Jason Beaumont and I worked together quite a bit my last few years in Chicago. Since we’d both moved to California in 2016, Jason had mentioned shooting something together again on several occasions. After the holiday break of 2018, Jason called and told me he had purchased the new 4K Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera and wanted to shoot something, possibly a western or noir out in the desert, soon.

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We rolled over a few ideas and kicked the tires. My main concerns at the time were money and crew. The more moving parts, in my experience, the more the bills pile up and often complications, unfortunately. I had performed some theater in the past and began to think if I could come up with a simple premise we could make something relatively inexpensive.

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For a while now I’ve had this idea of a drifter driving around with a body amongst the lonely expanse of the southwest with no clearly defined path or purpose. The moment the audience sees the man with the body the worst is assumed and immediately questions begin to mount. I also knew that with one character opportunities for dialog and chances to offer up clues would be difficult. So, over a weekend Dominique Hines and I began forming the beats and measures for the script.

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The first shooting weekend was filled with bad luck and missteps. Right off the bat I set the tone by losing the keys to the Cadillac our character drives immediately after picking it up, only to find them several hours later in a grocery bag. But we persevered and got home late that Sunday with some incredible footage. After the first cut we identified a few scenes and places where we thought we could do better and headed back out a few weekends later for a quick overnight trip of reshoots.

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One of the best things that happened, aside from finding the Cadillac keys and Jason mastering the drone in a matter of hours, was finding Collin Russell. Collin had been a student of one of Jason’s close friends and his score is simply perfect for the film. Another perfect fit is the amazingly smooth and captivating vocal talent of my cousin Ken Robison. I’ve admired the resonance of his voice since I was a youngster and I’m thrilled to have it as part of the piece.

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The Body is currently being submitted for a short list of festivals and, fingers crossed, it will be screened on many occasions over the next year. Jason and I are currently working on some new stories and scripts and we’re planning on shooting another film later this year. For more information, please keep checking back. We’ll be sure to update the calendar if/when we are accepted to festivals and hope to see you at the theatre soon.