Douglas Vermeeren is a name that most people may not be familiar with… yet. Over the last few years Vermeeren has been attracting a lot of attention in the film and television scene. Since the end of the covid pandemic it seems that he’s been acting non-stop, showing up in films for Netflix, Paramount Plus and scores of independent features.
Vermeeren’s busy schedule has had him shooting on multiple continents and even portraying roles in other languages. (Vermeeren is fluent in French and English, yet speaks bits of at least a dozen other languages.)
But what critics and audiences are really taking notice of his work in the film Jackknife. Jackknife is currently showing in the film festival circuit and picking up awards wherever it goes. For example, the morning I am writing this the film was just awarded the Best Picture award at the Indo French International film festival and accepted as an official selection for the Crown Point International film festival.
Jackknife, written and directed by Adam Jack made its premiere at the TIFF Lightbox theater in Toronto earlier this year to a sold out audience.
The story follows two young black teens from a mixed family, Ty (Tivon Charles) and Jazz (Peyton Mills). Critics have been applauding the acting debut of both of these young actors who were incredible in bringing to life these characters.
This teenaged brother and sister duo experience racism and stereotypical prejudice as they try to navigate life in their naive community. Everything becomes even worse when there is a robbery and murder in their town and they become the prime suspects.
After accidentally stealing a bag full of drugs and the murder weapon, they decide to go on the run rather than face law enforcement who has already made an incorrect decision regarding their involvement.
To make matters worse they have a run in with the actual perpetrators of the crime, the Lachance brothers. These two dangerous brothers are portrayed by Thain Wesley (Guy Lachance) and Douglas Vermeeren (Billy Lachance). The Lachance brothers are dangerous drug dealers who have no qualms about adding more victims to their murderous crime spree.
But there’s more, Guy Lachance has a lengthy record of sexual assaults, especially for minors. Lachance has his eye specifically on the young 13 year old girl Jazz and he won’t take no for an answer. When the brother and sister duo cross paths with Lachance they accidentally kill him in an effort of defence.
As you can imagine in addition to having local law enforcement looking for them, and community of concerned citizens… they have now attracted the attention of the more dangerous Lachance brother, Billy.
Douglas Vermeeren masterfully creates a suspenseful and terrifying hunt for the teens as he races after them for revenge. Naturally the audience is on the edge of their seats wondering who will get to these teenagers first and what the outcome might be.
Many are feeling that this might be the best writing yet to come from award winning writer/director Adam Jack. Jack is also known for his recent film The Lurker which has won over 60 awards at variety of film festivals around the world. Many are expecting Jackknife to reach even higher heights.
Over the Oscars weekend in Los Angeles, Douglas Vermeeren won a Best Actor award at the Universal Studios Hilton’s Oscar event.
As noted above Vermeeren has had quite the year for his career. This win is his second Best Actor Award, the other being awarded for a complication of several projects completed in 2023. Vermeeren also won Best Supporting Actor for his work in the Horror Anthology Tenants. Tenants was released earlier this year, premiering at the LA film Festival.
This year will be a very busy year for Vermeeren with several of his latests projects releasing over rate summer. The biggest may very well be the upcoming western action movie featuring Cynthia Rothrock, Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Patrick Fitzpatrick, Keith Cook, Richard Norton and others. In Black Creek, Douglas Vermeeren portrays Hank Winslow, one of the primary villains of Black Creek. As you have probably guessed with the names of some of his costars this is a martial arts fighting movie. Vermeeren’s character hosts the fighting ring and manipulates the gambling surrounding it. Things get kind of crazy in Black Creek when Rose (Cynthia Rothrock) returns to town to deal with some issues from the past.
When asked about his experience on Black Creek Douglas Vermeeren shared, “It was a great experience. Working with so many of these martial arts legends was incredible. They are all so skilled. It was so wonderful to be a part of it.” When asked about his favorite part of the shoot he continued, “It was a really fun experience near the end of the film when my character gets kicked in the face by Cynthia Rothrock. I guess I’m now part of an elite club of people that have been screen kicked by the most famous queen of martial arts cinema.”
Coming out later this year is the anticipated second horror feature by acclaimed director Daniel Turres, Fresh Meat. Currently Turres’, most recent film, Here for Blood, is in theaters in both Canada and the US and is quickly growing a massive audience. With almost a 90% rating on rotten tomatoes many are very excited for the upcoming feature Fresh Meat. In Fresh Meat, Douglas Vermeeren portrays Sheriff Rudy Bellamy.
A group of internet influencers try to break into an abandoned and supposed haunted prison. Sheriff Bellamy tries to keep them out. And as you can image when things go very wrong it’s the sheriffs job to hopefully get them out alive. Fresh meat is scheduled for a released later this year.
Mafia Spies has just come out on Paramount Plus. In this historical docuseries, Douglas Vermeeren portrays one of the lead FBI agents on a mission to catch a leader in the mafia. The docuseries unfolds several actual government events and activities that have now been declassified. In Mafia Spies we discover how the U.S. Government partnered with the mafia in an effort to assassinate Fidel Castro. As this docuseries is based on declassified top secret activities the activities of the government and the characters involved is quite surprising. The project even puts the JFK assassination into a completely different context. It’s definitely worth watching.
Things show no sign of slowing down for Vermeeren who has a packed schedule already for the balance of 2024. One of the most anticipated projects will be his third collaboration with Chris Shayne Sanders in the UK. The film called, Clean Right Hook is a British gangster film in the silt of Layer Cake, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and The Gentlemen. In Clean Right Hook, Vermeeren will be playing Archie Baker. A character deeply involved in organized crime with a violent tendency. Not much else has been revealed about this film except that it will be going to camera in early June.
Whatever is next for Vermeeren it promises to be exciting. We expect that we will see many more awards coming his way as his career continues to grow.