The three major Western (or, more correctly, Middle Eastern) religions—Islam, Judaism and Christianity—all believe in one form or another of the Messiah. Whether he’s a messenger, a coming savior or a returning one, he’s the embodiment of good conquering evil. Some picture him as the King of Kings, others as a holy man on a mission.
But what if he’s a bearded comedian with a penchant for fingerless gloves, marijuana and jam band the Mother Hips?
That’s the question raised in Messiah Ink, the new debut film by beloved Santa Cruz comedian—by way of Chico—DNA.
“People are forgetting what ‘satire’ actually means,” says Julia Reodica.
“Or they never fucking knew in the first place,” adds Dylan Hillerman, who plays the movie’s devilish antagonist, Blamer.
Wife-and-husband team Reodica and Hillerman are also longtime friends and collaborators with DNA. The three of them make up the creative team the Schmenge Brothers (a nod to Eugene Levy and John Candy’s fictitious polka comedy duo from Second City Television) and all co-produced and co-directed Messiah Ink.
However, it’s Hillerman and Reodica who also spent months editing the film. Hillerman usually pulled 8pm–6am shifts, molding the work with his metaphorical scalpel, while Reodica is also credited as the director of photography.
“This movie is so over-the-top that the satire better slap you in the face,” she continues. “It’s going to wake you up.”
She’s not kidding.
While the finished version of the film makes its debut at the Santa Cruz Film Festival on Oct. 17 at 10pm at the 418 Project (which, coincidentally, used to be DNA’s Comedy Lab), early work-in-progress screenings took place June 1–3 in the city where DNA, Hillerman and Reodica all met: Chico. Those early screenings were rough, working drafts of the movie, much like how major corporate studios show test audiences their films before the official release.
But let’s get one thing straight: This is 100% a DIY, independent endeavor. Primary shooting took place over only eight days, with some extra pickup shots filmed after. The movie stars DNA as himself and is an autobiography of the most satirical kind.
This might get a little complicated, so be prepared. In the real world, DNA wrote a book called Memoirs of the Messiah in 2005 (which Hillerman did the cover art for) about a Chico resident who becomes a modern-day messiah after his comments are taken out of context. Fast-forward to 2020 during the lockdowns—when DNA had way too much time on his hands and needed a creative outlet to avoid focusing on the possibility of societal collapse—and he decided to write a script based on the book.
The film follows DNA and his band of disciples as his book becomes popular, giving him a cult status that leads people to believe he is the Messiah incarnate. The disciples are played by Amanda Detmer—whose credits include The Majestic, Final Destination and a pile of television shows—Denver Latimer and ex-Blue Lagoonies comedians Hannah Marianetti, Curtis Taylor III and Pete Ballmer. The world they inhabit is run by MMU, a single corporation that represents all of the evils of the real world’s conglomerates rolled into one.
“It’s a 98% true story,” says Hillerman.
In a way, Chico also serves as its own character in the film, as most of the shooting was done there and it’s a city so near and dear to not only the creators’ hearts but the cast’s as well.
As a fourth-generation Chico resident—and with four generations of family connections in Santa Cruz (her great-grandfather built the seventh structure in Felton), where she would spend summers growing up—Detmer says Messiah Ink captures the vibe of Chico.
“I think it really does,” she says. “It captures a time when it was grungy. … It reminds you of the days when everything was limitless potential.”
Speaking of limitless potential, there’s one elephant in the room that should be addressed before seeing this movie. Yes, it does use AI technology for some of the computer graphics. However, it’s not as much as it seems.
“If you watch the movie and add up all the AI, it’s only like 2%,” says Hillerman, another reason why he calls it a “98% true story.” However, it’s also a movie that has an anti-corporate, anti-AI message.
Hillerman, who has been an independent artist for four decades and has been tinkering with AI since 2020, says that’s part of the point.
“When it comes to technology everyone is afraid of: learn it and use it as a weapon against itself,” he says.
Reodica also wants to make one thing clear.
“A lot of that imagery is from my own camera work,” she says of the AI. “The source material is from my camera work, my photography, my outtakes and some of Dylan’s artwork. So people can’t say we’re stealing artwork, because we’re not.”
While the hour-long Messiah Ink is a self-contained story, it also leaves plenty of untied threads for a potential sequel, or sequels. When discussing the project during the Q&A portion of the Chico screenings, DNA mentioned he hoped this would be part one of a 12-part series.
“This has already taken two years of my life,” admits Hillerman. “What I’m trying to do is make this so good that people better than me will want to make the next one. Take the ideas we’ve developed and run with it.”
The Santa Cruz Film Festival presents the premiere of the finished version of Messiah Ink at the 418 Project, 155 River St., on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 10pm, followed by a Q&A with the directors and members of the cast. Tickets at santacruzfilmfestivals.org.
