Landy Cannon, 36, has been working for years to establish an acting career, and he might have found his niche, thanks to a low-budget horror comedy that has been selling well at large retailers like Walmart for the past couple of months.

Dark Rising is a Canadian film made by a couple that Landy Cannon has known for years in the acting business, and when they came to casting the male lead for the film (one of the few characters who survive), they thought that he had the combination of looks and the kind of knowing naiveté that fit with the concept of the film.

Landy Cannon was born in Linton, Ontario (near Hamilton), and moved to the Sharbot Lake area as a teenager when his parents bought a restaurant. He attended Sydenham High School, where he played senior football.

After high school, Landy attended Carleton University, where he studied pre-law and played varsity football. In the end, law did not appeal to him, and after university he embarked on a modeling career. That eventually led him into the acting business.

“I always had dreams of acting, but I thought it was out of reach,” he said when interviewed from his home near Toronto last week, “and then a casting director I knew through the modeling business said I had a great look and some acting chops, so I started auditioning.”

In addition to roles in numerous commercials (he was the obnoxious American in a Molson Canadian commercial a couple of years ago), Landy has had recurring roles in television series, such as The L word and The Jane Show. He has also played smaller roles in movies, including Catwoman in 2004. His role as Jason, the lead role in Dark Rising, represents a first for Landy, and he has made the most of it.

“The people who made this movie decided to take the bull by the horns and get it made. It was released directly to DVD, but we had an opening in Toronto, and my parents (Carole and Gary Cannon) came down for it. They really had a good time. The movie is doing really well and a distribution deal in the U.S. has been done,” he said. “I love the fact that it is has “B movie” written all over it, and we sort of embraced that.”

Jason is the male lead in Dark Rising. He is a bit of a chump, whose high school sweetheart has dumped him, but hasn’t told him that she is sleeping with a mutual friend, another woman. On a fateful camping trip, Jason’s love problems prove to be less important than the fact that a young woman, who has been lost in another dimension since she was a child, is called back to this world. With her comes a monster. This leads to a bit of a bloodbath. The movie has a fair amount of sex and violence in it, and is not recommended for children, but the tone of both the sex and the violence is more than a little bit campy, so the result is humorous rather than titillating or scary.

The ending, which features a much-changed Jason returning through a portal from the other dimension to reclaim his new love, sets up the possibility of a sequel.

Landy Cannon is preparing to move to Los Angeles in the coming months, “not because I really want to go, but the opportunity is there. But if a sequel is going to be made I will certainly change my plans.”

So, look for Dark Rising at your local box store, and wait for Dark Rising II in stores or perhaps theatres within the next year or so.

Source: FrontenacNews.ca