Fame, auditions, glamor and movie-stars are all associated with film-making with a celebrity. In 2011 while working at a gym in Colorado Springs, wrestling coach Scott Tischer sighted a familiar face. Little did Tischer know he’d catch a glimpse of a life in show business.
After talking, Tischer and celebrity Nate Torrence became quick friends. Tischer was later invited to play the role of a murderer in Torrence’s horror-comedy short film, “We Think Nate Torrence is Dead.”
“I literally saw him and was like ‘Dude you look like this guy from that movie’ and he goes ‘Oh that’s me,’” Tischer said. “We just started talking and ended up becoming good friends. He was just a friend of mine and asked me if I would help him out with making a short film.”
Tischer’s friend, Nate Torrence is a famous voice and movie actor. Tischer tells his students about how his friend is known for being the voice of Officer Clawhouser in Zootopia.
“He’s actually the first cop when the rabbit comes into the police station,” Tischer said. “He’s the one with the donut stuck in his neck. He’s also in movies like ‘She’s Out of My League’ and ‘Get Smart.’”
Tischer tells his students about his experiences with Nate Torrence. At the end of each year, he shares his film on the last day of school to his students.
“I thought It was cool that [he made a film with] the guy that voiced the leopard in Zootopia,” sophomore Amelia Elliott said.
Tischer and Torrence drove up to Torrence’s sister-in-law’s cabin to film their movie. They shot the entire film there within two and a half days completely on Torrence’s iPhone. The short film is a total of 23 minutes long.
“I was playing a murderer and I really didn’t have to prepare all that much,” Tischer said. “It’s not like I was in the film for an abundance of time, probably about a minute. I just ended up killing my friend Nate.”
“It was funny,” sophomore Elizabeth Sanchez said. “I remember he talked about it at the beginning of the year. He was like, ‘I made a movie with a celebrity,’ so that was cool. He said we would get to see it on the last day of school and we did.”
“We Think Nate Torrence is Dead” won best short film comedy at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Tischer stays in contact with Torrence to this day and the two are still close friends.
“I tell [my students] if they’re good throughout the semester, then we’ll watch the movie I was in that got some awards,” Tischer said. “It’s on IMDB and you can’t watch it, but my name is on one of the credits. I would absolutely do it again.”
