Johnny Depp and David Lynch Help Teen with Cancer Make a Horror Film

A group of Hollywood’s most famous names—Johnny Depp and Twin Peaks co-creator David Lynch, to name a few—helped a teen horror fan with stage four kidney cancer make his very own zombie movie, Metro.co.uk reports.

Anthony Conti, 16, is an emerging filmmaker and creator of The Satanic Zucchini Show, a comedy and sci-fi YouTube series. He also wrote a short film called The Black Ghiandol, in which a young man—played by Conti himself—“risks his life to save the girl he loves, after his family is wiped out during a zombie apocalypse,” a synopsis reads (as quoted by Metro.co.uk).

Instead of letting the script languish on his computer hard drive, Conti ended up turning the project into a real-life movie. The Make A Film Foundation—a nonprofit organization that helps teens or children with serious medical conditions create short films with the help of a star-studded cast and crew—caught wind of his project, and offered to lend him a hand.

The Black Ghiandol ended up starring Depp and Lynch, along with actors Laura Dern and J.K. Simmons. As for its directors, they included horror movie heavy-hitter Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, 1981), Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight, 2008), and Theodore Melfi (St. Vincent, 2014).

The movie shoot ran for five days, and the film is currently in post-production. Check out some pictures taken during the filming process below, or watch a video of Conti describing his project.

[Metro.co.uk]