Kiss Me, Kill Me (2015 film)

Cast

Plot

Stephen Redding is a successful reality TV producer with a big house in the hills and a trophy boyfriend, Dusty Young. But at Stephen’s birthday party, Dusty discovers he been having an affair with another man, Craigery. Humiliated, Dusty leaves the party, walks down to a convenience store. Stephen follows; trying to explain the affair is over, but out of nowhere — Dusty sees a FLASH — and blacks out.

When he comes to, Dusty learns Stephen was murdered and he’s the prime suspect. LAPD Detectives Annette Riley and Noah Bateman, question him. But Dusty can’t remember what happened. West Hollywood, however, is filled with suspects: an unstable lawyer, a couples’ therapist, a jealous ex, a sketchy best friend, a resentful lesbian couple, and a drag queen hypnotist.

With the police closing in, he must remember what happened, put the pieces of the puzzle together, regardless where this the truth leads, even if it means he did kill Stephen.

Casting

Producers Casper Andreas and David Michael Barrett cast the movie with actors well known to LGBT audiences. Gay icon Gale Harold, who plays Stephen, was the star of the Showtime series, Queer as Folk. This film marks the first time he's played a gay character since that groundbreaking series concluded. Van Hansis, four-time Emmy nominee from As the World Turns and star of LOGO’s acclaimed series, Eastsiders, is the picture's leading man, “Dusty.” In fact, many cast members in Kiss Me, Kill Me also appear in Eastsiders, including Brianna Brown (from Devious Maids), Jai Rodriguez (Emmy-winning star of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy), Jonathan Lisecki (writer-director-actor of Gayby) and Kit Williamson, a co-producer on the film, who created Eastsiders. Drag queen Shangela (D.J. Pierce), best known for "RuPaul's Drag Race", plays hypnotist Jasmine. Both Matthew Ludwinski and Allison Lane previously worked with Casper Andreas, appearing in his film Going Down in LALA Land, and Deborah S. Craig appeared in David Michael Barrett’s film Bad Actress. Notable cameos in the movie include Katie Walder as TV news reporter Susan Lynwood, and YouTube stars Will Shepherd and R.J. Aguiar who appear in the funeral scene. Pop star SIRPAUL is featured in the nightclub scene singing his hit single, "Kiss Me, Kill Me," and the film's director-producer Casper Andreas plays Dr. Winters.

Production

Initial funding for Kiss Me, Kill Me came through a crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter.com, managed by producers Casper Andreas and David Michael Barrett. The successful campaign, ran from Oct. 6-Nov. 5, 2014, with 909 backers from all over the world. In the campaign, Andreas and Barrett explain the necessity for crowdsourcing as a viable means for producing LGBT content. They also credit their love of Alfred Hitchcock and Agatha Christie style murder mysteries as the inspiration for this film. Production began on Jan. 7, 2015 for a 17-day shoot, predominantly in West Hollywood, California, where the movie is set. The picture was shot on the Epic Red Dragon Camera by cinematographer, Rainer Lipski, edited by Andrew Gust, and original soundtrack was composed by Jonathan Dinerstein. Fredrik Malmberg, best known for producing the Conan the Barbarian reboot, is the movie's executive producer. The Saul Bass-inspired animated opening titles sequence was created by graphic artist Scott McPherson. The film's taglines are "West Hollywood Is Murder" and "Coming Soon... with a BANG!"

Filming locations

Notable filming locations: Pink Dot, Here Lounge, West Hollywood, Andaz Hotel, West Hollywood, Odd Fellows Cemetery, Central City Stages, and other locations around Los Angeles.

Awards

Distribution

Kiss Me, Kill Me was released on DVD and Video on Demand through Embrem Entertainment on Dec. 7, 2016. It is available to buy or stream on Amazon.com, iTunes, Vimeo, Google Play and other platforms.