All he ever wanted was to be a film director.
"And my friends backed me up and allowed me to be one and I could die happy but they want to do it again so let's go and do it again," said Trevor Addie, stuntman, former resident of Prince George and director of CROFT, an award winning fan film.
Croft is a 20-minute intensely dark, action-packed short film that dares to reinvent the origin of Tomb Raider's iconic heroine, Lara Croft.
Addie's film was posted on YouTube on Christmas eve and already has more than a half a million hits. It's won Best Director Short Film from Action on Film, and Cassandra Ebner, playing the lead character in the movie, got top spot for Female Action Performer of the Year. The Atlanta Underground Film Fest 2013 chose Croft as Best Action Short. The film has also been chosen as an official selection for the DAM Short Film Fest 2014.
Addie, who was in Judy Russell's production of West Side Story setting up falls for the star, filmed the movie in the mountains outside of Squamish old school using only natural light for five or six hours a day for 11 days all in over a six weeks span.
"I have had a video camera for as long as I can remember and I wanted to be involved in film any which way I could and stunts sort of found me while I was pursuing any job in film," said Addie, who got his start as an extra for Reindeer Games when it filmed here and on the Dream Catcher set he got his foot in the door with the stunt staff, who encouraged him to go to Vancouver to explore his options. He moved to Vancouver in 2002.
He got his first stunt on film in the 2004 Cat Woman movie, starring Halle Berry, and has made a living in front of the camera ever since.
"The stunt department allows you to touch every department and in order to learn how to do something safely you have to know how to shoot it, so all of that got me film making a lot more."
He found like-minded people who wanted to work with him. Ebner had always wanted to do something in the Lara Croft movie style and when they shot some footage of her, the film went from action to super intense action.
"The ability of Cassandra to find the intensity that was real and that was raw made us realize the tone of the movie was going to be very dark," said Addie, whose still has family in Prince George. "We decided to have some real fun with this and come up with something that could use her talent - and no stunt doubles were used - that's her doing everything in the movie."
Addie is big on team work and makes sure to emphasize that the production was a group effort.
"Me and my friends that worked on the movie are looking to do bigger projects," said Addie. "We made this movie and I can't express enough how amazing everyone was and the skills they brought to the table, so we are looking for the next thing to do."
If it's something small like the short film or something bigger doesn't matter. It's all just to hone their craft.
The goal is to take Croft to Los Angeles to show some agents to see if there's any interest for representation.
"But I kinda like working with my friends so we'll see," said Addie. "I'll take what I can get but regardless, we don't need much. We're going to have some fun and make more things because the experience of making this movie was enough and we just want to have the experience again."
See the film on the CanCinema YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnQTW9V61jo and visit the official Facebook page facebook.com/croftmovie.
