Now this one is interesting. Popped is a dark comedy short I did about three years ago that, as far as I can tell, was never really finished. In it, I played a young hitman on his first assignment, a job that, upon termination of the target, will get my character into the Assassin’s Guild of America. I think it’s supposed to be a satire on the entertainment business, the unionized system.
I was very excited to be a part of this project. We shot two long, late nights at Laemmle’s Monica 4-plex cinemas, after the theater closed for the night. It was a lot of fun, and the cast and crew were uber-talented. For a couple of years, I attempted to get in touch with the director for updates, and he never really got back to me, so I had to assume either the film was unable to be completed, or he got busy with other projects. Too bad. Either way, after hunting around on the internet, I managed to find a clip/rough cut of the project posted by the Director of Photography, Shawn Grice. It’s not the full short, but it’s the bulk of it. The sound is incomplete, and it’s missing the ending (if I remember correctly, it has a neat twist at the end… hopefully one day we get to see it!) But, it’s very well-lensed, with smooth camera moves and style. I’m happy to get the opportunity to see just this much.
Here’s the footage I found:
