In May, Hollywood Unlocked covered a story on Hollywood Watchlist Writer/Director Zach Koepp, and this month we reviewed his latest work, a riveting short film titled Swindle.
Swindle is a powerful Psychological Thriller starring Philip Schulte as Jordan, a struggling music producer who pretends to be the owner of a Hollywood Hills mansion in order to sign his first musical artist, Kayla, played by Boone Williams.
With a running time of a little over seven minutes, Swindle explores and showcases themes making for a perfectly dark Hollywood success story: survival, artistic integrity, and greed. Philip Schulte can certainly take a bow for turning these themes into an elixir in his debut starring role.
Zach Koepp captures his unique style into the short film’s masterful direction and continues proving his case for being one of the talented filmmakers to keep an eye on in his class. Koepp’s work–on the page and screen–has colorful and moody tones which are encapsulated in Swindle’s juxtaposition between colors, darkness, and broad daylight.
Source: Ashley Christine Robertson
Swindle begins in the courtyard of a Hollywood Hills mansion where Jordan (Schulte) is cleaning windows to subsidize his music producing pursuit, when he overhears the frightening voice of the homeowner, Mike (Brian Letscher) on a heated phone call, stating he has to leave town to handle business for a couple of weeks. Mike notices Jordan and is unsure of how long Jordan had been listening, so he goes out to the courtyard to get a read on Jordan.
Mike comes to the conclusion that Jordan isn’t a threat and ends up taking a slightly sinister shine to Jordan as he learns about his drive and goals beyond being a window cleaner. When Jordan reveals that he’s close to collaborating with his first big musical artist, Mike takes Jordan upstairs to an old soundproof room where Mike reveals that he bought the mansion from a musical artist, and in a taunting fashion, Mike allows Jordan to make offers based on the extent of his limited resources, and declines Jordan’s proposals to rent and restore the studio.
Once Jordan is rejected– after making offers that expose his fiscally depraved situation–a hunger sets in on the very thing Mike was taunting, and that night, Jordan breaks into Mike’s Hollywood Hills mansion.
In an eerie display, Jordan begins to take ownership of the Hollywood Hills mansion as if it were his own.
The following day, Jordan rents a showcase of lights and equipment for the studio, before inviting Kayla (Boone Williams), along with her small team, over for an intimate gathering.
Jordan is hardly recognizable from the driven and impoverished aspiring music producer he was at the beginning of the film. He exhibits a new bravado while holding onto his deep well of humanity as Kayla and her team take in the mansion’s views of the Hollywood Hills. When Jordan brings Kayla into the studio, his bravado morphs into a killer confidence and he pitches Kayla before closing her on an exclusive collaboration.
Jordan is now on Kayla’s team and while they celebrate in the courtyard, Jordan reenters the mansion to retrieve champagne when the spine-chilling tone of Mike’s yell echoes throughout the mansion. Fear creeps in when Jordan realizes Mike’s early return. Jordan’s fear quickly passes when he decides to hold onto his newly-found power and changes the power dynamic with a final offer:
Jordan tells Mike to leave his own mansion until the celebration gathering is over, and if Mike complies, Jordan assures him he won’t expose the criminal activity found during his time in the home.
The irony of their role reversal leaves Mike with a rage-filled smile while realizing he’s forced to agree to Jordan’s final offer.
The performances in Swindle are stunning and outstanding. Philip Schulte exhibits true star power in his multi-dimensional performance, solidifying him as an actor to keep an eye on in the near and distant future. His performance leaves the audience in a well of their own empathy as they feel each emotion along his drastic arch. With this being his debut starring role, it’s safe to say we’ll be seeing Schulte again sooner-than-later.
It doesn’t go without saying that Brian Letscher was cast perfectly opposite Schulte. Letscher, who gained prominence from his roles in Scandal, Valor, and 9-1-1: Lone Star, demonstrated another gripping and “impossible to shake” performance.
Boone Williams completed the trifecta with her vulnerability in the role of a rising artist who cares about her art more than almost anything, but still must have blind faith in her team as things are getting too big for her to handle.
Outside of the concrete performances, Swindle is riddled with a tasteful balance of symbolism that showcases rapid growth in Koepp’s visual storytelling repertoire.
Throughout the film, the audience will find themselves impacted–but not distracted–by strong symbolism that very well may prompt them to rewatch the little things built around the incredible performances.
The footage was captured by a rising Director of Photography, Daniel Woiwode, and is masterfully cut by Editor Mark Wales.