He Bled Neon: Marshawn Lynch, Rita Ora on Taking a Las Vegas Crime Story Off the Strip

He Bled Neon blends two of cinema’s favorite concepts: revenge thrillers and the neon lights of Las Vegas.

Joe Cole stars as Ethan, a young man who returns to his native Las Vegas for his brother’s funeral, only to be informed that his brother’s death may have been engineered by shadowy figures in the criminal underworld. He then reunites with his old childhood friends (played by Rita Ora, Marshawn Lynch, and Ismael Cruz Cordova) to investigate the murder and reconnect with the grimy, hardscrabble nature of his upbringing.

It’s the kind of story you only see in movies…sort of.

“Twenty years ago, my step brother and best friend passed away. I got a text message from a mutual friend like how it happens in the movie,” producer and story writer Nate Bolotin tells Den of Geek. “I had to go back, bury him, reconnect with people that I had lost touch with. Someone came up to me at the funeral and said ‘Hey, you know, I think there’s some foul play here.’ We never went too deep. Then 15 years later it just clicked and I’m like we haven’t seen a Vegas noir thriller and the world outside the Vegas strip and the classic lights you’re familiar with and everything.”

“I’m calling bullshit,” Marshawn Lynch interrupts. “I remember you telling me that story. I think you left out the part where you went on a killing spree and starting knocking shit down. Oh shit! Allegedly. Allegedly.”

So Bolotin’s life story might not be identical to Ethan’s experience in He Bled Neon. He did not, in fact, go on a killing spree and start knocking shit down. But it’s still way closer to the setup of a Vegas noir thriller than anyone sitting down to view the film might anticipate. And the movie takes its story inspiration’s lead when it comes to authenticity. Its biggest asset in that mission, it turns out, is the aforementioned Marshawn Lynch.

Once a star NFL running back whose stiff arm turned defenders into quaking jelly, Marshawn Lynch has enjoyed a flourishing second career as an actor, host, and media personality. While previous projects like coming-of-age comedy Bottoms and improv exercise Murderville have leveraged his hulking physicality for comedic effect, He Bled Neon fully leans into the action star potential of the man nicknamed “Beast Mode.”

“Marshawn being authentic and himself really helped all of our performances,” Cruz Cordova (who plays Arondir on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) says. “He Instilled in us a gravitas and a realness that we can all embody. It was a real asset to have somebody rooted in the culture who can speak on it. It allowed us to feel authentic.”

Less acquainted with the vibe of the Southwestern United States but no less committed to capturing an authentic feel is British singer, songwriter, TV personality, actress, and all-around mega celeb Rita Ora. Born in Kosovo, Ora and her family emigrated to the United Kingdom in her youth due to the persecution of Albanians amid the political disintegration of Yugoslavia. She says that experience helps her empathize with outsiders and underdogs, regardless of the setting.

“I really went deep in my background as an immigrant, as a refugeee, as somebody who always felt they had to work 10 times harder in the room. I think with my character, she definitely is in a sort of male dominated world but it doesn’t feel like that. She feels like one of the gang. You don’t get that sense of ‘oh we’re different in that way.’ It’s kind of how I grew up. I was always a tomboy growing up. I had girlfriends but the guys were my guys.

Outside of its opening flashback sequences, He Bled Neon doesn’t visually conform to many of our expectations surrounding Las Vegas crime thrillers. The action here is mostly off the strip where neon lighting is sparse and desert sand is abundant. Still, director Drew Kirsch sought to capture an authentic Nevadan vibrance all the same.

“When Nate brought me the outline originally I had a vision for the world pretty quickly. My style has always been pretty vibrant. Vegas has that eclectic vibrance off the strip. There was a ton of texture. Vegas was a character in its own. I started looking at neon photographers – found a guy named Greg Girard – he was a huge inspiration to the look and feel of the film.”

In its pursuit of off-the-strip authenticity, He Bled Neon may be light on the neon but rest assured there’s plenty of bleeding.

He Bled Neon premiered March 16 at the SXSW Film & TV Festival.