Production is underway on Nik Sexton’s feature comedy Donnie Dumphy: How to be Deadly in St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador.

The film stars Leon Parsons as Donnie Dumphy, the character he first created in 2007 which has since garnered a substantial online following, with more than 27,000 Likes on Facebook and almost 4 million views overall on his motionshow YouTube channel.

Sexton, who had been producing skateboarding videos in St. John’s, started cutting skits featuring Parsons as Donnie Dumphy into the footage. After receiving positive feedback on the character – who raps, puts his welfare cheques into booze, and has a penchant for the sketchy areas of town – Sexton and Parsons began posting Donnie Dumphy videos on YouTube, including the music video Havin’ A Time, which to date has almost 1.4 million views.

That led to the 15-minute short film, How to be Deadly, which premiered at TIFF last year, and which Short Cuts Canada programmer Magali Simard described as “the Newfoundland Trailer Park Boys-slash-Fubar.”

Now, Rink Rat Productions’ Mary Sexton is on board to produce the feature-length film, with Sandra Cunningham and Robin Cass of Union Pictures on board to distribute.

Donnie Dumphy: How to be Deadly follows Dumphy and his circle of friends on the eve of the biggest dirt-bike competition of the year.

The film is shooting in locations around St. John’s and Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, and stars Leon Parsons, Sexton, Gina Squires as Dumphy’s girlfriend Brenda, Stephen Lush and Susan Kent. The film also features cameos from Mary Walsh and Cathy Jones.

Donnie Dumphy: How to be Deadly received funding support from Telefilm Canada and the Newfoundland and Labrador Film Development Corporation.

Photo by Becki Peckham via donniedumphy.com