreck of the house and speeds off in a stolen car.

We then flashback to sunny L.A., where Hunter is at an audition to play a collector for a loan shark. He memorizes and delivers his lines with menace, except he leaves out all the cursing. Hunter explains that he feels all the F-bombs weaken the material, making his thug seem less intelligent. When pressed, Hunter admits he doesn’t use foul language in real life and struggles to say the uncut dialogue. Deflated, he sulks back to his regular gig as a personal trainer.

“…waking up shot in Texas. He is lying on the ground with a bullet hole in his shoulder.”

After another soul-crushing day at work, he arrives back at his apartment with his neighbor Regina H. Witherspoon (Melissa Archer), acting very nervous. Illegally smoking in the hallway, Regina begs Hunter to hold onto a suitcase for her with some clothes and jewelry she is trying to keep from her husband in a divorce. He reluctantly agrees, dropping off the suitcase in his living room while his roommate Tom Steele (Jake Alexander Williams) plays video games professionally.

Hunter falls asleep with his bible by his bedside and wakes up the next morning to strange noises outside the apartment. He sees Regina’s door has been jimmied open and checks on her. Hunter finds Regina dead, face down on the floor with holes nailed into her feet. Once the cops leave, Tom convinces Hunter to look in the suitcase. They find hidden stacks of hundred-dollar bills. Hunter wants to turn it in, but Tom keeps insisting Hunter take the money and run. On the way out to work, Hunter is cornered by the sinister Joe (Major Dodge), who is asking all sorts of questions about Regina. Standing beside Joe is a hulking figure (Reid Kawakami) wearing a black skull mask…

The Actor (2024)

Directed and Written: Richard Blake

Starring: Richard Blake, Major Dodge, Melissa Archer, Reid Kawakami, Jake Alexander Williams, etc.

Movie score: 8/10

The Actor  Image

"…exactly the kind of alternative indie film for those looking for values outside the Hollywood norm..."

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