Cast

StewartSTEWART SKELTON (Karl Larsen) Stewart’s film and television career began long ago with the role of a de-spined alien in the hard-to-find video release, “Timesweep”.  He is a veteran of over 80 stage productions across the country, including Erik Patterson’s “Red Light, Green Light”, Leon Martell’s “Feed Them Dogs”, Grubb Graebner’s “Lives of the Neo-modern Fang People” and Murray Mednick’s “Taxes”.  You can catch him on the tube occasionally (most recently “True Blood” and “Parks & Recreation”).  Stewart is very proud to be a part of “The Lutefisk Wars” and wishes Chris and Dave every success with this brilliant gem.  Stewart is also a writer, so gifts of Scotch, cigars, and literary representation are much appreciated.  More at www.nowcasting.com/stewartskelton

DebDEB HIETT (Gail Ramstad) is an L.A.-based actress and writer who has appeared on "The Office," “Parks and Recreation,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Prison Break,”
“Boston Legal,” “Passions,” and HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.” Her one-woman show, “Tattoo Expo and Accordion Show” premiered at L.A.’s Second City, as did the sketch comedy show co-written and co-performed with Richard Kuhlman, “Deb and Rick on a Stick.” She co-wrote and stars in the short film, "A Bit of Counseling," which won the Audience Award at the 2009 Palm Beach International Film Festival and the 2009 Los Angeles Shorts Film Festival, and will be shown on Comedy Central.

Deb moved to Los Angeles after years of living in New York City, where she performed in the band “Orson Welk,” and such diverse Off-Broadway shows as “Henry V,” “Crimes of the Heart,” “Whisky Down,” and the European tour of “West Side Story.” She provided character voices for the award-winning “Blue’s Birthday Adventure” CD-ROM, has had several short stories published, and has written several screenplays. More at www.debhiett.com and www.sweetbiscuitproductions.com.

ReganREGAN BURNS (Marty Ramstad) is a veteran of film, television and theater.  Regan was born in Ft. Benning, GA and raised in Northern Virginia.  Collegiate gymnast at Radford University.  Ex-Collegiate gymnast turns thespian.  Starving artist at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC.  Decided he would rather starve in a warmer state so he moved to Los Angeles.  Did some great television (see website).  Did a lot of lousy television (See most of website).  Continues on path towards world domination.  More at www.reganburns.com

ScottSCOTT HORVIK (Les Torkelson) is an actor and voice talent based in Fargo, North Dakota.  He has been active professionally in the Fargo-Moorhead area for many years.  Scott has appeared in numerous local stage productions and is a founding member of Theatre B.  He has been featured in TV ads for the FM Readhawks, Montana-Dakota Utilities and Paul Bunyan Communications .  Scott worked on the Penny & Pals award winning children’s video series “ABC” and “XYZ” where he originated the character of Trace Hunter, a kooky investigative reporter.  Scott has worked as an air-talent in both commercial and public radio.  He has also appeared in video productions and is currently working in the precision agriculture sector.  Scott lives in Fargo, ND with his wife, Lori, daughter, Torin and dog, Scooter.

HaynesHAYNES BROOKE (Lucky Larsen Senior & Jr.) is a Los Angeles actor, playwright and screenwriter. His screen credits range from feature films such as “Contact” and “Fried Green Tomatoes” to roles in MOWs, sit-coms, episodic, daytime drama, industrial films, web series and commercials. Recent television work includes episodes of “Medium” and “Nip/Tuck”, but he’s maybe best known at the moment forportraying “The Sun” in the ongoing commercial campaign for Jimmy Dean sausages.  His most recent play, “The Compound Dog”, was produced by the Eclectic Company Theater.  His musical, Chicken City, premiered to sold-out houses at the Actors' Gang, Tim Robbins' theater company.  The Gang also produced his comedy Progressive Chain Bowling, which extended amid critical raves and full houses. Other recently produced plays include “Godfather Death”, nominated for both an LA Weekly award and a Garland Award as Best Adaptation, and the acclaimed solo show “Art Explained”. He recently sold a web series, “Dynamic Change”, to Babelgum.com, and has had a number of feature scripts optioned. He was the inaugural recipient of the McFarland Screenwriting Fellowship in 2005.

Haynes is married, has three great kids, and spends much of his free time on the Ultimate Frisbee field, where he plays for several tournament-level teams.

JoelJOEL MCCRARY (Brother Cousin Louie / Erik the Hairy / Erik the Smooth) is a veteran actor of both film and television, his favorite film credits include “The Princess Diaries”(1 & 2),  “American Beauty”, “Alien Raiders”, “Mystery Men”, “Best In Show”, the upcoming “Thor” (directed by Kenneth Branagh.).  His televisions credits include “Cold Case”, “Glory Daze”, “Justified”, “The Middle”, “How I Met Your Mother”, “Seinfeld”, “Boston Legal”, “Malcolm in the Middle” and he has starred in 12 network pilots.  Joel has also done voice over for “Over the Hedge”, “Howl’s Moving Castle”, “Charlotte’s Web”, “Robot Chicken”, and the upcoming “Smurf Movie”. 

 

Filmmakers

DaveDAVID E. HALL (Writer/Producer/Director) has been making movies since he was a teenager growing up in Iowa.  He earned a Bachelor's of Arts Degree from Wheaton College where he began his formal studies in film and television and won several awards for short films he directed.  While in Chicago, David helmed several low budget feature films as a Line Producer and First Assistant Director including "The First Stone" and “The Prodigy".  Upon moving to Los Angeles, he accepted a position working for animation innovators, Klasky/Csupo Inc., the Producers of “The Simpsons” and “Rugrats.”

David next began working at Warner Bros. Studios, assisting Producer Peter MacGregor-Scott on the films “Batman Forever", “The Perfect Murder", and "Batman and Robin”.  Soon after, he began Post Production Supervising on big budget studio movies such as 
"Poseidon", "The Dark Knight", and "Inception".  In between these large projects, David has pursued his love for Independent Filmmaking collaborating with Indie Producers Michael and Mark Polish on "The Astronaut Farmer", "The Smell of Success", and "Stay Cool", as well as Co-Writing, Producing, and Directing "The Lutefisk Wars".  Throughout his career, David has had the privilege of working with some of the world's most notable Film Directors including Joel Schumacher, Andrew Davis, Wolfgang Petersen, Martin Campbell, and Christopher Nolan.

ChrisCHRISTOPHER PANNECK (Writer/Producer/Director) obtained his Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from the University of North Dakota, then later a Masters of Arts Degree in Film Production and Literary Arts from Regent University in Virginia.  He wrote and directed a short dramatic film on G.K. Chesterton and was also an assistant director and editor on an award-winning feature docu-drama entitled “Fallen Angel”.  He has written a number of screenplays in addition to “The Lutefisk Wars” and has also published several short stories for literary magazines.  For the past 15 years, Christopher has been the Project Manager of the Feature Story Department at Warner Bros. Studios.   Prior to that, he worked professionally (in no particular order) in general construction, as a bottle washer at a Mennonite dairy farm, a house painter, a singer, and a college teacher.  Chris currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Helen.

Chris PloggerCHRISTOPHER J. PLOGGER (Associate Producer/Sound Mixer) has spent the last 25 years working in film, video and live television.  Starting with long-form narrative and educational films he has logged many thousands of hours of set-time as a production sound mixer.  In 1996 he and his wife Drew formed MetroEdit, a full service production and post facility in Chicago’s Mag Mile district.  In this capacity he worked on hundreds of corporate and commercial projects serving as producer, director and editor. He currently works as a broadcast technician – audio specialist for the HSN network.

JohnJOHN AMES (Director of Photography) After earning a Masters of Arts degree in film production in 1992, John began his career in the Virginia film industry as an assistant cameraman and went on to shoot award winning commercials for local advertising agencies.  He relocated to California in 1994 and has continued his work as a Director of Photography on a wide variety of work including features, short films, TV series, documentaries, commercials, music videos and corporate videos. His clients include NASA, General Dynamics, Marriott, Universal Studios, the Discovery Channel series: The New Detectives, FBI Files, The Prosecutors, Wicked Attractions, The Bureau.

John’s desire to use the camera to tell stories visually has taken him to locations all over the globe including Canada, Guatemala, China, Australia and most of the U.S. His work has been screened at film festivals, aired nationally on such outlets as, Fox/Family Channel, The Learning Channel, Dutch Television and Entertainment Tonight.  When he is not shooting, he enjoys teaching all aspects of cinematography and has been an instructor for The Los Angeles Film Studies Center, Regent University, Palm Beach Atlantic University and University of the Nations in Hawaii. He served as a Jury member for the 2009 Redemptive Film Festival.  John’s latest work to air is the documentary, A Profile In Courage and the first of three TV series, Hot On The Trail with Host Sunny Savage for the new Veria network. More at www.johnames.net.