The Last Role of Charles LeBlanc

In The Last Role of Charles LeBlanc, director Tom DeCerchio and co-writer Jack DeCerchio conjure up a beautifully bizarre swan song for a fading Hollywood legend. Aging movie star Charles LeBlanc (Arthur Roberts) is in the final act of his career, living in semi-isolation under the care of his manager Loretta (Shamya Jamerica). She hires a new groundskeeper, Luke Harkins (Jack Decerchio), a drifter who looks strikingly like Charles’ former co-star and closest friend, the late Stuart Benedict. Suffering from a touch of dementia, Charles mistakes Luke for Stuart and welcomes him into his world, convinced they’re about to start shooting their 1951 noir film, Gangsters Don’t Go to Heaven.

As Luke settles into his new role, he meets Charles’ daughter Lyla (Rebecca Stoughton), who ropes him into errands involving a producer named Wes Collingsworth (Bryan Mittelstadt), who is planning a remake of Charles’ old films.

Luke and Lyla grow closer romantically, further complicating the situation. Seeing the young couple together, Charles internally feels the betrayal from the real Stuart decades ago, grows suspicious, and becomes emotionally volatile. His grip on reality unravels, leading to a final confrontation where memory, regret, and performance collide.

“…convinced they’re about to start shooting their 1951 noir film…”

The Last Role of Charles LeBlanc harkens back to the old pulp fiction days of Hollywood, when character actors always found work—even if it meant being typecast into the same gangster roles. It was a glorious time until the line between on-screen fiction and off-screen reality began to blur.

The team of Tom and Jack DeCerchio does an incredible job building Charles LeBlanc’s fictional world. From a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to a mansion full of LeBlanc memorabilia, they immerse us in his fading legacy while crafting a script that travels back in time without ever leaving the set.

The DeCerchio short is good fun, with Jack DeCerchio’s James Dean–like good looks and Rebecca Stoughton as the mysterious femme fatale. The Last Role of Charles LeBlanc is a moving meditation on legacy, loss, and the strange theater of aging. It’s a love letter to the dreamers of old Hollywood and a cautionary tale about believing too much in your own press.