James L. Edwards has been part of the indie scene since the mid-'80s, when he got involved in the making of director J.R. Bookwalter's zombie epic THE DEAD NEXT DOOR, beginning a collaboration that would continue into the late '90s, with Edwards acting in Bookwalter's films and even writing one of them (the awesome POLYMORPH). Now Edwards has made his feature directorial debut with a film titled HER NAME WAS CHRISTA, a teaser for which was released last night and can be seen below.
Edwards stars in HER NAME WAS CHRISTA as Stephen,
a socially awkward, middle aged telemarketer who is desperately alone. At the suggestion of a co-worker, he goes out into the night to find a prostitute for "The Girlfriend Experience". With this, he meets Christa, a streetwise call girl who's happy to fulfill his needs. Yet something unexpected happens. What starts as a business agreement blossoms into true love. But what happens when death enters the picture? How far would you go to keep the one person you've always wanted?
Christa herself is played by Shianne Daye. The cast also includes Drew Fortier, Rick Jermain, Kaylee Williams, Gary Lee Vincent, and Sasha Graham (who was in the '90s movies POLYMORPH and BLOODLETTING with Edwards). Plus, J.R. Bookwalter shows up along the way.
Set to music from Jay Chattaway's classic MANIAC score, the HER NAME WAS CHRISTA teaser gives an intriguing glimpse at what appears to be a very dark and disturbing film.
I've been a fan of the work Edwards and Bookwalter did together since discovering them in the mid-'90s, so I'm really excited to see Edwards getting into directing and can't wait to watch this movie.