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While roaming the user films section at DVXUser, I came across a post that shocked me. It mentioned that an actor named Chase Korte had died in a car accident early last year. Don’t know him? Most people probably don’t. I did.

I have this morbid joke about how, when I’m developing a script, I’ll mentally cast people to help develop the characters – some of those actors have been: Heath Ledger, Brandon Lee and Brad Renfro – I think you get the punchline.

I did a spot for a local hospital a few years ago (I didn’t direct, I work for the ad agency that developed the spot based on my idea) and, during casting, immediately was drawn to Chase’s audition. He really stood out. As rarely happens, there was no second-guessing his casting from the agency nor the client. And he was great to work with. So great, I tried to contact him to see if he’d be interested in playing James in “The Bet.” He was even one of my mental notes when working on Detox (as was Brad Renfro).

It’s a shame there’s so little of him in the final commercial, but I’m including it in the post anyway. He’s the one who starts it off with “It’s hard to explain the feeling…” Hard indeed.