Mr. Flesh is a proud history nerd as well as a huge movie enthusiast.  Mr. Flesh has watched too many movies to count throughout his life and loves movies of all different genres.  Saint Joe students and staff know one thing for certain about Mr. Flesh’s overwhelming love for movies… He’s a Hallmark guy!  Mr. Flesh says that he especially enjoys watching the Christmas Hallmark movies.  Not only does Mr. Flesh have a special soft spot for movies, he says his children love a good flick just as much as he does!  It is fair to say that movies and the creative people in front of and behind the camera are cherished by all members of the Flesh family.  

In December of 2019, Mr. Flesh got to literally live out his favorite hobby when he got the chance to be in a movie called “Santa’s Promise.” 

Catholic Movies offers a brief summary of “Santa’s Promise”: “Nick’s Uncle makes a deathbed request of him: ‘Give away my fortune and help me save my soul.’  But the minute he starts, it all goes haywire.  His Uncle’s secretary doesn’t trust him, his evil twin brother steals his fiancé, and gives away the cash backfires.  Now he’s falling for the secretary.  Nick’s no saint, but will he keep Santa’s Promise, and win the girl?” 

Mr. Flesh’s daughter (Samantha) was the production coordinator for the movie so she was able to secure Mr. Flesh and his son Nathan spots as background actors in “Santa’s Promise.”  According to Mr. Flesh, “the slang term for background extras is ‘skins’.”  Mr. Flesh was on cloud nine to have this amazing experience being an extra in a movie on top of being able to do it all with his children by his side.

Mr. Flesh’s daughter, Samantha, was the production coordinator for this film and she had a variety of different jobs that she was responsible for – including oversight of equipment, supplies, and staff.  She also coordinated travel, accommodations, and work permits for the cast and crew.  as well as overseeing the shooting schedules, crew and cast lines, scripts and script revisions. 

Mr. Flesh explained that it was “great to see her in action doing what she loves to do.”  Not only was Mr. Flesh able to witness his daughter do what she is passionate about, he also got to sit right across from his son Nathan when they were acting as extras.  Nathan is involved in theatre so acting was quite natural for him.

“Santa’s Promise” was filmed in December 2019 through January 2020.  Mr. Flesh and his two children were able to go down to film during Christmas break last year.  Mr. Flesh and his son’s scenes as “skins” only took two days to film.  They were involved in a diner scene, restaurant scene, and a midnight Mass scene.  Aside from being accompanied by his two kids on set, Mr. Flesh explained how all crew and cast members were provided with food each day.  Interestingly enough the level of food quality depends on an actors/crew member’s status. 

Sadly since Mr. Flesh and his son were just background actors in this film, they did not have as 

Mr. Flesh and his son did not merit the top rated food as the major actors.  Nonetheless, Mr. Flesh and his son were able to get a few good snacks since his daughter was a part of the production team.  At the set there were food trucks and all sorts of other delicious foods.  Besides being with his children and the food on set, Mr. Flesh said “there were no giveaways beyond that.” 

Since Mr. Flesh is the movie guru he is, being on a movie set with his children was a dream come true for him.  It was interesting for Mr. Flesh to be able to experience what it was like behind the scenes since he has always watched movies and wondered what all the background actors or skins were doing.  Mr. Flesh let us in on a movie secret… when background actors are eating they have to pretend to eat because the food is cold, old, and has been sitting out for hours.  So skins have to pretend to put the food in their mouth, pretend to chew, and pretend to talk without any words actually coming out of their mouths.  After Mr. Flesh’s first experience behind the camera of a movie, he explained that “learning the background of the movie making business was fun to be a part of”.

Through being a part of “Santa’s Promise” with his two children, Mr. Flesh got a good kick start to his acting career.  Mr. Flesh stated “my career goal when I’m done teaching is to be a background extra for Hallmark movies.” Hopefully one day the Saint Joe community will see our very own Mr. Flesh on the big screen in an actual Hallmark movie!