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This page is about 2009 film short The Undoing. For the 2006 Chris Chan Lee film, see Undoing (film).

The Undoing is a 2009 American rock & roll fantasy film short written by and starring rock musician Trevor R. Todd and first-time director Dennis Post. The film's rock soundtrack was created by writer/star Trevor R. Todd. Starring mostly unknown and first-time actors, The Undoing was recorded digitally in just four days (three for principle photography and one additional day for reshoots) with no budget and an all-volunteer cast and crew. The Undoing is the first of a planned trilogy.

Plot
Jessie (Trevor R. Todd) is a construction worker who toils harder than his co-workers, but is fired by their boss, Dave (Donald Stauffer). Unemployed and feeling down, Jessie makes a lonely walk to his parents, briefly encountering a wino bum (Dennis Post) along the way. His parents' house offers little comfort as Jessie comes into conflict with his step-father Joe (Michael Driscoll) and storms off.

Feeling dejected by his parents, Jessie passes by the wino bum a second time and being further annoyed by an obnoxious Preacher Man (Mike Bustillos). Jessie enters the small apartment that he shares with his wife, Mary (Holly Stewart) and their baby (heard, though not seen). Jessie attempts to reassure Mary that things will work out, but the couple ends up in an argument anyway. Jessie leaves for his band's practice and we see that his obnoxious former co-workers at the construction site are his band mates. After some verbal barbs thrown at Jessie by Peter (Steve Wiedel), Matthew (Greg Halldorson) reminds Jessie that their band is still in need of "making it". Things settle down into a practice of the songs "Bleed" and "Lake of Fire".

The next day, Jessie and Mary have made up and Laz (James Drikas) calls to invite Jessie and his band to play a gig for mega rock & roll record producer Lou Beezel (Matt Mitchell). Excited, Jessie, his band and their entourage do a Tarantino-esque slow -motion "walk of fame" to the hip night club, Marilyn's on K Street. Laz meets them inside and directs Jessie to meet with "the man" himself - the famous Lou Beezel. Lou quickly introduces Jessie to the beautiful Lilith (Ryann Fuentes), who seats herself seductively next to Jessie. Lilith defects Jessie's questions when he asks her if she was "once married to his friend, Adam" and they are interrupted by Laz asking Jessie if he and his band wants to play. Lou, who's time is valuable, adds his demand that Jessie's band play, to "see what his money's worth".

Taking the stage, Jessie and Retro Vertigo wow the crowd with their moody songs "Heretic" and "One Last Time". Lilith stands in front of Jessie while he plays on stage, distracting him so he does not notice the connection that his wife Mary and Lou's assistant, Laz, make on the dance floor. A crowd-pleasing show ends, leaving Jessie with Lou's promise to "be in touch with him soon" and seeking the whereabouts of Mary. Jessie and the band exit the club and find Mary and Laz together on the outside patio and all Hell breaks loose! In the end, Jessie fights Laz and Lilith compels Jessie to leave with her...! (to be continued...!)

Cast

 * Trevor R. Todd as Jessie
 * Greg Halldorson as Matthew
 * Steve Wiedel as Peter
 * Cory Ponzo as Jude
 * Alex Farris as John
 * Chad Shepherd as Construction Worker
 * Donald Stauffer as Dave the Boss
 * Dennis Post as Wino Bum
 * Connie Driscoll as Mother Mary
 * Michael Discoll as Joe
 * Holly Stewart as Wife Mary
 * Mike Bustillos as Preacher Man
 * Ryann Fuentes as Woman with Preacher Man
 * Jennifer Halldorson as Matthew's Girlfriend
 * Ashley Johnson as Peter's Girlfriend
 * Sharon Heramia as Jude's Girlfriend
 * Skylar Noble as Bar Patron
 * James Drikas as Laz
 * Matt Mitchell as Lou Beezel
 * Ryann Fuentes as Lilith
 * Matt Boydstun as "Kick His Ass!" Guy
 * Jeff Gribben (owner of Marilyn's on K Street) (uncredited)

Production
The Undoing was initially produced quite rapidly. In August 2009, Dennis Post and friend Charliey Marcus went to a local Citrus Heights club called Loree's Little Shack on Greenback to get tacos ("The Best Tacos in the World" their menus say) for dinner. While waiting for their food at the bar, Trevor R. Todd, who had been performing karaoke as they entered, joined them. Post had thought he had met him when he and Marcus first entered Loree's, but it was Todd who said, "Hey, I know you - you're really into movies...!!" (A line spoken by Post as the Wino Bum to Todd's character in The Undoing is a take off on this reintroduction). Realizing that they had met briefly some six years earlier, via mutual friends in the horror film centered Trash Film Orgy group of Sacramento, California. Todd had an idea for a short film that would feature his music as the soundtrack. Over the next month of September 2009, the pair developed a storyline (of which, Post would direct and would write seven drafts in less than a month) that they would shoot and premiere in October 2009.

During pre-production, Todd and Post discovered a couple of amazing coincidences about themselves - they shared the same birthday - February 13th (Post in 1970 and Todd in 1974) and they had once lived on the same street in Sacramento (though not the same house and decades apart).

The cast was comprised of local actors, mostly unknown and first-time performers (excepting Donald Stauffer, who has appeared in TV episodes of The Mentalist, Michael Driscoll, who had appeared in Television shows like Hill Street Blues and MacGyver, Matt Mitchell co-starred in the independent short film Being Lisa and James Drikas had also appeared in previous indie productions ). Some in the cast, like Ryann Fuentes, was taking acting classes at the time. Some of the cast had met previously (Donald Stauffer and Ryann Fuentes, for example at said classes). All of the "behind-the-scenes" crew (Trevor R. Todd, Dennis Post, Mike Bustillos and Skylar Noble) also appear as actors in The Undoing. Ryann Fuentes is the only performer to seemingly play two roles, that of Lilith and the Woman with Preacher Man.

The house used as Jessie's parents' place is actually cast members Greg and Jennifer Halldorson's home. Seen in the background of Jessie's scenes with his parents (played by Michael Driscoll and Connie Discoll), framed theatrical posters for Kevin Smith's first two feature films, Clerks (1994) and Mallrats (1995) can be seen. These were left in as director/writer/producer/actor Dennis Post is a fan of Smith and his movies and considered there appearance in The Undoing as good luck. The posters are Greg Halldorson's and unseen in The Undoing, he also has framed posters of Smith's Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999), Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back (2001) and Clerks II (2006). (All of Halldorson's posters are signed by Kevin Smith).

Trevor R. Todd's studio space (at the time that The Undoing was recorded), served as several sets in the film. The main studio control room doubled as Jessie and Mary's apartment, while one of the recording rooms became the practice space for Jessie and his band. The construction site set was actually the side of Todd's studio building, while Jessie's various walking scenes were filmed just down the street from the studio.

The night club scenes were recorded at Marilyn's on K Street - just a block down from The Crest Theatre, where premiere of The Undoing was held. The final shots of the movie were recorded just around the corner from Marilyn's.

The owner of Marilyn's, Jeff Gribben, has an uncredited cameo among the bar patrons grooving to Jessie's band playing in the club scenes. One of Marilyn's bartenders, Matt Boydstun, became a credited actor as the guy who shouts, "Kick his ass Jessie!!" (the role was originally intended for second camera operator Skylar Noble, who was busy helping st up and record the climatic scene on the club's patio. Noble did appear as an unnamed bar patron in an earlier scene inside the club, talking with Laz (James Drikas) right before Jessie is introduced to Lou Beezel).

Trevor R. Todd is 6'10", nearly seven feet tall, hence the name of his group band, Seven Foot Fetish. His character Jessie's band in The Undoing is called Retro Vertigo (though the name of the band is not actually mentioned in the film, but is mentioned in the script).

Alex Farris (who later joined Todd's real band as a regular member) as John, does not appear in the nightclub scenes. The reason for John's absence there is not explained in The Undoing, but is to be mentioned in the sequel.

Sequels
The end credits of The Undoing promise a sequel and the group's websites say that The Undoing is the first of a trilogy (or as they say, "a Trinity").

Reception
The Undoing premiered its first cut on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at the historical venue The Crest Theatre in Sacramento, California. Though The Crest is the home of the annual Sacramento Film Festival (which had already been and gone by then that year), this was a special one-time premiere screening. (The Crest is also the site of Sacramento's annual Trash Film Orgy show, through which The Undoing creators Trevor R. Todd and Dennis Post first met some six years before). This screening was sold out and the premiere night's after party was held a block away at the site of the film's club scene, Marilyn's on K Street (where Trevor R. Todd and his band, Seven Foot Fetish played, as did two other musical acts).

Home Video Release
A limited number of DVD copies of The Undoing were initially released, mostly meant for cast and crew in August 2010.

This first DVD release contained the new 2010 cut of the movie short and a handful of extra features:
 * Two music videos - "Heretic" and "One Last Time" (both using footage from "The Undoing").
 * Premiere Night Featurette (October 28, 2009 at The Crest Theatre and the after party at Marilyn's on K Street).
 * Outtakes (Blooper Reel).

A Special Edition Home Video Release is being planned for 2011 and will include additional extra features (including commentaries, two pre-production script readings, production photo galleries and hidden Easter eggs).

Soundtrack
Twelve songs were featured in The Undoing and all of them were written and performed by Trevor R. Todd (though two tracks, "Bleed" and "Lake of Fire" were done live with Greg Halldorson, who is the drummer in Todd's real band Seven Foot Fetish). Todd plays some nine different instruments. Some of the tracks heard in the film are from Todd's studio album Scathing Indictment of the Righteous (which was released on July 7, 2007 - 7/7/07), while others are as yet unreleased tracks premiering in "The Undoing".

The title track, "Scathing", from Scathing Indictment of the Righteous was used in the Premiere Night Featurette extra on The Undoing DVD.