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Johnny Brian Altinger, 38, was reported missing October 10th, 2008. On October 31st Mark Andrew Twitchell, 29, was charged with first-degree murder.

On November 25th, 2008 CBC Edmonton was the first to interview a man who took part in Mark Twitchell's short film "House of Cards."

"I was the guy that got killed in the film," Chris Heward told the CBC.

The actor also revealed the sorts of questions homicide detectives asked him after Twitchell was arrested.

"I was nervous," Heward said about appearing in the film.

"All I want to do is go out and be an actor and have a film," Heward said. "And hopefully next year be in a bigger film. I was drawn into the whole thing."

He got the role after answering an ad on the www.mandy.com casting website. Heward signed on without consulting his agent after sitting down with Twitchell at the Capilano Mall Second Cup outlet.

"He had a baby face, curly hair ... he didn't seem aggressive. He seemed fairly happy," Heward said. "He was more excited about next year's film."

Twitchell was filming "House of Cards" in advance of his $3.5 million feature "Day Players" that was to star, according to the filmmaker, Alec Baldwin, Justin Timberlake and Jeff Goldblum.

Heward showed up for the first day of a two-day shoot on September 27th at 9:00 a.m. The first scene shot from the script was his character's death, a man named Roger, in the garage at 5512 40 Avenue.

"They duct-taped [me] around the wrists on both sides," he said. The men securing him were Twitchell and another crew member.

"They duct-taped the ankles to the legs of the chair. It was a steel chair that they welded together. Very uncomfortable. It wasn't made for comfort, I guarantee that ..."

"And later, just before they started, they duct-taped my mouth as well."

Heward told of how he felt as the film set was being readied.

"It was easy for my adrenalin and heartbeat as a character to get going because I was actually nervous," Heward said.

"And they were real swords, and wow, why do we need this real sword? This is very real and I felt the blades and they were very sharp.

"This is not a nice scene," Heward said. He thought at the time: "Why didn't I tell more people where I am?"

Twitchell was quiet on the set, the actor said. "He yelled cut. He yelled action. He didn't give me a lot of direction.

"After it was done that day, and we went on to the next scene ... good, nobody cut me with the sword – that is great."

Two weeks later after the filming, Heward was contacted and interviewed by homicide detectives.

"What do you know about the snuff film industry?" Heward said one of them asked.

Snuff films purport to show the actual murder of a human being that is produced, perpetrated, and distributed solely for the purpose of profit. Some websites (see here and here) dismiss the existence of such films as urban legend.

"And it just hit me like a ... I can't even say how much that floored me in my chair," Heward said.

"That is just disgusting that you would practice filming this beforehand? I don't know. Was my day supposed to be the same thing?"

The detectives also asked Heward if he knew where Johnny Altinger was. Heward told them he didn't even knew who he was.

The actor said he possibly escaped death for two reasons. He told Twitchell and the crew a friend of his was coming to the garage to watch the filming.

And he also told Twitchell that he was willing to invest in the "Day Players" film. In fact, when homicide detectives called him in, Heward said he already had $35,000 set aside.

Had Heward ponied up the money, he would likely have joined two others who had taken legal action against Twitchell – see Day Players lawsuit.

"I feel personally lucky, and at the same time I feel terrified," Heward said of the ordeal.

CBC Edmonton Dane Liu's interview with Heward can be seen here.

Heward revealed more in an interview with the Edmonton Journal, first published online on November 26th. The would-be actor described how the script called for a sword to go through him playing a character named Roger.

It occurred to Heward the film crew didn't have any fake blood ready.

"And originally they were supposed to have a mannequin dummy with my shirt on," he said.

Heward said he didn't see one. When he mentioned it, the crew made up a fake torso out of cushions from a couch.

The shoot continued at the north-end home of Mark Twitchell's parents. There his character was kidnapped after showing up for a date with a woman he'd met online.

The script called for the killer tricking him. Wearing an old hockey goalie mask, painted black with a gold bear claw scratched across the front, the killer has a stun baton in his hand and comes up from behind. On the film set, the device was not make-believe.

"I got to act like I was being zapped," Heward recalled.

"Jesus, the sound that thing made," he said. "It makes this big snapping sound. And I thought, oh my God. I'm glad I'm not tied to the chair."

Heward said the second day of filming was relatively tame, shot at the sound man's home. They sat him down in front of a computer.

"The website on his computer screen is an online matchmaking service for people who want to cheat on their spouses," according to Twitchell's script.

"He's checking his e-mail when a message shows up from a very attractive woman. It reads: 'Hey sexy, all set for tonight? See you soon, can't wait.' "

Twitchell's script called for the victim to reveal his passwords to social networking sites. The film's killer rips the duct tape off the victim's mouth and addresses him.

"I realise this goes without saying, but I don't want any misunderstandings," the killer says. "If you scream, I'm going to cut your windpipe out, which will cause an awfully huge mess and leave you unable to answer any more questions. So I'd recommend you restrain yourself."

In his interview with the Journal, Heward said his police interview began with broad questions.

"It has to do with a missing person's case," Heward said he was told.

Detectives then zeroed in on the garage, and through their interrogation revealed what they thought what may have happened to Altinger.

"When you were doing this scene there, how much of the blood did you guys put down on the floor?" Heward recalled being asked.

"There wasn't really any," he replied. "They put a can down to catch the drips."

"What about the blood splatters on the wall? When you guys did your scene, how much was from your scene?" the detective asked.

Heward told police the script didn't call for blood on the walls. There was a barrel in the garage, the detective said. Did Heward see a body part in the barrel?

Heward couldn't recall seeing a barrel, or a body part.

"The questions that were asked of me to do with all that stuff gave me in the impression that there were people killed to do with this script, and that they were selling this on the internet. And that scared the hell out of me," Heward said.

The Journal suggested police think Altinger met the same fate as Heward's character in the script: with a sword plunged into his chest, a cleaver used to dismember his body, the pieces put into garbage bags and loaded into the killer's trunk.

Lastly, Chris Heward appeared on CTV Edmonton and summed up his experience.

"To think back to ... that I met someone on the internet, showed up to the garage, duct-taped me to a chair with swords swinging around and stun batons and everything else ...

"The fear factor goes go up in my mind ... I can't believe what sort of danger I put myself in."

Heward also told CTV he had some questions for Mark Twitchell.

"I really want to know, what the hell was this," he said. "Was it just a film, was this real? Or was it a rehearsal?"

The allegations against Twitchell remain to be proven in court.

All the information presented on this page has been compiled primarily from published media reports and should not be interpreted as having legal bearing or other prejudice against the individuals named on this web site.
The Last Link on the Left practices fair presentation and the disclosure of relevant interests.
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deadmonton 2008 - johnny brian altingeran actor comes forward

deadmonton 2008 - johnny brian altinger
an actor comes forward