April X Director Cast Storrie Before Heated Rivalry
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- Michel K. Parandi cast Connor Storrie as lead Baxter in 'April X' after seeing him as the third or fourth of approximately 100 actors auditioned, telling producers he had already found his man despite pressure to keep looking.
- 'April X' is a near-future thriller about siblings Baxter and April (Lilly Krug) searching a post-Soviet city amid a cloning and sex-trafficking scheme, shot in Bucharest at minus 15 degrees with half the production at night.
- Storrie had no credits at the time of casting, yet Parandi compared his instinct to Ridley Scott discovering Harrison Ford for 'Blade Runner,' telling everyone early on that Storrie 'was going to be a movie star.'
- Parandi called Storrie 'the most solid performance I've ever had,' praising his ability to move between layers of anger, insecurity, and rage without breaking down or crying—nuance Parandi required for the demanding role.
- 'April X' opens the Raindance Film Festival on June 17, and producer Lavinia Postolache reported fans arriving via 'Heated Rivalry' were 'crying during the movie because of Baxter' at test screenings.
- The film was delivered for under $2 million after more than a decade of development, with Parandi citing 'The Matrix' and 'Enter the Void' as genre influences after originally envisioning a much larger scope.
Why it matters: A decade-long indie gamble shot in Eastern Europe for under $2 million is now opening Raindance with a lead who became a global star mid-post-production through 'Heated Rivalry,' giving the low-budget film an unplanned audience. Parandi's producer confirmed those fans are emotionally connecting with the film at screenings.
