SMILE AS YOU KILL
With only a few months to live, a desperate man kidnaps a successful advertising director and makes one demand: Create an online campaign to pay for treatment… or share his fate.
Michael Sarrow grew up in the Florida heat, writing short stories with a combination of high concepts and focus on character. After graduating the University of Florida with a BA in Film Studies and the University of Miami with a Masters in Film Directing, Sarrow threw his belongings in a car and took off for Los Angeles.
He immediately found work at an A-list commercial production company where he was involved in the production of international campaigns helmed by top directors and cinematographers, including Kathryn Bigelow and Alfonso Cuarón.
Sarrow then wrote and directed his microbudget debut feature LIVING ROOM COFFIN, about a young woman that anonymously receives a coffin in the mail. Film Threat wrote that the film is “a perfect comedy about death for those not quite ready to fully accept the idea.”
Sarrow’s first feature and other short films have screened across the country in film festivals and have even made their way into the Canadian education curricula.
Sarrow continues to pay the bills by writing content for marketing. His experiences in both commercial advertising and marketing helped shape the script for SMILE AS YOU KILL.
SMILE AS YOU KILL is his second feature film.
A claustrophobic thriller with dark comedy. A dual character study. An ethical Rorschach test. A Bergman film at gunpoint.
These were some of my animating ideas for “SMILE AS YOU KILL.” And it all sounds wonderful until the realization hits that filmmaking can be pretty darn expensive.
Fortunately, I have known the lead actor, Rey Goyos, since casting him in my thesis film over a decade ago. I asked if he’d be interested in being the lead of a small indie, even if we had to steal a location and shoot on my slightly-broken iPhone.
He agreed, so I wrote the role of Rico Allende specifically for him. With the themes above, I catered to his natural intensity and sense of comic timing, which he utilizes most in his bookings for commercial work in both English and Spanish.
The GoFundMe healthcare premise is an issue I personally care about, and the script combines that topic with my personal experience of working in both advertising and marketing. And with only three days to raise a life-changing amount of funds, I had a ticking time-bomb for these characters.
With a bit of luck, our own production was able to raise a small sum of money without crowdfunding. Enough to assemble a great team, pay crew, and shoot on an Alexa Mini instead of my phone.
We all hope you enjoy the finished film.
-Michael Sarrow
“There’s room at the top
They are telling you still
But first you must learn
How to smile as you kill”
– John Lennon, “Working Class Hero”