When The Actor Inspired Chaos and Bloodshed

Nicholas Litchfield

It’s 1996, and handsome American actor Dominic Graves, now 31 years old, hasn’t lived up to his insulting agent’s lofty expectations.

Bernie Finkelman, possibly the meanest acting agent in Los Angeles, often tells his least favourite client that he has ‘a great set of teeth and a smile that might lure a casting director to the couch.’ But despite Bernie’s optimism, film and TV roles have dried up, leaving Dominic only able to land local TV commercials.

Everything changes when a renowned South American film director approaches Bernie, seeking Dominic for the coveted lead role in his gritty exploitation film, A Bullet for Silver Face. Dominic’s dreams of stardom are finally within reach... he just has to stay focused and professional, keep his libido in check, and avoid antagonising the notoriously volatile director. Fans of edge-of-the-seat thrillers filled with exotic settings, non-stop action, and a cast of ambitious artistes battling fears, egos, insecurities, and daily disasters, will relish Nicholas Litchfield’s pulse-pounding novel, When The Actor Inspired Chaos and Bloodshed.

Litchfield (pictured left), a British-born journalist and magazine editor living in Western New York, is a regular crime and thriller book critic who has contributed to more than twenty volumes of classic noir and mystery novels from the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. This is his second international thriller and features a preposterously good-looking and unapologetic rogue whose quest for stardom is just as disastrous and inept as his hammy acting.

Buoyed by his agent’s belief that this movie role will lead to fame, fortune, and accolades, Dominic travels to Montevideo in Uruguay, eager to embark on his journey towards acting immortality.

But his days on the film set quickly become a chaotic blur of frantic activity which intensifies with every scene. Mornings are brutal, filled with endless retakes, and afternoons stretch into the night. His off-camera romance with his striking co-star Sofía Prodova, whose personality swings between sexual insatiability and explosive contempt, is equally

punishing. Unable to resist Dominic, the actress loosens her ‘sexual bond’ with the director to satisfy her cravings, leading to jealousy, anger, and discomfort among her lovers.

Meanwhile, the psychopathic director, Ignacio Martinez, is always inclined to heap more danger on his actors and production crew. His obsession with realism overshadows any concern for safety. ‘Death on a film set often turns a decent performance into a legendary one,’ he tells Dominic, somehow believing this might comfort the worried actor.

As tensions escalate and the pressure to finish the film mounts, Dominic realises that his desires and ambitions might be steering him toward disappointment and failure. Anger, frustration, obsession, and power dynamics rip through the production like an earthquake, causing Dominic’s dreams to unravel rapidly. He starts to fear that this disastrous film – the ‘stinker of all stinkers’ – could become ‘the tombstone in his career.’ Little does he know how significant the impact of this small production will be on the film industry...

Litchfield’s intense and topical drama sizzles like charred meat over hot coals, eventually erupting into a massive blaze of mesmerising chaos. Amidst the thrills and spills, readers encounter a cast of well-defined characters whose actions and voices manage to rise above the risible film script.

When The Actor Inspired Chaos and Bloodshed offers a suspense-filled and yet humorous look at the stressful demands of film-making through the lens of fame-hungry artistes, zealous directors, and everyone caught in the crossfire. It’s a red-hot treat for book lovers looking for a refreshingly different take on the international thriller.

Pulsating with danger and menace, and infused with sharp-edged English humour, this excellently exotic adventure is the literary equivalent of a made-for-Hollywood big screen delight!
(Lowestoft Chronicle Press, paperback, £14)