Everything changed in 1997, when two friends 
  Darling had trained while living in Tucson called 
  him at his new home in El Paso. His friends told 
  him they had made the move to L.A. and invited 
  Darling to come join them working on actual 
  motion picture sets. 
                        Darling made the move 
                        began working in the 
                        and television indus-
                        spending the major-
                        his time working 
                        art departments and 
                        creating special effects 
                        makeup. While working 
                        studying the burgeoning 
                        of three-dimensional 
                        animation, Darling also had 
                        opportunity to learn from 
                        greats in the industry just by 
                        watching them work, and he used 
                        new knowledge and experience 
                        creating new short films. 
                        “With those weapons under my belt
                        I could realistically get into 
                        filmmaking,” he said. 
                            Darling’s first feature-length film
                        --   60-minute long "Ghosts" -- was
                        made with just friends, which he 
                        described as a great learning expe-
                        rience. 
                            Following “Ghosts,” Darling 
                        moved to Albuquerque and put 
                        together his newest release 
                        “Grave Mistake” with more knowledge, 
                        equipment and resources than he 
                        had ever been able to work with
                        previously.

Although many filmmakers warn against working 
 with friends, Darling said it was never a problem for 
 him, and in fact, allowed him to have the most skilled 
 crew in the region at the most affordable price. 
    “I had a great crew (on “Grave Mistake”) that basi-
cally worked for free along with the credit they received 
for their work,” he said. 
     Many of his crew had worked in previous films shot 
 in the area, including “Wildfire,” “Beerfest,” “Employee 
 of the Month” and “Wild Hogs.” 
     For “Grave Mistake,” Darling did everything – includ-
 ing writing, directing, composing the musical score, 
 producing, editing and even playing bit parts – but most 
 importantly, he created the massive amount of special 
 effects necessary to make this zombie flick a reality. 
     “There were around 350 prosthetic makeups in 
 ‘Grave Mistake,’” he said. “I really wanted to showcase 
 the makeup.” 
     Darling said that just last week, “Grave Mistake” 
 acquired a major distribution deal that will place the 
 film in every major rental chain in the United States, 
 including Hollywood Video, Hastings and Blockbuster. 
     Despite coming so recently off the massive undertak-
 ing of his last film, Darling has already started working 
 on his next movie, a monster movie set in the Chihua-
 huan desert. He is currently 80 pages into the new 90-
 page script, which then leads into pre-production work 
 and casting. 
     Darling admitted that most people would take a 
 break and enjoy the recent success of “Grave Mistake,” 
 he feels a strong momentum right now and wants to 
 take advantage of it as long as it lasts. 
     “If you don’t keep the ball rolling, it stops,” he said. 
     Darling is working with Doña Ana Community Col-
 lege’s Creative Media Technology department on using 
 local students as crew, allowing them to get valuable 
 experience in the field necessary to further their careers. 
     He is considering some people for parts in the new 
 film, but is still interested in seeing what talent lies 
 inside the Las Cruces area, so Darling will hold a audi-
 tion from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, July 12, at the Rio

Grande Theatre, 211 N. Downtown Mall. Anyone age 18
and up will be considered, and Darling is still looking
for an older couple, approximately nine Latinos willing 
to play drug dealers and five to six people age 18 to 25.
    Although movie making has become Darling’s main 
mode of artistic outlet, he works in a wide variety of 
media.
    Darling began playing music at the age of 10, and 
has even run a recording studio, Gryphon’s Egg, during 
four of his years in Las Cruces. Using his experience at 
creating and recording music, Darling has scored all of 
his films in his extensive studio that contains five key-
boards, recording equipment and a collection of guitars, 
kept for the variation of sound each produces.
    When not filming late into the night, Darling also 
plays guitar and does some vocals for local band 
Soulshine.
    Darling began painting and sculpting in the sixth 
grade at the behest of WSMR Elementary School teach-
er Myron Weckwerth, who saw a troubled child in Dar-
ling and pushed him into creative outlets.
    “Mr. Weckwerth was one of the strongest influences 
in my life,” Darling said.
    Although he still has a smattering of paintings, 
Darling lost the majority of his work in one of his reloca-
tions, but hopes to one day build up his body of work.
    “At the time, I had to start over with one guitar and 
a crate of books,” he said.
    Although he plans to keep up his filmmaking momen-
tum as long as his energy will allow, Darling says his 
big dream is to open a truly independent film production 
facility in Las Cruces to further his own film capabili-
ties and to provide more opportunities for area students 
wanting to get their foot in the door.
   “My whole goal is to have a facility for the communi-
ty, but my personal goal is to support myself doing what 
I love to do,” he said, “and I’m almost at that point.”
   For more information on Shawn Darling or his 
films, visit www.gravemistake.org or contact him at 
gryphonsegg@hotmail.com.

Friday July 11, 2008                                              The Las Cruces Bulletin                                    Page C9 
                                                                 Featured Artist

    Many people don't have the constitution to follow 
their dreams, but not Shawn Darling. Since the eigth
grade, Darling has been making the fantastical work-
ings of his imagination into a reality. 
    Although Darling had a growing 
interest in special effects makeup
and had begun collecting Halloween 
masks already, he said it was really 
Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video 
that pushed his interest over the 
edge into the realm of filmmaking.
    Darling started off making 8mm 
films with his friends and stop-
motion animation with his action 
figures, which was his first taste of
turning his dreams into a reality he 
could share with the world.
    Although he had progressed to 
telling stories through film, Darling 
never lost his first love of special 
effects makeup, even getting the 
opportunity to talk to his idol Tom 
Savini, who is responsible for the 
makeup on such iconic horror films 
as “Friday the 13th,” “Creepshow” 
and George Romero’s zombie classic 
“Day of the Dead.” Savini told Dar-
ling he needed to move to Los Ange-
les to further his film career, but he 
wasn’t ready to make that move yet. 
    Raised at White Sands Missile 
Range (WSMR) and Las Cruces, Dar-
ling lived in cities throughout the 
desert Southwest such as Las Vegas 
and Tucson, Ariz., working a variety of jobs from stage
magician to waiting tables to pay the bills while still
dabbling in his makeup and sculpture work.