Hey all! I’m back from Paris, France and I am happy that I got to support the French release of DEAD SHADOWS in person. Of course its home country was the last to distribute it, but hey better late than never. I will personally always look back at DEAD SHADOWS fondly. The flick means a lot to me for many reasons and allow me to share with you the main one: You see, at the end of 2009 I had a near stroke. It was one of the scariest moments of my life and it acted as a trigger for changes I HAD TO make. At the same time, the end of 2009 was when the film market bubble burst and the movie projects (i.e years of work) I had going went tits up. So all that to say, I was not doing too well. It took the bulk of 2010 for me to change my lifestyle and get my health, drive and my mind back on track (hardest year of my life thus far).  And although I had made some major headway come 2011, I was still dealing with leftovers of that awful night, something I was still learning to deal with: random anxiety/panic attacks.

So in 2011 when Director/Producer David Cholewa asked me to play John in DEAD SHADOWS, the film resulted in me getting back on the “film biz horse” after basically taking a year and half off to heal and rebuild myself. I hadn’t acted in anything since the near stroke, apart from a short stint on a webseries (which I did right after said life uppercut, thinking it would help me psychologically – it did not, – I was a scarred and overweight mess). Hence at the time, I perceived DEAD SHADOWS as the kick-off to the NEW beginning I was striving towards and I was right, it was and I haven’t looked back since. What doesn’t kill you… you know the rest 🙂

On that, a big thank you (s) to David Cholewa for involving me in this adventure, to Sylvie Cholewa and Laurie Cholewa for their kindness and hospitality (ratatouille!), to the cast/crew that were a pleasure to work with, to Producer Julien Dunand for also having me onboard and to the peeps who have supported the picture. Here are some pics from the signing in Paris (at the Metaluna Store), which also acted as a sort of reunion for us! It was great to see everybody! A little older, a little wiser – still hungry! With the film having had its home turf wide release; I can now say with a straight face that my DEAD SHADOWS ride is over. Lets get that sequel going! 😉

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