McKay Stewart: Flips, fights and facts Wild West fantasy, poker chips and Dead Card Danny.

I Played Dead Card Danny in For Blood

· McKay Stewart

August 2014. I posted a set photo and six words that still make me grin:

“Just wrapped #forbloodmovie … good times!”

I tagged co-stars April Scott and Rick Mora. A few months later I dropped four character posters and a teaser. Then the short hit festivals.

Twelve years later, here’s the full story. Who I played. Who else was at that poker table. And the award the film actually won.

Cast of For Blood around the poker table The For Blood cast in Wild West mode around the poker table. CoffeeRing Entertainment promotional still I shared when we wrapped, via my X post.

What is For Blood?

For Blood is an 11-minute short. Genres: Western and Fantasy. It came out in 2015.

The setup is simple and wild.

A group of friends sit down for a poker game. Someone says a Wild West card game would have higher stakes. They splash the pot. A new world shows up. Suddenly they’re somewhere else, somewhen else — playing for blood.

That’s the whole pitch. Friends. Cards. A splash. Another century.

You can look it up on IMDb (tt3917844). Rotten Tomatoes lists it as an 11-minute Western/Fantasy short. Streaming date there: May 1, 2020.

Who made it

Chadwick Pelletier wrote it and directed it. Some listings also credit John T. Connor as co-director and as director of photography.

If that DP name rings a bell: John T. Connor also shot my short West Side Swordy. Small world. Good world.

Production company: CoffeeRing Entertainment. Also connected in credits: Veritas Film & Television and The Hollywood Index.

Producers included Julie Helton and April Scott (associate producer). Jeremy Scott Glenn is listed as co-producer. Mark Hulsey as co-executive producer.

My role: Dead Card Danny

I played Dead Card Danny.

He’s the gambler at the table. Suit. Bowler hat. Cards in hand. The guy who looks like he knows which way the deck is stacked — and doesn’t care.

CoffeeRing cut character posters for the main players. Mine said it plain across the frame:

MCKAY STEWART — DEAD CARD DANNY — ANTE UP 2015

Dead Card Danny character poster My Dead Card Danny character poster. Bowler, suit, one card ready. Shared on X, Nov 4, 2014.

Playing a cardsharp in a fantasy Western is a blast. You get period wardrobe, hard lighting, and a table full of people who all look like they could end you. Then the magic kicks in and the stakes stop being chips.

The crew at the table

I wasn’t alone. Not even close.

For Blood group poster The For Blood group poster. CoffeeRing Entertainment / Veritas. Shared on X.

Here’s the main cast as the credits list them:

  • Chadwick Pelletier as Slade (also writer/director)
  • April Scott as Lady Blade
  • Pete Punito as Mad Mac
  • Rick Mora as Proud Feather
  • McKay Stewart as Dead Card Danny
  • Sapir Azulay as Stacy

April Scott you may know from TV and film. She played Daisy Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (2007). She was on Deal or No Deal. Guest spots include CSI: Miami, The Shield, Entourage, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. On For Blood she also helped produce.

April Scott as Lady Blade April Scott as Lady Blade. Character poster from the same Nov 2014 drop.

Rick Mora is a model and actor with Native American roles across film and TV. Credits include Twilight (2008), the animated Turok: Son of Stone, and later films like Little Boy (2015). On our set he was Proud Feather.

Rick Mora as Proud Feather Rick Mora as Proud Feather. Character poster from the same set.

When I posted the wrap photo I also tagged Danny Downey and Kara Peterson. Good people on a good day.

The teaser

November 4, 2014. Same day as the posters. I shared the teaser on Vimeo.

Title on Vimeo: “For Blood - TEASER.” Uploaded by Veritas Film & Television. Runtime: 32 seconds.

My post that day:

“For Blood trailer! … #deadcarddanny #ladyblade #proudfeather”

Here’s the embed:

“For Blood - TEASER” on Vimeo (32 seconds). Still live as of this post.

For Blood teaser still Teaser thumbnail from Vimeo.

Festival win: San Diego, 2015

This part is on the public record.

At the 2015 San Diego International Film Festival (Sept 30–Oct 4, 2015), For Blood won the Kumeyaay Award.

That award is the festival’s prize for best Native American film. Directors listed with the win: Chadwick Pelletier and J.T. Connor.

You can check the festival’s award winners list yourself. It’s the verified one. (Some bios float other festival claims. I’m sticking to what the San Diego winners page shows.)

Runtime: 11 minutes. Year: 2015. Award: Kumeyaay Award, San Diego International Film Festival.

That’s a short film doing real work.

Why this one still matters to me

2014 was a busy year.

In April I was stunt doubling Scott Wolf on TNT’s Perception. (I wrote about that here.)

In August I wrapped For Blood.

In November I booked a role on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (that story is coming).

Same stretch of months: stunt work, a fantasy Western short, and Marvel. That’s the hustle. You take the fight day. You take the poker-table day. You take the next call.

For Blood is small on paper. Eleven minutes. One room that turns into another world. But the craft was real. The wardrobe was real. The posters were real. The festival plaque was real.

And Dead Card Danny? Still one of my favorite character names I’ve ever gotten to wear on a poster.

The record

Want to check any of this yourself?

That’s the story. Poker chips. Wild West. A splash of the pot. And me in a bowler hat, holding the dead card.

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