Leroy’s passion to become an Actor and filmmaker stemmed from his years performing as a professional wrestler, having competed in the WWE Smackdown event in 2008 and setting a Guinness World Record for the most choke slams in a minute.
After spending a short time as a film extra which gave him real experience on large complex sets and an insight into the number of people it took to make a film, Leroy also caught the acting bug and pursued further roles as an actor
His first experience putting together a project came in the shape of an online ghost hunting web series called Paranormal GI, which Leroy says taught him the important quality of ‘patience’ as a result of having to edit a finished project from so many hours of footage.
In 2014, Leroy set up his own production company ‘Nocturnal Pictures’ with producer partner Chloe Chudasama.
Keen to make a big impact with his first project under ‘Nocturnal Pictures’ Leroy tapped into the popular trend of the ‘Fan Film’ and set about developing a short film based on the hit video game Max Payne.
Max Payne Retribution, a 43 minute short film has since gone on to win ‘Best Fan Film’ at the Oniros Film Awards and has been hailed by critics, who admired the films heart, to being compared to the $35,000,000 studio adaptation starring Mark Wahlberg.
Leroy commented on the experience and provided helpful advice to students: “Max Payne took around 2 years to develop and was in a sense my film school. My drive in this industry is to always leave a mark on all of the work that I do so that the work can stand the test of time.
“Young filmmakers should always be aware that this is a very collaborative industry, no one is better than anyone else as on any film set, we are all in it together. It’s important to always follow your heart and do what you love doing.”
SAE Digital Film Production student Chris Cosby said: “I enjoyed finding out about the importance of being professional in the industry and having passion for the project regardless of how large or small the production is. Leroy was very enthusiastic and concise in his inspirational delivery of advice to us all.”
Next up for Leroy and Nocturnal Pictures is a short horror called ‘Deadzone’ which he hopes to develop into a possible TV series, and of course the next big project which is in development ‘Facility 7’ which will be Leroy’s first feature film.
Photo credit: SAE Digital Film Production student Chris Cosby
