NONPLUSSED

At the time of writing this short I was more interested in creating a deeply dramatic moment between two characters rather than a clever ah-ha moment that most short films seem to have. Nonplussed is a dramatic scene study that explores love, truth, suffering, coming to terms with one’s mortality, and the consequences of our actions. Veering away from multiple locations, I chose to keep my actors stationary. I never wanted them to leave the car. To be able to escape facing each other. I never wanted them to explore anything other than the subtext of the emotional wounds they both harbored. This was a scene for my actors to push their emotional limits of trying to draw out from their counterpart what neither of them wanted or say.

Starring Kevin Rahm (Mad Men) and Paula Malcomson (Deadwood)