Short Film

Christopher Bradley's experience as an actor helped him direct his short film, The Violation.

By Neil Cohen

Christopher Bradley

Short Subjects

Christopher Bradley worked with young actors for his short film The Violation

Christopher Bradley's experience as an actor has taught him how to be a director.

"I had so many horrible experiences as an actor working with different directors. I've become very good at knowing what not to do and what to do to make actors feel safe and taken care of," Bradley said.

"I always let the actors know when they were doing what they needed to do," he said. "Actors always tend to think the worst (about their performances)."

The local actor/filmmaker worked with young actors for his short film, The Violation, which will be screened during the Desperado LGBT Film Festival.

The film tells the story of Mickey, a 15-year-old boy, who has a crush on Oscar, the 17-year-old boy next door. Oscar is kind of a pig, and Mickey spies on him as the older boy fondles a pillow figure he made and dressed with a stolen swimsuit belonging to Mickey's pretty sister.

Oscar's snobby mom, played by Sordid Lives' Beth Grant, asks Mickey to watch their house while they attend a wedding. It gives Mickey the chance to sneak into Oscar's room and do a little fantasy objectifying of his own. When Oscar and his mom arrive home ahead of schedule, they are in for an awkward surprise!

Bradley gets a great performance from Slade Pearce as Mickey, who is asked to play some pretty complex gay emotions.

Slade Pearce "He was a dream," Bradley said, adding that Pearce fought for the part and came into production with "major homework on the role." Bradley said he didn't have a difficult time directing Pearce to do the awkward things required in the film.

The film screened last summer at Outfest, the LGBT film festival in Los Angeles, and in the fall at Mesa's now-closed Royale Theatre.

"At Outfest, they put The Violation with a number of very strange, very hyper-sexualized films, so I sometimes wonder if I have a false sense of how normal I am," Bradley said. "I think the film might be more disturbing that I thought it was."

Bradley said the film has had a strong response. "People are getting the message about the double standard between ‘gay' and ‘straight' and also the examination of people dehumanizing each other and using each other and abusing each other," he said. "There's a little bit of a class exploration in that, too," since Oscar's family is rich and somehow feel entitled to treat Mickey's family as lesser people.

Bradley has had roles in movies, including Leather Jacket Love Story, An Early Frost and Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss. For the past four years, he's taught screenwriting at Arizona State University.

"I have very devoted students who take my classes over and over again, and I attribute that to the fact that I don't try to change their stories," Bradley said. "I don't tell them what to write and I don't pass judgment on the subject matter that they choose."

He said hat he does challenge students to examine what they are saying with their screenplays about women, or ethnic minorities, for example.

The Violation Bradley said he sees many student scripts with gay themes or characters. He said today's students "don't break the world down into gay and straight the way that I have in my life. The definition is much more liquid and changeable and I find it fascinating. I think that it will make for much happier lives for gay people and for straight people."

Bradley is also acting in The Shadow Box, which runs through Jan. 29 at Theatre Artists Studio in Scottsdale. -E

The Violation will be screened at the Desperado Film Festival as part of a package of short films at 1 p.m. Jan. 28. Bradley will appear for a question and answer session after the screening.