A Davis County actor hit the big screen this week during the showing of the independent film "Jupiter Landing" at the Park City Music Film Festival.
Tod Huntington, of Farmington, said playing the film's lead character, Catfish, was a lot like flashing back to his teenage days.
"Catfish, to me, was kind of like me when I was 17 years old," he said. "So it wasn't a huge stretch to play this guy."
Catfish is the film's anti-hero, anti-establishment rebel. He shows his disapproval of society by eating out of dumpsters and refusing to bathe.
During the filming of "Jupiter Landing," Huntington took his role to heart by not showering for a month for fear of ruining the 27 fake tattoos that were part of his makeup.
"It was kind of embarrassing," said the 28-year-old Huntington, who grew up in Bountiful and graduated from Viewmont High School. "If I took a shower they would have fallen off."
Each morning on the set — an old house in the Avenues in Salt Lake City — Huntington met with the makeup artist for two hours to touch up the fake tattoos.
"In that regard it was a lot of fun, but it was a lot of work," Huntington said.
The events in "Jupiter Landing" are seen through Catfish's point of view. Huntington said he knew he wanted to be involved from the get-go, the minute he finished reading the script.
"I found that it was going on in Utah and so, of course, I was going to try out for it," he said. "I just went in there and went for it."
"Jupiter Landing" premiered at the Park City Music Film Festival on Jan. 26. The character-driven plotline tells the story of six residents of a mysterious old house — Jupiter Landing — who receive 30-day eviction notices from their landlord. That forces the tenants to band together, but their interactions lead to conflict, complications and the unveiling of secrets.
Huntington said the film is not yet rated but, if it were, it would probably receive a "PG-13" or "R" rating.
Huntington has appeared in other productions, including a Salma Hayek film, "The Maldonado Miracle," and the films "Summer Solstice" and "Shadows Along the Path." He has also guest-starred in two episodes of the WB series "Everwood." He is also a musician who plays the drums for "The Rat Pack Remembered" at the Desert Star Dinner Theater in Murray.
When Huntington started acting about five years ago, he said, there were plenty of local projects to be involved in. Utah, he added, was ranked on the top 10 list of U.S. locations to film movies — and now it doesn't even make the list.
"It's kind of died down a little bit in the last few years," Huntington said. "I think it's due to the fact that the state stopped giving a tax break to people coming in to do films."
But despite the decline, Huntington said there are still projects aspiring actors can get involved in. He said the first step is getting an agent. He also suggested that young actors get into student films at their colleges or universities.
"You aren't going to get paid for those things, obviously, but it's training for you and it's training for them, so it's mutually beneficial," he said.
Huntington recently shot a public service announcement for the city of Sandy with a lot of teens. He said that is another venue for young talent.
Connie Young, who plays LaVonna in "Jupiter Landing," has been acting in Utah since she was 7 years old. She said actors working in Utah may not get the same type of opportunities as in other areas, but there are plenty of commercials, independent films and TV projects in the area. Utah, she added, is also not the dog-eat-dog world that other places can be.
"I'm extremely blessed," said Young, 31. "I work often. It's how I provided for my children when I was a single mom."
Young, who starred as the lead character, Cammie Giles, in the 2002 hit "Singles Ward," has also appeared in dozens of commercials. She also does a lot of industrial work for specific companies and just finished filming a Disney movie, "How My Private, Personal Journal Became a Bestseller," which will air on the Disney Channel in June. This spring she will get ready to shoot "Singles Ward 2."
Young grew up in Utah County but moved to Davis County when she was 24. She lived there for seven years before moving to Park City three months ago.
She said she would advise aspiring local actors to be realistic with their expectations.
"If you want to go out and be the next Brad Pitt, you probably should go to L.A.," she said. "If you want to be a consistent working actor doing what you want to do, then stay here and take classes and audition."
Joel Riet, Young's husband, also stars in "Jupiter Landing" as the curiously troubled character, Tyson.
"Tyson was an interesting experience, just because he was a lot of fun to play, because he was the type of guy that had zero self-esteem that tried to make it look like he had all the confidence in the world," Riet said. "He was very fake up front, but he had a lot of things going on inside him that were eating him up."
Riet, who grew up in Murray, has been acting for about seven years. He has appeared in short films and commercials and in several movies created by the Sundance Film Lab, including "Me, You & Everyone We Know."
Riet moved to California at the start of his career.
"When I first got into acting, I had been doing it for about a year and got really excited and felt like I could take on the world, and I moved to L.A. and kind of got a slap in the face and a piece of the real world," Riet said.
Riet said he realized when he was in Los Angeles that he was further away from what he loved about acting. He said it was very cut-throat and there was a lot of competition.
"You learn that even actors you see on television, you end up in the same audition room as them," Riet said. "You would think they have everything made, but they don't, they are working just as hard as you are to get work."
Riet said that working in the Salt Lake City area gives him more opportunities than he would have had in Los Angeles.
"Jupiter Landing" director, co-writer and co-producer Stacy Dymalski said the movie was one of the smoothest and most fun productions she has been involved in. She also said it was a pleasure to work with local actors.
"There were no egos. They were on time, they were prepared, they were more professional than just about any other actors I have ever worked with," Dymalski said. "They went above and beyond."
Dymalski and the film's producers held two casting calls for the film, one in Utah and one in Los Angeles. Five out of the seven core actors ended up being from Utah. All of the extras and crew members are also from the Beehive State.
"We had a casting call first in Utah because I wanted to use as many local-talent professional actors as possible," Dymalski said.
"Jupiter Landing" has not yet been picked up by a distributor but is scheduled to appear in the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, Calif., and at the Berlin Film Festival in Germany. The film has been screened at the University of Utah, and Dymalski said more campus screenings are planned, including one at Salt Lake Community College.
"I like it. I think it's a fun little film and I think people who see it will get a laugh out of it," Huntington said. "I think it was well written. It's a movie that stands on its writing."
For now, Huntington will stand on his performance in "Jupiter Landing" and hope it leads to bigger and better things — perhaps without even having to set foot in Los Angeles.
Editor's note: Deseret Morning News reporter Zack Van Eyck acted in and co-wrote "Jupiter Landing."
E-MAIL: nclemens@desnews.com