The cast of The Nurse (from left): David Millbern, Willa Ford, Brigid Brannagh, Jack Noseworthy, and (seated) John Heard
David Millbern, Emmy-nominated producer of The Ribbon of Hope Celebration, is a go-to actor-producer for Here TV. Currently he is the cohost and creator of Modd Couples, a straight-versus-gay game show designed to find out who knows their partner best. But next up is the Comcast Xfinity premiere of The Nurse, which is a part of Here TV's free preview June 22-28,featuring hundreds of hours of movies, series, and specials.
Millbern both produces and plays the role of John Desseau in The Nurse. "It's a fun female thriller with campy horror," he says. "It's The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, but instead of a nanny, it's a nurse who comes into the house and wreaks havoc," he adds with a laugh."It's very tasty." The Nurse was also inspired by the classic thriller Madame X and revives the aesthetics of 1980s nighttime soap operas, offering a blend of melodrama and horror enhanced by a retro score and highly stylized acting. "We even get the requisite female catfight in there," Millbern says.
Millbern plays an opportunistic philanderer who falls for the charms of the film's sexy villainess, portrayed by "I Wanna Be Bad" girl Willa Ford, and of course, it does not end well for his character. The musician-turned-actress cut her teeth in the 2009 remake of Friday the 13th and bites into the lead role of The Nurse with equal parts sexiness and malice. The film also stars Costas Mandylor (Saw), John Heard (Home Alone), Brigid Brannagh (Lifetime's Army Wives), and was directed by Sam Irvin (Dante's Cove). This ensemble offers up guilty pleasures aplenty in this soapy send-up.
Millbern, who has been acting professionally since his teens, says he's truly become an actor-producer hyphenate. "What I love about producing is you have so many more colors to choose and paint with," he says. "As an actor you have only one color, and if you're a good actor, you find more, but ultimately ... you're bound to the script. As a producer, your storytelling elements become so much greater because you can paint with the music, you can paint with the cast, you can paint with the edit ... with what director you choose. You have so many more colors to play with."
He is currently producing The Advocate 50th Anniversary documentary, with Billy Clift directing. The two, who first teamed up on the 2015 feature film Hush Up Sweet Charlotte, and will be shooting throughout the year. "The Advocate is such a beloved property, I'm really kind of falling in love with it again myself," Millbern says. "We forget and lose perspective about what The Advocate has meant over the years. One segment of the doc re-creates the Black Cat riots, which started The Advocate back in 1967."
The Nurse and some of Millbern's other projects, Modd Couples, Hush Up Sweet Charlotte, and Now What?! plus hundreds of other titles are available on Here TV and can be seen for free on Comcast's Xfinity for Here TV binge week, June 22 -28.
