James Handy's Final Film Shelved After Actor's Tragic Death

There’s a completed script gathering dust in a producer’s files—a comedy about nerds learning martial arts that was supposed to be actor James Handy’s next project. Now it’ll likely never see the screen.

Handy, a veteran character actor who appeared in dozens of films and television shows over his career, was cast in“Kickback, V”because writer and producer Heidi Anderson-Swan owed him that much. Years ago, when Anderson-Swan was breaking into the industry, Handy had helped her on multiple projects. So when she was developing this martial arts comedy with a heart—a story about students teaching their hard-nosed sensei some hard-earned life lessons—she knew exactly who she wanted in the role. That was then.

This week, Handy was killed at his girlfriend’s home in what police say was a brutal attack by her son, 44-year-old Michael Gledhill. Gledhill has been arrested and booked for murder, held on a $2 million bond. No motive has been released.

The film never made it out of pre-production. Financial obstacles and other complications had stalled the project long before Handy’s death—but those practical hurdles now feel almost beside the point. Anderson-Swan told reporters she’s still in shock. She remembers Handy talking frequently about his partner, how much he adored her. It’s the kind of detail that cuts deeper when everything ends this way.

“Kickback, V”joins a grim catalog of unfinished creative work left behind by unexpected tragedy—scripts that will never be shot, performances that will never premiere, collaborations that will never come to fruition. In this case, it’s not just a lost film. It’s a lost chance to honor an actor who gave his time freely to help others climb.