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Award winning local filmmaker’s next project is the ultimate success story

Kelowna local Adam Scorgie and Rocky Mudaliar are producing a documentary about legendary film actor Danny Trejo.
Image Credit: Contributed

KELOWNA – The local filmmaker who made documentaries The Union: The Business Behind Getting High and The Culture High has just signed a deal to tell the life story of one of the most fascinating and prolific Latino actors.

Inmate #1: The Rise Of Danny Trejo will be produced by Adam Scorgie and Rocky Mudaliar, and directed by Vancouver native Brett Harvey. It tells the story of how Trejo went from being a death row prisoner in California to one of the busiest actors in Hollywood.

Scorgie says Trejo’s name came up while looking for his next project.

“I’d met Danny a few times before but I didn’t know his personal story,” he says. “It’s amazing. It could be the most amazing underdog story in Hollywood.”

Trejo, who is now 72, was on death row in California before being released in the 1970s. He went from doing armed robberies and shooting heroin as a teenager, to being involved in many of the most popular films of the last 20 years.

He spent 11 years in prison where he became a middleweight boxing champ. After being seriously injured in a prison riot, he vowed to turn his life around and has now been sober for more than 45 years.

“It’s a truly amazing underdog story,” Scorgie says. “He was bad in prison, that’s why they called him inmate #1. He lived a crazy life but he’s turned it all around.”

Latino actor Danny Trejo is the subject of a new documentary by award winning local filmmaker Adam Scorgie.
Latino actor Danny Trejo is the subject of a new documentary by award winning local filmmaker Adam Scorgie.
Image Credit: Contributed

After his release from prison he became a drug counselor, which led to his acting break.

One of his clients was working on a movie set and called Trejo to say he was being tempted to go back onto drugs.

“Danny raced down there and the director saw him and told him he had the right look to play a character,” Scorgie says.

Since then he’s appeared in dozens of films, including Heat with Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, Con Air with Nicolas Cage, Desperado with Salma Hayak and Antonio Banderas. He has also worked with top directors like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez.

“Everybody in Hollywood loves him,” Scorgie says. “Because whenever he’s not working he’s giving back. He still works as a drug counselor and he’s a real funny guy. It’s inspiring to see someone turn their life around.”

Scorgie just finished shooting Chasing Evel, a documentary about Evel Kneivel’s son Robbie and Ice Guardians The Movie is set to premier this spring.

For more information visit the ScoreG Productions website.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infonews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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