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On the trail of the mysterious Paymaster, the Shadow utilizes every tool in his arsenal to bring this new faceless criminal to justice.

A WORD FROM CHRIS

This is my annual final fan film of the year, however, it is not the first time I've tackled the Shadow before. My very first attempt at bringing the Shadow into the 21st century dates back nearly twenty years to 2006. Back then I did not have as solid of a grasp on the character as I believe I do now. In fact, the majority of my knowledge at the time was solely based on the 1994 Alec Baldwin movie, which for what it's worth, isn't terrible, but should not be anyone's sole understanding of the character.

Thankfully, since 2006, the internet has grown into quite the place for extended research, and I when I decided to revisit the Shadow once more, I was fortunately enough to now have access to his original radio series, his serials, as well as his original and modern day comics. With all this new information to soak up, I was able to create a more eclectic version of the character.

I guess the most important thing to address is the voice. I originally voiced the character in 2006, and basically just tried to do my best Alec Baldwin impression. However, upon learning that Orson Welles voiced the character back in the day for the radio series, I knew I wanted to tap into some of that. Enter Emmanuel Mendes-Chumacheiro! For those of you more familiar with my work, you might remember Emmanuel's buttery voice as the narrator for all of my radio plays. Well it seemed only natural I attempt to spread some of that butter onto the Shadow. I wanted a robust, more theatrical voice for the character, something deep, booming and resonating. Needless to say, Emmanuel delivered. Part Orson Welles, part Tim Curry, his take on the Shadow was a wonderful throwback to the character radio era.

The next thing I needed to figure out was his look. There are countless designs of the Shadow, all with different variations. From gloves to no gloves, a cape vs London Fog coat, a scarf vs turtleneck..... the differences are endless. Ultimately, I settled on what I think we can all agree is his definitive look- Hat, scarf, cape, trench coat, gloves, pants, and shoes.

Casting, however was tougher than I thought it would've been. Initially, I wanted to cast someone with piercing blue or green eyes, and a prominent nose. Regretfully I came up with diddlysquat, and not for lack of trying. I reached out to multiple actors who all met the criteria, but few of them ever responded, and the ones who did were not interested.

Fed up, I decided that if I could not find an actor who looked like the Shadow practically, I would have to resort to special effects. So I did what I always do and called up Tom Proprofsky. Tom is quite possibly one of the most reliable, as well as diversely talented actors I've ever worked with. The dude is like a Swiss Army knife.

I ordered some scar putty and when it came in, Tom and I sat down and I began sculpting a big ol' nose onto his face. And let me tell you, the results came out way better than I anticipated. The nose actually looked pretty real, especially in low lighting.

Combining Tom and Emmanuel's performance was a task, but I think the end result is solid. Emmanuel's booming voice gives Tom's creepy performance that extra umph to make the Shadow's present seem even larger than life.

And finally, the tone of the film. In my studies of the character, I came to learn that the Shadow is and has always been a horror based anti-hero. The dude is brutal and incredibly violent. So I wanted to learn into that both thematically and through his actions. This is not a hero who puts his hands on his hips, this is the muthafuckin' Shadow, who (if you do not possess any knowledge he might need) will shoot you without hesitation.

I think my only regret with this short is my lack of budget. It would've been nice to have some prop guns with blow back action, or maybe even some squibs for the henchmen, but alas, them's the breaks when you're shooting on a shoestring budget.