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Our second closeup is on Luke Matheny’s Oscar-winning short film God of Love. Matheny himself plays Raymond, a lounge-singing darts champion who is in love with Kelly (Marion Brock), the drummer in his band. Unfortunately, she’s in love with Fozzie (Christopher Hirsch), the band’s guitarist. Things change when Raymond receives an anyonymous package of “love darts” that are a modern update of Cupid’s arrows. Is it as simple as firing one at his crush?
I remember seeing the goofy-looking Matheny giving a joyful acceptance speech at the 2011 Oscars® when his film won the award for Best Live-Action Short. It almost looked like “acting” in the film wasn’t that much of a stretch for him. He admits that the idea for the film came out of his own experiences of unrequited love:
As someone who has had plenty of unrequited crushes on various girls throughout the years, I was eager to tell a story that celebrates unrequited love. But as someone who can now recognize his earlier crushes as, well, let’s be honest, absurd exercises in delusion, I was also determined to critique the image of the lovestruck hero.
And as someone else who has had his share of unrequited loves, I’m looking forward to seeing how he works this one out. Here, just for fun, is Luke learning about his nomination for the Academy Award while he was attending the 2011 Sundance Film Festival: