Cameron Douglas Films First Post-Prison Acting Job, ‘Dead Layer’

Cameron Douglas, son of Oscar winner Michael Douglas, has taken his first major step in kick-starting his acting career once again, filming a lead role in the indie short film Dead Layer. 

The project, which shot over the weekend in New York and Brooklyn, comes from first-time actor-turned-filmmaker Carter Winter, who directed it alongside Aleksey Reznikov. Penned by Winter, the redemption story casts Douglas in the role of a New York graffiti artist who gets fed up living on the streets in obscurity. While he hopes to transition to a better life, he finds himself caught in a terrible crime which continues to haunt him as he inches closer to success. The title Dead Layer is a nod to the painting term — artists sometimes make use of underpainting, done in grey scale, before adding color in order to create value and depth to a new work. 

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The film also will feature performances by Josh Mostel and Paulie Redding. Winter and his producers Jennifer Paul and Dechen Thurman have assembled a team that includes director of photography Jeffrey Hagerman. Winter conceived the project during his years living in Brooklyn. He first developed it as a film project and later turned it into a TV show, but now there’s hope to turn it into a series or longform project. After meeting Douglas through Thurman, brother of Uma Thurman, Winter molded the project to suit Douglas’ natural mannerisms and his “power as an actor,” Winter told The Hollywood Reporter.