Larger than Life Actor James Preston Rogers Starring as the 'Truly Dark and Downright Frightening' Reaper in Warren P. Sonoda's 'Masked Saint'

    LOS ANGELES, CA, December 23, 2014 /24-7PressRelease/ -- James Preston Rogers, a 6-foot-6 powerfully imposing actor extraordinaire from Brampton, Ontario, Canada, is starring as The Reaper in the feature film, "The Masked Saint," a family-oriented action biopic inspired by true events.

Directed by Warren P. Sonoda ("5ive Girls, "Ham and Cheese") the film portrays the journey of a pro wrestler who becomes a small town pastor and doubles as a crime fighting masked vigilante. The embattled Pastor faces crises at home and at church, all the while evading the police and fighting to maintain his dual identity.

Produced by Cliff McDowell's P23 Entertainment and written by Scott Crowell ("Stranger"), the film stars Brett Granstaff ("Setup") as Christopher 'The Saint' Samuels.

"The Masked Saint" was filmed in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada and it premiered last month at Cinefest Sudbury. It will have a theatrical release in early 2015 and will release on DVD thereafter. Also starring are Lara Jean Chorostecki from NBC's "Hannibal," Oscar and Emmy nominee Diahann Carroll, who won a Golden Globe for her performance in "Julia," Patrick McKenna ("The Red Green Show") and WWE Hall of Famer Roddy Piper.

In the film, chief among Samuels' daunting obstacles is the villainous wrestler, The Reaper.

"He's the ultimate antagonist," Sonoda said. "He is the mountain that our hero has to climb both literally and figuratively."

"He's the ultimate bad guy," said Rogers, who was previously in the running to play Thor for Marvel Studios and is acting in the forthcoming feature, "Pixels," with Adam Sandler, Michelle Monaghan and Peter Dinklage. "To get the Reaper on screen, it took a lot of digging and soul searching. In everyday life, I'm a good guy."

Uniquely qualified for "The Masked Saint" production, Rogers called on his own background in pro wrestling. After acting in 2007's "Outlander" opposite Ron Perlman ("Hellboy") and Jim Caviezel ("The Passion of the Christ"), Rogers starred in "Jesse Stone: Sea Change," opposite Tom Selleck, and then in the indie feature, "Poker Nights."

In 2008, Rogers attended WWE training camp in Houston and Atlanta. After four months of training, Rogers decided his foremost passion was acting for the screen, and the WWE granted his release.

"I felt like I didn't love wrestling enough to marry it," he said. "The WWE helped me prepare for this role. Acting helps me stretch myself as a human. I can understand myself more and understand people more."

For "The Masked Saint," Rogers engaged his special knowledge of wrestling and helped create authentic fight scenes in the ring. He helped design the structure of the matches with stunt coordinator Eric Bryson ("X-Men"), taught the other actors how to wrestle and earned a wrestling technical advisor credit for the film.

"You would be hard pressed to find any other actor that could of played The Reaper as well as J.P.R.," said Sonoda. "He taught the other actors to wrestle. He choreographed all the matches. And his portrayal of The Reaper was truly dark and downright frightening. It was a joy directing James. He is a true professional. He comes to work every day with 110 percent. I can't wait to work with him again soon!"

Acting in 30 different film and television titles, Rogers has also starred in FXX's "Man Seeking Woman" with Jay Baruchel, the award-winning "A Beginner's Guide to Endings" starring Harvey Keitel, Scott Caan and J.K. Simmons, Lionsgate's "Unrivaled" and "Death Warrior," "Defendor" starring Woody Harrelson, "You Might as Well Live," with Joshua Peace, Michael Madsen and Stephen McHattie and Fox's "Max Payne" starring Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis.

Rogers' selected television credits include Syfy's "Alphas" and "Lost Girl," Showcase's "King," Bell Media's Gemini award-winning "Cra$h & Burn," the Directors Guild of Canada award-winning mini-series "ZOS: Zone of Separation," CBS' "Flashpoint," Disney XD's "Aaron Stone" and Alliance Films' Gemini award-winning comedy series, "Rent-a-Goalie."

For more information, visit http://tinyurl.com/JPRIMDb.

James Preston Rogers is a film and television actor.

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