Smalltown Movie

Pig nosed killer

Kevin Bacon.  Pig gets that all the time.  He was born with a deformed nose, and will kill anyone who mentions it.  Stylishly dressed like Don Johnson in Miami Vice, Pig fashions himself a city-man, misplaced by being born in a suburb.   He believes a man with his skills of torture and manipulation should be in a city mob, but no one will hire him because of his Kevin Bacon nose.

He hates smalltown and wants nothing more than to leave it.   He blames smalltown for his nose.  After all, it was the unregulated power lines that caused his deformity.  He wants nothing more than to kill Roarke so he can get the cred to move to the big time mob, and overcome the prejudice he gets because of his nose.

Pig is played by M. Fogarty

MOJO –Samurai Gangsta Wigga.

Mojo looks like a cross between a samurai and a gangsta.   He is a white boy and refers to everyone as “Wigga”.   With gold teeth, arms covered in tattoos, his hair in dreads, Mojo looks as crazy as he is.  You would be crazy too if you took five hits of acid a day.

Mojo keeps young girls by his side, his toys.  He keeps them around as long as they please them and the second they don’t they end up in a burning pile of garbage, just like Morgan.

Mojo rose to the top by killing everyone around him.  He thrives off fear.  He believes he owns this town rightfully and the town would fall apart without him.  He is owed everything he takes, even the girls he kills.

Mojo is played with terrifying ferocity by Jeff Hodge, a Rhode Island based actor and filmmaker.

Jeff Hodge as Mojo

SASHA – Ball-crushing badass waitress.

The only woman in smalltown who will not sell herself, Sasha could make good money as a whore, she is beautiful and wanted by every man in smalltown, but she will not compromise.  Instead she makes two bucks an hour plus zero tips as a waitress.  She is the former lover of Roarke, the town pimp.  She left Roarke for his brother when life with Roarke became unbearable.  When Logan goes on the run with little hope of survival, Sasha turns to the only man that can help her, Roarke.

Sasha is afraid of nothing.  She’s been known to crush men’s testicles for looking at her the wrong way.  She doesn’t take disrespect and she doesn’t need any man to defend her.  Sasha is the hero of this story and it is her transformation from waitress to warrior that is the story of smalltown.  Her uncompromising nature makes her the conscience of the story; the incorruptible in a town of full of the corrupted.

Sasha is played powerfully by Russian-born actress Darya Zabinski.  You can find more about Darya at www.daryazabinski.com.

Darya Zabinski as Sasha

Logan is the only man in smalltown brave or stupid enough to cross Mojo.  He is the brother of Roarke.  When he steals Roarke’s girlfriend, Sasha, Roarke turns his back on him.  Forced to hit the streets, Logan has no choice but to deal junk.  Dealing people their downfall has a tendancy to wear on good people. That is why Logan has become a junkie.

After the death of Morgan, Logan could not take the guilt of working for Mojo anymore.  This leads him to steal the dirtiest MacGuffin in movie history, leading us into the story of smalltown.

Logan is an idealistic thug, running desperately from his murderous pursuers, all the while haunted by Morgan, the ghost of the girl he could not save.   His naïve mission to save the town no matter what will drive him to compromise his soul.    He will kill, cheat, steal and inadvertently cause the deaths of hundreds – all for the cause.

Logan is played by Joe Henry, a Massachussetts based actor.  Joe is an incredible character actor capable of creating a variety of bizarre and fascinating characters.

Thus begins a series of character profiles detailing the many citizens of smalltown.  Stay tuned for more.

Roarke is the ruthless killer pimp that rules one half of smalltown.  He became the pimp while defending a prostitute from being beaten to death by the infamous Jim Grunt.   Ever since that day Roarke has protected the prostitutes of smalltown with an uncompromising ruthlessness. Roarke learned the art of killing by reading anatomy books as a child.  He applies this knowledge, breaking bone, crushing pressure points, breaking windpipes.  Roarke does not fight men, he kills them.  Every blow is a death blow.  His only weapon is his hands.

Roarke was once in love with Sasha, the only girl in smalltown who refuses to sell herself.  When she left him for his brother, Logan, Roarke lost what little humanity he has left.  He discarded his brother and urned his back on him.  Only when Sasha promises herself to him will he consider saving his brother and crossing Mojo.

Roarke is played brilliantly by Dan Dawson, a Rhode Island based actor.  To book Dan for your project, contact him at Dan@exilemovies.com.

picture taken by April Marie Gray

Exile Movies will premiere the trailer for smalltown at a fundraising event at Kyureo in Wayland Square. Admission is free. There will be wine and cheese and a store discount will be offered. The event will be held between 5:30pm and 8:30 pm and is to raise funds to help complete the film. Kyureo is located at 13 South Angell street in the heart of Wayland Square.

Every filmmaker knows it is best to avoid working with animals or children. I would like to add to that old adage — “never stage a brutal fight scene between children on the first day of shooting.” We kicked off our thirty-three days of shooting with a brutal fight scene between nine year olds. It was about a thousand degrees out, few of us knew each other and here I was trying to choreograph a fight scene between children with very short attention spans. The problem with staging a fight with kids is the kids just want to fight for real, so inevitably, one hits the other one for real, then the crying begins, etc. Also, kids just do not stand still for fight choreography, so getting the movements precise took hours and drove all of us to the brink of sanity. Still, we finished the day and have a nice brutal, bloody child fight to prove it. The kids were great to work with (as good as kids with zero attention span can be). Stay tuned for day two.

I am going to begin loading up my notes taken from the day to day chronicle of the shooting of smalltown. Although it comes a little late (believe me, on set, the last thing I was concerned about was the internet) I figured you may be interested in what went on during the production of this epic suburban action myth. Stay tuned for the first few days coming very soon.

As of Sunday, August 23rd, principal photography has wrapped on Smalltown.

For the crew, the last few days have been spent sleeping and reintroducing ourselves to our families and civilian life in general.

Over the coming weeks we’ll have more great stuff for you to look at, production stills and behind the scenes video, interviews with the filmmakers, and a proper trailer for you to all get a sense of what to look forward to when Smalltown is released to the world.

Thanks to A.M. Gray for her great work. April’s website can be found here.

To see the stills, go to the gallery, or click here.

More good stuff coming soon.