A hit man gets a job in a movie theatre...he can't handle it.

When Ash, a neophyte "enforcer" for the mob, finds himself down-sized after a botched murder, he's forced to find other employment but daily dealings with unruly patrons drive him back to his hitman ways.

The film "Usher" came out of many influences: initially because I’ve been working in a movie theatre for the last 12 years, listening to and watching films. I’ve stood in the lobbies hearing what the people leaving the theatre respond to (or not). It’s an education all studio executives should have.

I’ve been impressed at how employees reflect the mood of their workplace. As the character of Blake in the bar scene in "Usher" limns, movie theatres should be considered museums in which art is displayed, hallowed places that are fast disappearing in this age of megaplexes. So in "Usher" we put one type of very genre-specific character (a hit man) and put him into a rather self-reflexive (if underdetermined) situation and see how he (re-)defines himself. The lead character, Ash, has his perceptions and feelings challenged — indeed subverted, as he finds he doesn't understand, nor can he cope.

I hope "Usher" takes the audience on a similar journey, to challenge their expectations and assumptions about what they think will happen, and rejecting easy solutions.