Deano Pictures
Behind the Scenes
Synopsis
A brash young model faces rejection from the top modeling agency around, what he does next may have unexpected and horrific consequences.
The Cast
Ayden Hansen
Coming Soon.
Lisa LaFave
Lisa LaFave (Lillian Gray) is making her film debut in The Portraits of Lillian Gray. Lisa is a former student of Actors Training Ground and has performed in “Once Upon A Mattress” and “Power Plays – The Way of All Fish.” She also wrote and directed “His Last Days” based on the music of Dallas Holm.
Production Lead
Director Dean Garris
Dean is an accomplished filmmaker from North Carolina. He has produced and directed many films and commercial works. Currently his 2014 award winning web series The Super Femmes and his 2011 award winning feature documentary Nathan Davis Still Lives can be found on Amazon Prime.
Learn more at his website: deanopictures.com
Writer Tanner Lagasca
Tanner studied at P.C.P.A. in California, Roosevelt University in Chicago (B.F.A.) and Actors Studio Drama School in New York (M.F.A.). He is the author of The Portable Acting Coach, published in 2013 and has performed throughout the country as well as internationally in South Korea. In 2010 he started Actors Training Ground to provide professional acting training in Raleigh, NC.
Learn More at his website: actorstrainingground.com
Christopher Houldsworth
He has done lots of stuff. Update coming soon.
Production Support
Pre-Production
Producers.............................Tanner Lagasca, Dean Garris
Associate Producer............... James Fronck
Director................................ Dean Garris
Story by................................ Tanner Lagasca
Script by............................... Tanner Lagasca, Dean Garris
Production
Unit Production Manager.... Tanner Lagasca
Director of Photography....... Dean Garris
Sound Recording................. Dean Garris
Boom Operator.................... Ben Worster
Key Grip............................... Saptarshi Ghosh
Production Assistant............. Matthew Burnette, Hassan Darwish, Konrad Arnold
On-Set Acting Coaching......... Actors Training Ground
Set Photos............................ Tanner Lagasca
Kraft Services........................ Tanner Lagasca
Background Talent
Bartender...........................
Phillip................................. Wayne Burtoft
Peter Bloom........................ Andrew Blanchard
Models............................... Megan Kessinger, Diere Hodges, Amy Simon
Bar Patrons......................... James Fronck, Janice Baker, Vanessa Neff, Valerie Leininger, Jim Burns, Jake Nantz, Hannah Jones
Model Photos..................... Jane Bonin Covershot Classics Portrait Photography,
Leah Caruana, Michael Howard
Post-Production
Editor/Color/FX................... Dean Garris
Music Composer................. Michael D. Jones, Sr.
THE PORTRAITS OF LILLIAN GRAY© 2020 J.D.G., T.L. All Rights Reserved
Chris Hagan
Chris Hagan started his acting career 5 years ago with a small part In 'Gut Punched', 'Blood Of the Mummy', series 'The 31' and most recently Tim in 'The Portraits of Lillian Gray'. Chris is a Meisner trained actor, having studied at Ward Acting Studio, and with Tanner Lagasca at the Actors Training Ground. Chris also does work behind the camera as a Cinematographer, editor, and music score composer. He is also a long life musician, playing the guitar and singing since he was a child.
Jessica LaGoy
Jessica rediscovered her passion for acting in 2018 and has since enjoyed exploring commercial acting, short films and classes in the Raleigh area. She is currently starring as ‘Bagheera’ in the Jungle Book at Raleigh Little Theater. She is also a registered nurse and 20 year native of the triangle area.
The Origin of Story
by Tanner Lagasca
It started in 1987 when I was living in California. I was obsessed with the Twilight Zone. I love the twists and turns that each episode had. I'm not sure if there was an episode on there like this, but I remember hearing about a certain group of people that believed taking their picture would steal their soul.
This got me thinking and my brain stumbled upon The Picture of Dorian Gray and I thought to myself, wouldn't it be fun to mesh these two ideas together. So, I sat down and typed out the script on a typewriter (no computers back then). I forget how long it took me to finish but after it was completed, I kept thinking, "Some day".
Throughout the years, I would always come across it and read it again and always dream that I could make it happen. In 2016, the seed was planted.
I was running a summer Intensive and needed a script for the Acting for the Camera: Film master class taught by Deano. I thought this would be a great time to see part of this script on film. In addition, I had worked with Dean before on a number of projects and loved his work. So we filmed it and when I saw the finished product, it made me want to see the entire thing.
In 2018 I pitched my idea to one other person who seemed interested but never did anything about it. Then I pitched it to Dean. He liked it, we talked about it. But still, something happened and the idea faded for a bit. That was a rough year for me.
Now here it is 2020. I brought the idea up to Dean who reread the script. He loved it wanted to make a few edits for film. I trusted him, we worked on it and made a few small rewrites to help shape the story. After that, I went into full swing, auditioning, finding locations, getting props and set dressing, coordinating schedules, I mean, I felt like I was finally after all these years seeing the vision of my script come to life on film.
One of the challenges with this was finding the right actors for the roles. Both Dean and I agreed that Lisa LaFave, who created the role in the summer intensive, had to be part of this project. I spoke to Lisa and she jumped on board. I thought about other actors that I wanted in my film and when talking to Chris Houldsworth asked him to play the part of Rob. He was also interested in doing it. The hardest part for me was casting the lead. It had to be the right person.
Now this next part is very important to those who think that submitting for the smallest role couldn't land you the biggest. Earlier, I had asked Jane WB if she would ask her clients to submit their headshots for our set. She sent me those interested and from that I saw the headshot of Ayden Hansen and said "that is Michael".
So with my leads in place, I could feel this happening, and it was so exciting. And now, after 2 months of pre-production, 2 days of rehearsal, and 4 days of shooting, one of my dreams is coming true. And my goal is that someone will want to pick it up as a full-feature. A boy can dream. But for now, we have post-production ahead of us. But I am very close.
And that's what this project means to me.