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Film Project Led by 'Bridge of Spies' Actor Hopes to End Gun Violence

By Carolina Pichardo | January 5, 2016 6:51pm
 Actor Victor Verhaeghe.
Actor Victor Verhaeghe.
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Kickstarter

INWOOD — Can comedy end gun violence?

That's the goal of three Inwood residents who are using their acting and producing skills to create a series of minute-long "anti-gun, pro-love" spots they hope will go viral.

“People are getting killed and there’s nothing being done,” said Victor Verhaeghe, best known for his roles in Steven Spielberg's "Bridge of Spies" and the HBO series "Boardwalk Empire." 

Verhaeghe first got the idea to create the series of commercial-style clips after the Sandy Hook school shooting, when he started volunteering and donating to anti-gun organizations but felt the need to do more.

“That rocked my world,” said the actor, who also has a 7-year-old son.

Josh Liveright, 48, a father of two who has been working in film and theater for more than 20 years, said he jumped at the chance after Verhaeghe approached him with several already-written skits. The shorts add a different twist to commonplace situations where gun violence could erupt, he said.

“There’s one on road rage, where one guy cuts off the other one and you think, ‘Is he going to pull out a gun?’” Liveright explained. Instead, “the guy pulls out a kitten," he said with a laugh.

Matt Higgins, 50, who has worked with Liveright before and has a close friend who lost a child in Sandy Hook, said it was the 2012 mass shooting that made him realize “enough is enough.”

“My heart breaks for everyone involved in these things,” he said.

The group wants to produce a total of four one-minute spots, with two of them already written by Verhaeghe.

Style-wise, the skits are being designed to go viral. The team enlisted the help of Andrew Lane, of the hidden-camera production company TV Boy, who found viral success with his anti-gun video “Guns With History.”

Higgins, who has a background in stand-up and improv, said the mission is particularly important coming from a group based in Inwood, where poverty "is at the heart of the [problem]."

"I look at these kids who are kids in Inwood," he said, "and I think, 'What's lacking?'"

The team launched a Kickstarter campaign on Sunday hoping to raise $10,000 for the project. It had raised $410 as of Tuesday evening. 

Liveright added that the group plans to debut its work by showcasing a live scene on Saturday, Feb. 6, for the Om Grown Variety Show in Darling Cafe.