Jake McGee

Jake McGee is an American writer, actor and filmmaker. McGee first made his mark as a freelance journalist, writing for the likes of Village Voice, Pittsburgh City Paper, Cleveland Scene and LA Weekly, and then editor for Get Underground and Kotori Magazine, but more recently has earned praise as an actor and filmmaker. In 2004, Bob Freville approached McGee about playing the lead role in "Of Bitches & Hounds," a bizarre love tale that Freville had penned with McGee and Melissa King (McGee's girlfriend at the time) in mind. The story was about a woman - Patience - who buys a man - The Pooch - as her "pet," in her quest for happiness. Never one to shy away from controversy, McGee took the role of The Pooch, and ultimately ended up co-producing the movie along with Freville. "Of Bitches & Hounds" was shot in Kent, Ohio, in the summer of 2004. However, it wasn't completed until 2007, due to several devastating attempts at hiring editors, who would ultimately take months to do nothing. They finally secured James Neyman as editor, and the movie was completed in September, 2007. While the film saw no distribution other than one public screening and running on Google Movies, McGee's performance was widely praised as groundbreaking and stirring. He also proved himself as an extremely competent producer, taking charge of securing all the music for the movie's soundtrack and score, as well as securing all the locations in the film. In late 2007, Neyman asked McGee to play the lead role in Neyman's first outing as director, in "The Slasher," a horror/thriller Neyman wrote with Kurt Broz. McGee's depiction of Edison Gorsky earned rave reviews, for his chilling yet subtle portrayal of a man on the brink of insanity. "The Slasher" wrapped up post-production in 2008, and made its world premier at the 2009 Indie Gathering Film Festival in Cleveland, Ohio, taking 3rd place for Best Horror Feature. In 2008, Freville and McGee collaborated again, this time for a "mockumentary" they called "Garbagehead." The concept was to make a movie about two writers who were struggling with various forms of addition, as well as taking a stab at society's obsession with celebrity, by having the writers acting like they're more famous than they really are. McGee and Freville basically played exaggerated versions of themselves, and they each wrote & directed their respective halves. Ultimately, both Freville and McGee saw the project as a failure, and after it was completed in 2009, they made little effort to promote it, and instead focused on other projects. Nevertheless, McGee's segment showed his spark as a screenwriter, and managed to entertain, especially with the cameo section that includes legendary artist Ralph Steadman talking in annoyance about McGee. In February, 2009, Broz and Neyman wrote "The White Russian," a crime noir film following the clumsy adventures of Detective Pinkerton. They asked McGee to play the role of Vegas Lou, a soldier of fortune that Broz envisioned resembling Raoul Duke. While McGee had thus far made a point to not emulate Hunter Thompson, he dove into the role of Vegas Lou, donning aviator glasses and singing Bob Dylan. While the role was a small one, Vegas Lou was such a hit that Neyman and Broz decided to make him the main character in the sequel to "The White Russian." In July 2009, they came up with "Irish Car Bomb," and started production in October 2009. "Irish Car Bomb" was completed in 2010, with McGee leading the movie into new realms of mayhem and debauchery, as a vicious hitman who lets nothing get in his way. Also in 2010, McGee wrote, directed and produced "The Prophet of Lake Erie," which featured vast shots of Cleveland's cityscape typically ignored in the few movies coming out of Cleveland. "The Prophet of Lake Erie" made its world premier on May 19, 2011, at the Ohio Independent Film Festival. Also in 2011, McGee started directing music videos. His first project was for Chris Hatton's pop folk tune, "Facebook Licks My Balls." Later in 2011, Neyman, Broz, Freville and McGee rejoined forces to produce "On the North Coast," the conclusion to the Vegas Lou saga.