STEPS FORWARD, NO STEPS BACK - 2016 RECAP

On the set of "The Rush Chairman"

   

              Since co-directing and acting in the short film, "Visions of Violence" in December 2014, filmmaking for me had slowed down.  After my production company went on a never ending hiatus in 2015, I took some time off from film to refresh my mind and figure out exactly what I wanted to do. I ended up moving from Canada to the USA. It was an adjustment from a personal and filmmaking perspective. Since "Visions of Violence" I had only been on set once in 2015 and it was as an extra in a short film called "Really Looking."  In July 2016, I again  returned to set as an extra once more, this time on a feature called "Freak on a Moped."  In between that time, I reunited with my cousin who I'd done 15 films with, this time with the goal of making something different from our past films. Something that would potentially put us on the map. After months of planning and some creative differences and a very key member withdrawing from the project, the film "Dead End" was cancelled and thus officially ended my ties with my Canadian Production company.

      For the first time since the start of making independent films, I was faced with a choice. Either I stop my film career and do something else or I attempt to upgrade my resume and go all the way back to the beginning and start over by creating my own films. "Under The Gun" was a script I had on the shelf for a while and I decided to put it into production. August 2016, for the first time in almost two years I was back on the set of my own film, this time as the Director. Filming went well, It's probably my best film to date. I intend to release this film digitally online in January 2017. Later that month I contacted my "Director of photography" from my latest short (Lee Smith) to see if he knew of any projects coming up that I could help out in... There was. It was a short film called "Love Theif." He hired me onto the project a few days prior to filming as the "Assistant Director" and a small cameo role as 'the landlord.'  It was a great weekend shoot in Spartanburg SC.


       At the end of September I received an offer from  producers named Brett Kanea and Helena Sullivan. I met Brett when I was an extra just months prior. He called asking if I wanted a role in a comedy-feature film called "The Rush Chairman." I was definitely interested and agreed. About a day after my conversation with Brett, he messaged me to see if I had any camera work experience, so I sent him one of my latest short films and I guess both he and Helena liked my style as I was given the "Director of Photography" position. The only catch was that since this film was put together last second, there was really not a lot of time for pre-production as it was shooting in just over a week which gave me less than 48 hours to do the shot-list. I got it done and was ready to arrive to set in Clemson SC in October.  Just as production began, I learned that there wasn't a director for the film and I ended up with that title as well.  I honestly didn't think I would be involved in any significant way in a feature probably for the next 7 years, just mainly because of my age. Most people in their 20's just direct short films because no one else would hire them, so they'd need to build a resume to prove themselves. So being awarded these positions made me really grateful and appreciative of the opportunity. I will always be thankful for the opportunity which was  "The Rush Chairman." I can't wait for everyone to see the final product.

     As for the future, I just finished co-writing "Violators" a short film which will go into production in early January of 2017. I've also landed the position of "2nd Assistant Director" in another Feature film called "Mr.Secret Agent Guy" which is slated to go into production in February 2017. "The Rush Chairman" is also expected to be released in Spring 2017. In addition to that I have a few other projects that I'm working on that are in development.  2015 was a step back for me as I didn't really do any projects. 2016 was defiantly a step forward without taking any steps back.

- Andrew Di Pardo

Cancelled Films, First Solo film 'Under The Gun' & SHARP SHOOTER PRODUCTIONS (January 2016 -September 2016)

        With the disappointment of the cancellation of  short film "Message From Earth," I decided to move forward and reunite the "Suit & Stubble" team for our most ambitious film yet, DEAD END.! After several months of writing, planning and casting all complete things were looking good. But with late additions to the script and the unwillingness to spend the amount of hours required to shoot the film, one of the main members of the film withdrew from the project and it was delayed and later cancelled becoming the third straight project I had worked on to be cancelled. The others being "100 Black Coffin's" & "Message From Earth." This gave me even more drive to work on a project of my own under my new company called "Sharp Shooter Productions."

    Since "100 Black Coffins" was cancelled in 2014, I always felt the need to put it back into production and now was my chance. But 'Black coffins' had a large cast and therefore a larger script and for my first short film I wanted to do a nice and condensed story. So I spent a lot of time editing and reduced it from a once large cast to a main cast of five. With these changes came some plot changes which led me to the new title "Under The Gun." The reconstruction of the script began in September 2015 and continued all the way until the final draft on July 13th 2016. The script was reduced from 30 pages to 8... With the help of Story editor Peter Crowder, the script was exactly where it needed to be when it was time for production in August.

       Prior to the completion of the script was the start of casting in February.  After going through several resumes and audition tapes I found my cast. The first on board was the lead, a good friend of mine named Kevin Bringman (a New York City Actor). Kevin has the perfect look and skill sets required to fill the role of Zachary Giovanni. He brought some Jack Nicholson qualities to the role. Which worked perfectly as Zachary seeks revenge on the mob and the way Kevin portrayed this character makes the film go beyond whats written on the page. Next on board was Damien Michael Chase (Atlanta Actor) as the Mafia Don, Marcello.  The don for this film is a more modern take on the mafia boss. So I didn't want someone with the 'Tony Soprano' look or anything that's been done before... This film needed to stand on it's own and bringing in a cast that looks like something someone had seen before would take away from the story.  Next was Valentina Ferrari as Marcy (Atlanta Actress) as the dons right hand in charge. Valentina displays the strongest female character I've had in any of my films as she over rides the don to get things done in the name of the family. The last few members to be cast in the film were: Roman Visser (Greenville SC pursing acting) and JaVarious Conway (Greenville SC actor) as the men in black who are Zachary's muscle in the film. Then there were the cops...

         I put myself in the role of Cop 1, Gissette Valentina (Atlanta Actress) as Cop 2 and Michael Kolch (Spartenburg SC model) as Cop 3. So we had a main cast of 5 actors and 3 in minor roles.  Next was getting the Director of Photography... JaVarious mentioned his brother would meet the requirements and based on what I had seen he was right. So Smitha Lee joined the team with his wife Arialle Kennedy (Sound mixer). Cayla Gunter joined the production as well as a makeup artist and with that addition we were all set!  August 7th... Day before production, Kevin Bringman (Also an assistant Director) and I start planning the fight choreography for the film. We wanted to make sure everything was planned to the tee for when it goes into production so it could be done in one day. We planned the big torture scene which involved a crowbar and our challenge was to in one take make it look like the bar hits the actor without cutting to another angle so it wouldn't look cheesy... And we did!  That was the biggest challenge and we pasted it and now we were ready to film. August 8... Production starts in Greenville, South Carolina. We started at 9am, and the way Smitha Lee and I were able to communicate to each other to understand what each of us were looking for was great! The best chemistry I've had with another member of production on set. He knew what I was looking for and found a way to make it even better. It made the shoot flow so smoothly. By 3:00pm EST production was wrapped! It took just under 6 hours to shoot this 8 minute film which for me personally was the fastest I've ever completed a film.

    The location was Angelo Di Pardo (my father)'s deli named "Corporate Deli," and it was the perfect spot to shoot this film. Whether a scene was to be shot in a restaurant type atmosphere or an abandoned basement the deli had it. It really helps to shoot somewhere that doesn't involve traveling to other locations. Makes everything go smoothly without rush.

       The actors were great, the best overall cast I've had. Kevin as the lead really shined and made you wonder what he'd do next. Valentina being from Italy originally really worked and gave an authenticity to the film that would have been missing if I went with someone else. Damien, was the modern mafia boss that was needed, he brought a threatening force to the film. JaVarious had great facial expressions in a non-speaking role which made you fear him, especially when he started cracking bones. Roman was the perfect actor required as a distraction for when JaVarious sneaks his way into the scene. Gissette and Michael were great as cops! They really felt like they were the real deal.... Everything just went so smoothly...The film has just been edited by Faizan Valimohamed and it looks great! The film is currently in post-production with the sound being mixed by Vito Sudano (who I worked with on 'Deep Trouble,' 'Visions of Violence' & 'The Challenger: Broken Hope').

The goal of this film is to be submitted to film festivals across the United States of America... After that it'll be released online.

- Andrew Di Pardo

UNDER THE GUN - Trailer
http://andrewdipardofilms.com/under-the-gun 
IMDB

"MAN OF WAR 2" delayed Until 2015; More News on the "Secret Projects"

Coming 2015

        "Man Of War 2" has been delayed once again. A script has been written by Aramis Pacitto for the film but due to our commitment to our "Challenger films" & our 3 "Secret Projects" the film will not come out this year. Filming for "Man of War 2" will begin with interiors in early 2015 and will be released in the summer of that year. But the news isn't all bad, our 3 secret projects are some of the best scripts we have written and it features characters you've seen from us before. I will not announce who the characters are but Aramis Pacitto will be starring in it along with  Kendall H., Lindsay Sutherland Boyle, among many others. All 3 "Secret Projects" are continuous from the same series. More details will be revealed in June when filming begins along with a release date for the first secret project.

For now you can re-watch the first "Man Of War" film:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28j42bfVQxw

- Andrew Di Pardo

INNOCENT GUN - October 2013 to January 2014

         The idea of a film based on our "Life Will be Hell" concept started in April 2013 during the filming of the "Life Is Hell - Short film." The "Life  is Hell" Tv series concept is a series that has two shows in one. The comedy portion which is titled 'life Is Hell" & the action portion titled "Life Will Be Hell." Both "Life is Hell - Short Film" & "Life Is hell 2: The Injured Man" feature prequels to a "Life Will Be Hell" film. When we began writing a script (for which is now titled "Innocent Gun" apposed to "Life Will be hell"), we had a completely different story. Originally it was going to be a film where Spear trains a rookie operative known as Stone for a potential suicide mission where they're going after a USB that a villain named Smith had. Agent Hunter was not in the original draft. Half way through the writing of the draft I had an idea. I thought to myself, why don't we do a film where Spear is a rookie and at some point he's forced to work with Hunter? I liked that idea and i went ahead with it. When I told Aramis Neal Pacitto about it, he thought it was good, as long as we could cast someone to play Hunter.

         So I began writing the script and I kept the USB storyline and modified it in a way where the USB is something that could get majority of corrupt criminals world wide behind bars. Smith was going to use it as leverage. Aramis thought that we should name it something different than "life Will be Hell" since it was too close to "Life Is Hell." I agreed and we came up with "innocent Gun." The film basically became a prequel to the "Life will be Hell's" that were featured in the "Life Is hell films." So its still a "Life Is hell" spin-off, but its more of a loose spin-off. On October 22, filming began in downtown Toronto. We used Toronto but made it double for New york. It was pretty much a day where we filmed all the exterior scenes with Spear talking on the phone with Cutter in New York. For close to a month we didn't film anything until we casted Kendall H as Hunter. Since September we were trying to find someone to play Hunter and we had a little bit of trouble finding someone who fit the role and who wanted to do it. But luckily we found a good actress who was able to pull her off. On November 16, Kendall made her debut as Hunter. We wrapped all her scenes in one day and it turned out better than expected. The film wouldn't have been the same without Hunter thats for sure.

               Our next filming day was November 22 with a new cast member Alex Stacey as a thug named Matthew and Darius Ban (known for Lucas Wolf in "The Challenger Short Film, The Challenger 3 & 'The Challenger 4") as Stone. Darius plays a thug named Stone that eventually will become a operative for the USA government. Our original script had Stone in that position. The scene we filmed that day is my favourite fight scene that we've ever done... Well not my favourite, the one in "The Challenger 4: Urban legend" is. But you'll have to wait until June for that... But that scene that we filmed on the 22nd was our most brutal fight scene with Spear. He shoots two people and then hits a guy over the head with a gun.  A few days later, we filmed a scene where Spear enters an Italian restaurant and we hear him basically beating information out of people. That scene was very "Person Of Interest." On November 29 we filmed a scene where Spear took out two thugs. Dominic Licorish & Marc Samuels played those two guys and pulled it off well.  After that we took a few days off to begin filming "The Challenger 4: Urban Legend" & "The Challenger 5: Dark Triad," we were back filming 'Innocent gun' on December 9. That was the day I made my acting debut as Smith the antagonist in the film.

                Smith is a cross between Elias from "Person Of Interest," Silver from "Skyfall (007)" & Ricci from "The Challenger." It was a fun role to play, very different from Andrew DiNardo (Comedic version of myself in "Life Is Hell") & Ronny Gunnerson ( Detective in "The Challenger"). It was fun to play and not particularly as hard as i thought it would be. A few days later we were supposed to film the opening scene of the film, but the camera fell of the tripod and filming was cancelled. We quickly bought another camera and filming was back on December 12. We filmed the opening scene with Chika Mafiana (known for Walker in "the challenger 2: Unlimited" & "The Challenger 3: Urban outlaw"). Chika played a agent known as Patrice who (SPOILER ALERT), got killed in the first scene. Matthew Quan- Yin acted as 5 thugs that day and filmed the climax between Spear & Smith. Filming was complete, Aramis Pacitto edited it and it was released on January 11. The future of "Innocent Gun" is still in question. A sequel is possible as the script is currently being written by me, but threes no guarantees.

You might also be wondering, whats next for Suit & Stubble. Next is "The Challenger 4" & "The Challenger 5" which will feature new cast members in Kendall H. from "Innocent Gun" as detective Savanna & Liia Kajak joining the crew for the first time as Brookyln. "The Challenger 4" will debut on June 6 2014.


- Andrew Di pardo



Life Is hell films:

"Life is hell - Short Film (Innocent Gun prequel included):" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ87m94biDQ&list=PLRP2JYMLvhzcPAN-tHL0Hr3x8uvQXJ-FY

"Life Is hell 2: The Injured Man (After credit scene ft. a "Innocent gun" prequel):" http://vimeo.com/81253888

THE CHALLENGER 3: URBAN OUTLAW - July to October 2013

             Since the beginning of "The Challenger 2" film sessions, Aramis Pacitto and I had no doubt in our minds that there would be a third Challenger film. So I had an idea about how we could do a sequel that picks up from where the second one left off. I wrote the first draft of the film and I wanted to make this film more of a drama than an action film. I accomplished that in Draft 1, but once Aramis got a hold of the script he said that we should add some more action. He did that and it made the script more interesting. Once the script was complete by mid-July, Aramis and I had an idea for a new character. We decided to take one of the characters we have and make him into a Vigilante called "The Lawman." The Lawman is someone who is trying to give criminals a chance to confess to their crimes, and if they don't... They get killed. I play "The Lawman" in the film and this character has a small scene that's setting up something bigger for "The Challenger 4 & 5."

            On July 22nd 2013, it was the last day of filming for "The Challenger 2:UNLIMITED" and it was the first day of filming for "The Challenger 3." We filmed a flashback scene where, The Challenger slams Walker into a wall and gives him a warning. Walkers role in this film is to play a villain who has been defeated and depressed and its the Don's role to give him the confidence to take down "The challenger" once again.  On August 5th, we filmed our opening scene of the film with a motorcycle. This scene features james DinElla as Mr.V. Frank Pacitto doubled as Sledge on the bike. One of our most iconic shots in this scene was when Mr. V came out of the shadows.Our next filming day was our toughest day on set. It was Mike Covello's day to shine in his role as Captain Mora. This scene was somewhat of a comedic scene where Sledge has to pick up the captain of the LAPD and bring him to work. Mora's job in this scene is to remind Sledge that he has to take down "The Challenger." There was a tone of bloopers in this scene. Mike Covello, due to his heavy Italian accent has a hard time saying some of the words. But after two hours of filming, we got through it and got a good light hearted scene out of it.

            Then on August 10th, we filmed our best scene yet. I call this scene the disappearing act. Dino Mazza reprised his role as Ricci, the head of the mafia. The scene starts off with Ricci pulling at the chains from which "The Challenger" escaped from in the second film. Dino pulled so hard on the chains that he broke the shelf it was hanging on (See our bloopers for details). It was one of the funniest bloopers we had. Onto the scene. Aramis Pacitto once again acting as "The Challenger" gives Ricci a warning to stay on the straight and narrow. Anthony Digiovanni returned for this scene as Baily. He runs in and gets shot. By the time Ricci looks back, The Challenger is gone. The next day, Aramis and I filmed our first ever scene in what we call the Cellar. The Cellar is where Sledge & Gunnerson do their workouts and their training.  In those scenes we show, Gunnerson boxing, Sledge doing cinder block push ups, pull ups and target practice.

        On August 18th, we filmed the final scene of the movie where Sledge & Gunnerson pay their respects to Amanda Sledge (Who got murdered by Ricci). After that scene we took a week off to continue filming "Man Of War." Then on August 26, we got back to work on "The Challenger" and we filmed a scene featuring Mikayla Pacitto as Barbra. Barabra is a character who works for big criminal enterprise which is not explored during the film. She works for a man called "The Ring Lord." The Ring Lord will appear in "The Challenger 4." Mikayla's scene was tough because she seemed a little nervous while acting with Chika Mafina (Walker). So it took over a hour for her to get it right, but just like Mike's scenes it turned out good at the end. Our next filming day was September 3rd. We filmed the final battle between The Challenger, Ricci & Walker. This is when you see Walker return with the confidence he had in "The Challenger 2." He nearly kills Sledge, but Ricci gets in the way and spoils the party.

      Ricci ends up getting arrested and Walker has now turned on him. What will this lead to in the future? Time will tell... With less than a month until "Man Of War" gets released, we once again took a break from "The Challenger" to finish that film off. A month after filming the Ricci scenes we filmed the debut scene of The Lawman... This scene is just a basic introduction to a new character that will be a main role in future films. Two days later it was the last day of filming for "The Challenger 3." It was Sledge, a green beret VS Wolf, a Mercenary. Darius Ban played Wolf in a epic fight scene that we believe was our best fight scene in all of our films. It was Bourne style camera work on that scene. After that it was onto post production. Aramis Pacitto edited everything and released the film on November 15th ( 1 month early.)

      So whats in store for the future of "The Challenger" you ask? Well "The Challenger 4" has begun filming and all I can tell you is that Lucas Wolf is the major villain and the Lawman's identity will be revealed. I can also tell you that "The Challenger 4" & "The Challenger 5" are continuous stories that conclude our Film series at 5 films. "A hero will fall." Who will it be and when? "The Challenger 4:urban Legend" will be released in the summer of 2014 and "The Challenger 5: Dark Triad" will be released in the winter of 2014.


     - Andrew Di Pardo

Soundtrack for "The Challenger 3" provided by the Audio Network & Duran Duran



 

A Monologue by Rick Sledge (THE CHALLENGER)

     My names Rick Sledge… I was recruited to fight in the Iraq war in 2003. I was a green beret. I risked my life for the sake of others. Lucas Wolf was a mercenary in the war, and he held a crate that contained a weapon with no serial number on it. It was untackable. Wolf is a killer and I couldn’t let him keep the crate. I kept thinking to myself, “Imagine what would happen after the war if Wolf had this gun. Many people would die because I gave it up.” I didn’t want that kind of blood on my hands. When I made it back to LA in 2005, I had a hard time adjusting to life behind the warzone. That’s when the Captain of the LAPD approached me with a job. He wanted me to become a detective and work alongside Tom McCoy. I hesitated at first, but thanks to the help of my girlfriend, Brooklyn, I decided to take the job.

     For years I worked with McCoy, until one day when Lucas Wolf came after me. He wanted the crate back so he could do the crime without doing the time. Wolf then kidnapped both my girlfriend and my trusty partner and threatened to murder them. I was a man who always followed the law by the book. Until that day. I managed to reach Wolf and take down his men. But then…Then… He killed them. He crossed the line and I was angry. So I grabbed him by the throat and held him over the building. He begged for his life, saying that I couldn’t kill him because I was a cop. I didn’t care about the law at that moment, all I cared about was justice and revenge. So I threw him off the building. I though he was dead. But his body was never found. That moment was the day that I became “THE CHALLENGER.”

I now followed my own rules… “If you’re Bad… You’re Dead.” I didn’t let any criminals get in my way. I gave criminals a chance to go to prison. But if they challenged me… I fired back. I don’t believe in warrants… I believe that “Proof is overrated.” If you know where the criminal is and what he’s done, why do you need warrants? Because a book says so? I don’t think so. I still am a man of the law, but in a different way. Justice can be defined in many ways. The criminal doesn’t have to be alive for justice to be served. Most of the time they are better off dead. The Challenger has no rules, no limitations. That’s why the criminals fear me. They don’t know what I will do next.

- Rick Sledge (The Challenger) Monologue was written by Andrew Di Pardo

PS: This monologue does not connect to "The Challenger 3:Urban Outlaw (Which premiers on December 6th)"

MAN OF WAR - July to September 2013

         Filming for "MAN OF WAR" began during the "The Challenger:Unlimited" sessions in July of this year when Aramis Pacitto went on a trip to Muskoka, Ontario. The basic story of "Man of War" is: "The CIA needs someone with experience to handle their latest assignment... So they go on the hunt for a former CIA operative who is 41 years old, retired but not dead. He is as deadly as they come. His name is: James Ryan AKA Colt." On July 1st (Canada day), Aramis Pacitto began acting for the first time as James Ryan in a flash back scene, where Ryan says his famous line "I may be retired but I'm not dead." Since I didn't go with Aramis on that trip, I was unable to watch the scene live. But a day after it was filmed and edited I got a email from Aramis with the scene attached. That was all that was filmed in July, next was in August when Aramis and his family went to Miami, Florida. Aramis Pacitto got to drive the new Lamborghini Avantor for a scene at the end of Man Of War. 

       "It's like being in the cockpit of a stealth jet- what a rush - I don't no how I'm gonna go back," Aramis said about his experience driving the Lamborghini. Aramis and his camera crew, Delaina, Mikayla & Frank Pacitto went on a long journey in Miami to film the cinematic parts of the story. They filmed everything you  can imagine to make this film great, the only thing they were missing was the action and the introduction of the head of the CIA, Derek played by Angelo Di Pardo and Faye La Perla played by Angela Di Pardo... So that's where I come in. On

September 6th 2013, It was day 1 on the Man Of War set for me and I had to act, film & direct. It was a tough 4 hour shoot with Chika Mafiana (famous for playing Walker in "The Challenger 2") as Agent Johnathon and Aramis Pacitto as James Ryan. Before I get to the filming aspect, I forgot to mention that I was also the hair designer for the day. I had to put the gray in Aramis Pacitto's hair to make him look 41 and that took a good 20 minutes to get it perfect.

         Once the hair issue was resolved, it was time for me to act as Doctor Stoaks in the first scene of the film. So I began to run through the bushes in the forest and Aramis was the cameraman and he followed behind me, but I was so fast that I lost the cameraman and we had to do it again. I was like "THE FLASH" in that take. So after Aramis found a way to keep up with me I had to pretend to get shot and fall off the cliff. I did and it looks like I may have died, but rest assured it was only acting. Next I had to get back behind the camera and film the rest of the scene with Chika and Aramis. Chika was once again great, he was not playing Walker for the first time and was able to adjust like a snap of the finger. As for Aramis, he was also great, he pulled off playing a 41 year old like no 21 year old has done before.

        Our next filming day was September 8th with Angelo Di Pardo as CIA boss, Derek, Angela Di Pardo as Faye La Perla, me as "The man at the bar" & Aramis Pacitto as James Ryan. Angela and Angelo had instant chemistry when they were acting in their respected roles at the time. Maybe its because they're married... But it looked professionally done and we had a lot of bloopers that will be released on the DVD... DVD for us means Youtube, since we don't have the funding from our $0 production to make a real DVD. There was one blooper for me that stuck out and that was when Angelo forgot a line and sang a line from one of Duran Duran's songs called "My Own Way." After that scene was complete, Angelo's work was done, but Angela and Aramis still had a scene to do.

        It was a scene that was supposed to take place at 12am, but instead we filmed it at 10am and made it look like night... We have a lot of tricks up our sleeves. Everything went well in that scene except when Angela took a page out of the "Young and the restless" and grabbed Aramis's arm and in dramatic

Sop-opera type style and said "Denise - VAN - HOSE." But aside from that, the scene was a good dramatic scene. Next on our to do list was the final scene on our list, the ally scene with Anthony Digiovanni and Matthew Quan-Yin. Those two were playing 2 hoodlums that thought they were going to steal some old mans money, but they ended up running into James Ryan who beat the living daylights out of them with a crowbar and his Colt gun. We filmed that scene in public with weapons and this time we didn't get arrested... Thank God. "Man of War" will be released on October 4th.

- Andrew Di Pardo

PS: Aramis Pacitto himself will be writing a post on his experience next week.

THE CHALLENGER 2:UNLIMITED - February to August 2013

                    In early February, Aramis Pacitto and I decided that we would do a sequel to "The Challenger - Short Film." We had a few variations of the story, but after several re-writes we decided that we wanted to take "The Challenger" film series in a totally different direction than the first one. "The Challenger" is meant to be a drama not a comedy and we wanted to make sure that we really showed that in the second one... Because face it, the first Challenger was a better comedy than both our "Life Is hell" films. So we continued to talk about a interesting and dramatic (but not over the top) story. We looked back at the scrapped variations of "The Challenger 2" and pulled ideas from it and shaped it into something we could use.  Our main story idea that we had in those scripts was that Ricci JR was out for revenge against Sledge for the murder of his father... We kept that idea and decided that Ricci would hire a hitman. But who is this hitman? Aramis came up with a interesting name for the hitman, Walker.

        Then we thought about how this character would be... We wanted him to be a tough guy who could pretty much kill Sledge by himself.  Aramis's main goal for this film was to show the difference between Sledge as the vigilante known as "The Challenger" & Sledge as a cop. As for my goal... I wanted to move my character, Gunnerson away from his comedic/goofy version that we saw in the first one to more of a serious cop. Aramis also wanted to show Mora in this film apposed to me doing the sound over voice like in the first one...I was fired. But before we got to who would play who, we needed a script...Aramis insisted on writing it on his own and by the end of March we had a script ready to go. Our next step was casting... We casted Dino Mazza as Antonio Ricci JR, Mike Covello as Mora, Chika Mafina as Walker and a few more people for minor roles.

         By April 28th we were ready to film. The first scene we filmed was the cold open with Matthew Quan Yin & Pranavan Seleve. They both had to play 3 different people each. But since Sledge was taking them on one by one, we were able to pull it off. I was behind the camera for this scene.The scene was a big action scene and it took 5 hours to film and by the time it was done and edited we thought to ourselves, "Wow, this is way better than The Challenger One." We believed it was the best scene we ever filmed, but little did we know that it was just going to get better. The next thing we filmed was "The hostage situation" scene on May 5th. James Dinella starred in the scene as Enzo (Hostage taker) along with Anthony Digiovanni as Baily. This is the scene where Sledge gets taken for the first time by Baily. Later that day we also filmed scene 5, where Gunnerson finds Sledges Gun and we also filmed Gunnerson on the phone with Mora by the pond.

       On May 19th it was the day where we were going to debut Mike Covello as Mora with a Lamborghini. In the script this scene was supposed to be a serious scene, but once we let Mike do improve it ended up becoming a funny scene. Thats fine, there's always room for comedy in drama shows. Mike was good, I will always remember filming that scene... Especially since Mike put his reading glasses under his sun glasses, a moment Aramis and I refer to as the "double glasses" scene. Mike was good and funny which works for the Mora we are displaying in this film. The scene was basically about Mora telling Sledge about Ricci and that the Challenger vigilante is a killer. You guys can expect to see more of Mike in "The Challenger 3." On May 27th, it was Gunnersons turn to become the Vigilante. I acted as Gunnerson on the edge as he was out looking for Sledge. A week later, it was the highlight of filming... Chika Mafiana as Walker. This scene we have Sledge chained to the wall and Walker is torturing him and killing people in front of him. Chikas performance in that scene was some of the best acting I've ever seen. He reminded me of Django mixed with the Joker from Batman.

          After that scene we took a week off and got prepared to film the final battle between Walker and Sledge on June 17th. This scene just like the prologue took a while because it was a big action packed battle. Chika and Aramis were both great in that scene, but I can't revel much about the content at the moment... All I will say is that its a great ending to "The Challenger 2" that will set up "The Challenger 3" in a way. On June 25th we were back and filming this time with Dino Mazza as Ricci along with Chika Mafiana and Angelo Di Pardo as Provinzano.This scene introduces the new mafia don, Antonio Ricci Junior... But throughout the film he's refereed to as just Ricci. Dino pulled off the mob boss in a Elias (from Person of Interest)/ Tony Soprano fashion that was believable for this kind of movie. After completing the filming for that scene, Aramis went on vacation to Miami to film most of  the first installment of our new film series titled "Man Of War" which will debut in October.

     When he got back on July 14th we filmed a scene where Baily (Anthony Digiovanni) kidnapped Sledge and tied him up with twist ties in the middle of nowhere... My favorite moment of that scene is while Baily's tying up Sledge, Sledge looks to the camera with a look that says, "is this guy serious?" After completing that scene we had just two more scene to film. We started with Walker, where  he introduces himself to Sledge and the last scene we filmed was on July 28th with Sledge and Gunnerson driving to the mansion in the dodge Charger. On that day we also began filming "The Challenger 3," but the details of that story will remain unknown for now.... Filming for "The Challenger 2" is done, editing is done, all is left is to release it at 12:01am on Sunday August 8th. This film is the best film we've done so far and it's only getting better.

- Andrew Di Pardo

THE CHALLENGER 2 - CAST: 
Aramis Neal Pacitto (Jim Caviezel look a like) as Detective Rick Sledge / The Challenger Andrew Di Pardo as Gunnerson Mike Covello as Mora Chika Mafiana as Walker Dino Mazza as Ricci Angelo Di Pardo as Provinzano Mikayla pacitto as The Hostage James DiNella as Enzo Anthony Digiovanni as Clifton Baily Matthew Quan Yin as Thug 1 Pranavan Selve as Thug 2

THE CHALLENGER 2,3,4 & 5 TO CONTINUE ONE BIG STORY ARCH WITH MANY TWISTS & TURNS

         With "The Challenger 2" set for release in late July the creators/actors/Filmer's & directors, Andrew Di Pardo and Aramis Neal Pacitto have decided to make plans for the future. They already wrote the script to "The Challenger 3" which takes place 5 years after "The Challenger 2," with characters like Ricci and Walker making their return. Towards the end of the third one a new twist in the "Challenger legacy" had developed with Ricci and Walker having their own side story. What the story for the third film is will not be announced until later this year. But what I can tell you is that there is a guarantee of at least 5 Challenger films and films 2 to 5 will all continue each other. Expect the 5th film to have a epic conclusion to the series.

       But for now, "The Challenger 2:Unlimited" has to be completed filming, which were about 80% done and then upon completion we will start planning for the filming of the third one. "The Challenger 3" will most likely begin filming in August of this year or sometime in March of 2014. But a 2014 release date is a guarantee and believe me, when you watch "The Challenger 2" you will want to see more of Sledge.

- Andrew Di Pardo

Release dates for our upcoming "Challenger films":

 THE CHALLENGER 2:UNLIMITED - July 2013 
 THE CHALLENGER 3 - SUMMER 2014 
THE CHALLENGER 4 - WINTER 2014 OR SUMMER 2015 
THE CHALLENGER 5 - 2015 OR 2016

FILMING "LIFE IS HELL 2: THE INJURED MAN" - April 2013

Tony plays himself in "Life Is Hell 2"

 
      There was a time, when Aramis and I thought making a "Life is Hell" short film wasn't possible. But we put together a script and made one. It wasn't exactly down to concept, based on the fact that we only had 2 actors, but we thought it was close enough. We didn't think that we could do better... But ladies and gentlemen when we sat down and put together a "Life Is Hell 2" script we realized that we were wrong. It all started on April 2nd when we began to write the script. In the first "Life Is Hell" film we never concluded the "Rear Window" spoof and the escape of Tony's father SACKO, so we decided what better place to pick up the story than where we left off. Aramis already filmed a few shots of Tony and edited them with voice over (as seen in the "Life Is Hell - Short Film" after credit scene) and that's where it began.

      Then a few days later we filmed the follow up scene with me playing a crazy version of myself, spying on the old women who my character suspects is killing people and not just people in general, Gigolos to be specific. In the background you hear Almorindo and Gigi arguing along with an intercut scene where you see the real Almorindo washing dishes and telling Gigi to shut up. We filmed a few more scenes that day that would later have to be re-shot due to some angle issues and that we had a new idea for where my character could take a turn for the worse. Charlie Sheen meltdown ( or as Sheen calls it "Melt-forward) Style. That role for me was the funnest and most interesting role for me to play. I went for playing a crazy guy, to someone even nuttier and who tends to use the words "Self Sufficient" and "Winner" a lot.

"007"

     Another interesting part of my character in the film is that he wears a white bandana like Rambo or Simon Le Bon from 1982 (Duran Duran). Another interesting part of the plot is when I go behind the camera to film Aramis Neal Pacitto as Aramis Spear as he has to sneak into the old womens house. Aramis was wearing his  007 "Skyfall" getup for this film (grey suit) and since our BB gun was confiscated by the cops Aramis had to use Sledges gun. Back to the story, Spear sneaks into the house looks around and eventually would get tied to a chair by the owner of the house. That leads into our next spoof from the movie "Oblivion." Its completely pitch black and all of a sudden a man wearing goggles, a  cowboy hat and a cigar lights a match and says "So you're trying to kill me boy." My character does the unspeakable to try to save Aramis and it involves leaving his house.
   
         Aramis was the main cameraman in this film as he filmed the real Tony Risi who will be playing himself in this film on the hunt for his father Sacko and he filmed all the shots of me and him together. Tony Risi is a great addition to this film as we have funny scenes with him riding on his bike and stealing things from Aramis's house and so on. The only problem with Tony is that he wouldn't say any lines so I had to dubbed him. Another key part of this film is that you will see Sacko (played by Aramis) as he looks for revenge against Tony. Our soundtrack for this film will not be by Duran Duran this time, it will be by Adele. The most important this about this "Short Film" is that its not short. Its a full length 22 minute episode and all of you can watch it when it premiers next week on Youtube. Aramis calls it "Laugh out loud" comedy.

Watch "Life is Hell 2: The Injured Man" on May 1st via Youtube.

-Andrew Di Pardo

LIFE IS HELL SHORT FILM EXPERIENCE - March 2013

TORONTO,O.N-  On March 10th 2013, Aramis Neal Pacitto and I began to write a script for a "Life Is Hell" short film The script was done by the 12th and filming began on the 13th. We picked our theme and it was a song by Duran Duran called Virus and Aramis is working on a new version of the song.The first scene we filmed was THE COLD OPEN scene with a spoof on "Rear Window." Its a funny scene that you really have to see to understand. But its basically Andrew and Aramis sitting down in front of a window with Nikon cameras with 240 mm zoom lenses. Andrew claims that an elderly women has different men over every night and that she kills them. Meanwhile, Almorindo and Gigi argue in the background over dishes. Aramis did the voice for Al and I did the voice for Gigi.

      The next scene on our list was a scene where Almorindo (Aramis), opens up the blinds in the bedroom and begins to yell at his neighbor who is in the process of cutting his tomato plants. Last on our list for the day was filming a scene where I played Tony Rissi. The filming process took about 4 hours to film. Our next filming day was on Sunday March 17th. We were filming the action part of "Life Is Hell, AKA "Life Will Be Hell." Bruno Sepe was playing Cutter and Aramis Neal Pacitto was playing Aramis Spear. We filmed for about a hour and a half and after Aramis edited the scene we realized that Bruno was not going to work as Cutter. He was playing more of a traitor type of character so we made him the handler.

       So we ended up needing an extra day of filming (which was on March 21st 2013 at Yorkdale Mall). So we re-wrote the final scene and made it be Spear on the phone with a British version of Cutter. This is where it gets interesting. There was a part of the scene where Spear pulls out his gun. Someone called 9-1-1 to report it and next thing you know, the cops were following us. They followed us all the way from Yorkdale mall to my street. Then 5 cop cars swarmed all around us! 15 cops pulled out their guns and said "Put your hands up!" They didn't notice that I was in the car so I leaned forward and said, "Do I have to put my hands up to?" They said yes and told me to lean back. We ended up going to the police station for possession of weapons. Soon after, they realized that arresting us was a waste of time because we only had a BB-Gun. The charges were dropped.

       So after sitting in a cell for 3 hours we were released and now were done filming. To top off the day when we went back to get the car, the seats were ripped out and Aramis's sun glasses were in the trunk along with one of our zoom lenses and not to mention that we ended up on the 6:00 news. It was an experience that we will never forget. The "Life Is Hell- Short Film," will be released next week.

- Andrew Di Pardo

THE CHALLENGER (Short Film) - December 2012 to January 2013

           Over the years Aramis and I have always thought about the possibilities of doing a short film for our shows. We talked quite often about doing a "Life Is Hell" short film but we soon realized that without pro actors it wouldn't do the  people that the shows based off justice. The idea was ultimately scrapped. But then when "The Challenger" was created in early 2012, it opened a new door for us and since it wasn't based off real people, it was a lot easier to do and easier to make it believable.

        The idea to do a short film for this show came to us in August. But we decided not to go through with it until December 13th. On that day I looked at the pilot that Aramis wrote and took some scenes that I could see working in a cut down version of the show and put it into a script for the short film. Then the over the next couple of days Aramis and I finished the script and we were ready to go. We casted Anthony Digiovanni as Mafioso 1 and Dario Nouri Nejad as the hitman and Mafioso 2. Then we added ourselves into the mix with Aramis Pacitto as Detective Rick Sledge and me as assistant Ronny Gunnerson.  We chose the theme music right away, we chose a untitled and unreleased Duran Duran instrumental from 1989. There was even a time when we were considering using that music for the action part of "Life Is Hell" (AKA "Life Will be Hell).


                  The next step was Storyboards... Aramis took care of that and our next step was filming.The first shot we filmed was Scene 3 on December 19th, that was when Gunnerson meets Sledge. The next scene we filmed was the Cold Open scene in the Sheppard plaza on the 21st, where the Crazy Christmas robber (AKA me), ran out of the bank into a dark ally where he would get killed by Sledge. Anthony came in and filmed what we like to call, a scene that should have been left out. I think it should have been left out because it didn't go with the flow of the film. Aramis agrees and regrets his decision to keep it in the film.

        Anthony was supposed to come back for another scene but the next scene we were filming was on Christmas eve and he couldn't make it, so that's when I put on the ski mask for another scene to stand in as Mafioso 2. The other member that cancelled last second was Dario, due to reasons we can't disclose. So I called Matthew Quan Yin at about 11:00 PM and he agreed and the film went on. Our best decision in casting was to bring in Darius Ban (who was standing in for Dario) as the Hitman. Darius portrayed the role better than we thought and we are even considering bringing him back into the series as another villain, that is if we do a second Challenger. Another good piece that we added was a Frank Pacittio cameo as Mafia boss Ricci in the after credit scene.

      Other good additions to our film was Mikayla Pacittio as Camera women for scene 1 and 3 along with Angelo Di Pardo as camera man and director for scenes 4 and 7. Aramis and I even had to step behind the camera for a few scenes. A good thing to know about the filming in this film is that all the scenes where it was Sledge and no one else, that was filmed by Aramis himself.The editing for the film was done by Aramis Pacitto and it was completed on New Years and was released on Youtube on January 6th.

The main reason reason why we decided to do a short film for "The Challenger" was so that networks can see our concept of what could be a 40 minute Drama series.

- Andrew Di Pardo

THE CREATION OF "The Challenger" - JANUARY 2012

             In early January 2012, the creation of the Challenger began just as Life Is Hell began and that was by watching TV.  Aramis Pacitto spoke to me one night about how all cop shows such as all the CSI, Rookie blue, Flashpoint and more, are all the same type of shows with different characters and the same story over and over again. Aramis and I felt that cop shows were done to death. "Andrew you know what we should do?," Aramis told me. "We should do a new type of cop show with, get this, a cop that stands for law and order and will do anything to stop criminals, even if it means to kill them." I liked the idea and he ran with it. He came up with the main character, who is a 6 foot 3 and was an ex-Green Beret who had a type of personality like Clint Eastwood from Dirty Harry and Jack Reacher from the novels. This characters name is Rick Sledge.

            The boss for Sledge was named Captain Mora. Mora is an elderly man who's first name isn't known (for now), and hes been in the force for his entire life and knows the ins and outs of the industry. Sledge is often question about his morals by Captain Mora due to the fact that Sledge takes the law into his own hands.

         Aramis had a first name for Sledges asssistant, Ronnie, but he didn't have a last name. Then while watching the Toronto Maple Leafs versus the Montreal Canadiens, we came up with a name based off of the Leafs defenseman named Gunnerson. We both liked the name and there he was Ronnie Gunnersson. "Ronny Gunnerson has just been newly promoted from Officer to Detective, he is Capt. Mora's solution to try and keep Sledge on the straight and narrow line of the law,"it says in The Challengers Synopsis. The comedic aspect is where I shed my light on the story especially when it comes to Sledges neighbours, Mr. & Mrs Johnson. With there one way glass and there tendency to spy on Sledge and watch his every move. They often complain about how Sledge acts and parks and they aren't afraid to call the cops on him. But the cops could care less about the complaints.

        That's all I'm willing to tell you for now. But be sure to watch our upcoming short Film on "The Challenger" Starring Aramis Pacitto as Rick Sledge and Andrew Di Pardo as Ronnie Gunnerson. Filming for the short film begins tomorrow and the final product will be released sometime next year.

Andrew Di Pardo

STORIES & TIPS FROM TONY "the big man" RISI

Tony Risi & Aramis Pacitto from the feature film: "THE MAN WITH NO BRAIN"

"THE GREAT TORONTO TENNIS MATCH!"

by Tony Rockin Risi on Monday, April 16, 2012 at 6:26pm ·

I was walking downtown,when I noticed a Tennis match was going on. Thank God!!!!!!!!!!! I brought my Racquet! For reasons I will not disclose.

SO PICTURE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The guy was just about to serve until I stepped on the court and said: "My name is Tony Risi. And i'm here to win!"

So it was me verses the lot of'em!
 i lost.

But I left with my head held high, with a black eye and an extra racket.

If your interested in a racquet let me know.

"Its Just Big Man Talk"

by Tony Rockin Risi on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at 11:52pm ·

I went to the supper market today and saw my friend joe. Then we went to a homeless shelter and had free food.


IT WAS HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They gave you such small plates! It was ridiculous.

 "10 Life Lessons from the Big Man:"
1) Working hard is over-rated.
2) Bald is the new Cool.
3) If you think you can, you probably can't.
4) Crazy people are normal too.
5) Scales aren't indestructible.
6) Candy should be the 7th food group.
7) If you're dancing, its because you've have too much to drink, why stop now?
8) I'm big, bald, got glasses and have no job or prospects, but still as cool as the underside of a pillow.
9) A meal isn't complete without breakfast.
10) It takes too long to write 10 rules.

" TROUBLE AT THE BANK!"
 So I was walking down the street and I hear alarm bells, I rush to the scene. I see a crook running for it with bags of cash, stumbling down the street he could hardly run!
I took to my heels, I caught the guy....

And asked him to help carry the cash!

I ran the opposite way, I got all the cash in the world! 

 New socks here I come!!! HE HE!

"Burning in Hell" by Andrew Di Pardo

"Life Is Hell" By Andrew Di Pardo

"This ain't a Logo" by Andrew Di Pardo

THE CREATION OF THE LOGOS

"The Classic"  by Andrew Di Pardo

           In 2009, while working on the early drafts of the Pilot, I decided that we should make a logo. I had this vision of our opening title sequence where fire would go across the screen like Ghost Rider on a bike and then light up like a match that says "LIFE IS HELL." So with that vision I told Aramis about the idea and he decided that he could make the logo on a business card program. So with his prototype that looked like a business rather than a show, I added fire all around the wording, at the top, the bottom, the sides, anywhere you could think of. It came out exactly the way I wanted it to. Aramis agreed at the time, but as of late hes had a change of heart.

"Hell in Heaven" by Andrew Di Pardo & Aramis Pacitto

       So in September 2012, with that change of heart, we decided to do many different variations of the logo. The first new logo was done by me, instead of Fire around the wording I had overcast clouds. But we decided after some input from my father that we should not have the creators names in the logo. So we re-did the overcast clouding and we still weren't satisfied. So we kept the cloud concept and added fire at the beginning and end of the logo. It became a fan favourite on Facebook. But Aramis wanted to do more. So we did, we did some with fire all around the wording and we did some with just the writing. The one with just the writing was made by Aramis its his personal favourite.As for the Life Will be Hell logos, those were all created by Aramis Pacitto. So I think I'll leave it to Aramis to talk about them.

- Andrew Di Pardo

"The New One" By Aramis Pacitto

"Death Trap" By Andrew Di Pardo & Aramis Pacitto

"Into the Fire" By Aramis Pacitto & Andrew Di Pardo

"Keeping it Simple (1)" By Andrew Di Pardo

     

"Keeping it Simple (2)" By Aramis Pacitto

"Life Will Be Hell" By Aramis Pacitto

"The New One" By Aramis Pacitto

"The Classic" By Aramis Pacitto