I AM KINGPIN (a fan film by Chris .R. Notarile)

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**ALL FOOTAGE WAS FILMED BEFORE THE STRIKE**
When his own men are hired to betray him, Wilson Fisk sets in motion his plan to seize control of the criminal underworld.
A WORD FROM CHRIS
I originally attempted to make this short film back in 2021, but life got in the way, and it never happened. Then in 2022, I swore off fan filmmaking, so I figured that was it- Never gonna happen. Well, if life has taught me anything, it's that plans always change. In 2023, I decided to finally tackle my bucketlist, a slate of fan films that I want to make before my time on Earth runs out. I kicked off that slate with AMALGAM, and shortly after I completed AMALGAM, my friend, Paul Anthony Turner messaged me asked if I AM KINGPIN was back on the table. I thought about it for a moment, then asked if he was willing to shave his head. He said yes. Pre-production for the short began that very day.
Since moving to Hollywood, I've been able to make a few really awesome connections. One of them being Esco of Esco's Pizza, and after filming several commercials for his pizzeria, we hit it off and become friends. So when I began work on this short, I asked him if it was okay to film at his store. Spoiler alert- he said yes, and let me tell you, Esco's Pizza added some excellent production value to my little short. We shot everything except for the garage scene there, all in one day, and I will say this, Esco's Pizza is literally the most New York place in all of Los Angeles, which really helped maintain the east coast vibe I was going for.
For this particular story, I wanted to encapsulate Wilson Fisk's rise to power, complete with a staged coup, and a counter strike. Now clearly there are a few iterations of how Fisk became Kingpin, but since my budget was less than $500.00, I decided to just craft something a little more modest. Much like the way THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK tried to build up a young Tony Soprano (but sadly failed), I wanted to build up how a younger Fisk would be. From being able to manipulate the Punisher into his own personal hitman, to brutally beating his would be killers to death with his bare hands, Wilson Fisk is as smart as he is savage, and Paul Anthony Turner was firing on all cylinders in his performance.
Visually, I wanted to really invoke that John Wick color scheme with classic neon hues in some scenes, and high contrast colors in others. The overall tone is just meant to be as cold as possible. Every character is this story is just ruthless and unforgiving, so the pacing and editing really needed to reflect that, especially after James draws first blood, during the fight. Once Fisk realizes he's bleeding, he goes from calculated fighter to rampaging elephant, and it's kinda scary when you think about it.