12 Days: Spencer Neville in The Obituary of Tunde Johnson

A wealthy, Nigerian-American teen is pulled over by police, shot to death and immediately awakens, reliving the same day over and over, trapped in a terrifying time loop - forced to confront difficult truths about his life and himself;

There is really no competition when it comes to films which celebrate February 2nd, and Punxsutawney Phil.  1993's Groundhog Day remains the pre-eminent film about the holiday.  Danny Rubin's writing is excellent, equaled by the direction from Harold Ramis.  Each character is perfectly cast, from the leads, down to each and everyone of the supporting characters.

But, if you've seen the film multiple times, and are looking for another film to watch, a more recent time loop themed movie was 2019's The Obituary of Tunde Johnson.  It too is beautifully written, (by Ali LeRoi, and beautifully directed by Stanley Kalu.  The films opens with a long, sensual shot of Soren, (Spencer Neville) which sets a beautiful tone which is soon to be shattered.

The two main characters are perfectly cast.  Along with Neville, the main character Babatunde Adesola Johnson, is skillfully portrayed Steven Silver. Babatunde (Tunde) and Soren are secretly dating, while at the same time, Soren is publicly dating Tunde's childhood friend Marley. Both decide to come out to their parents at the same time, on the day of Soren's birthday.

The early scene of Tunde coming out to his parents is beautifully written and shot and also very emotionally and realistically portrayed.  Tunde's parents both appear to have already have known, yet great the new in their own unique, yet loving way.  This scene was actually so well done, in some ways it betrays the rest of the film.  Soon after, Tunde is stopped, and fatally shot by a police officer, causing Tunde to have to relive the day, for me, making those initial scenes, a little less impactful.  

I also had some issues with the ending, but overall all, the parts I enjoyed about the movie far outweighed the parts I didn't.  As I said, it's beautifully shot and the actors create such real characters in relationships many of us can relate to.  They also looked really good together and played well off one another in their scenes together.

Steven Silver is certainly the lead, and the emotional core of the film, but it was actor Spencer Neville that had me checking it out.  I've followed and posted about Neville, (HERE:) since his modeling days, posing for Rick Day and many other well known photogs of the male form.  Neville successfully transitioned into the acting world, and was a stand out during his time on Days of Our Lives.  They certainly wasted one of the hottest actors on their show, even though his character brought a lot of spark into the Will and Sonny dynamic.  Neville was also great on The Deleted, and I've really loved the choices of roles that he's taken.

Spencer Neville: Out Of Uniform

'In the break, Derrick was fired from the hotel. And after my first 20 episodes, there was a lot of Googling and the fans saw some shirtless pictures and they’re like ‘we want more Derrick shirtless’ so I think the writers listened because my first scene back I’m shirtless by the lake and I think every other scene, too. Not every one but every other one. But it’s summertime so…'

Spencer Neville for The Backlot

2 images below: Spencer by Rick Day

During model and actor's Spencer Neville's first stint on Days Of Our Lives he had but one outfit, his character Derrick's bell hop uniform. (see my first post HERE:) As adorable as Spencer looked in his uniform, fans clamoured for a chance to see him out of that uniform. Spencer returned to the NBC soap this week, hopefully stirring more trouble for Sonny & Will and baseball star Paul Norita played by Christopher Sean. If I could wave a magic wand, Neville would have been cast as Will, instead of the insufferable Guy Wilson, but hopefully Derrick's return will add an interesting twist to the stagnant marriage and storyline.

Spencer Neville in The Deleted

I have been keeping an eye on actor Spencer Neville, since first seeing him ring room service (and that incredible face and body) on Days of our Lives. Although Neville took his shirt off frequently when modeling, Days sadly didn't give the actor much to do, and criminally kept his shirt on far too often. Thankfully, Fullscreen's new shot, The Deleted didn't make that mistake. The new TV thriller not only gets of Neville's shirt, they wisely get those pants removed as well!

Below: Spencer with Christopher Sean (Days of our Lives)

'Life is short, don't forget to stop and smell those roses. Oh and mark your calendars! The Deleted premieres on @fullscreen Dec. 4th. If you think this photo is scandalous, just wait. My bum makes it's on screen debut.'

Spencer Neville on Instagram

'The Deleted is being billed as a cult thriller that follows the disappearance of three seemingly unconnected people from Los Angeles, which triggers paranoia among a group of twenty somethings who escaped from a cult a few years back.'<

The Hollywood Reporter

Thanks to xander7 and wlv262 (DC's) for the great caps!

Spencer Neville: Room Service

Watched a few episodes of Days Of Our Lives over my holiday break and I may just have to put it back on the DVR. The Will & Sonny storyline, once a show draw, had gotten so bogged down by bad writing and an annoying re-cast, they became almost unbearable to watch. Chandler Massey may have gotten lazy prior to his leaving, but the power and emotion displayed during the coming out portion of Will's journey makes what the character has become even harder to swallow.

I have no idea why the show continues with the Will re-cast with an actor with such distracting facial expressions and shockingly poor acting skills, but they have. Freddie Smith was wonderful supporting Massey's Will, but as the focus of the couple's storyline, he doesn't have the depth, nor the ability to gather the energy required to sustain the story.

Thankfully they have at least now added some worthy filler, and some hottness, to the storyline with Christopher Sean and Spencer Neville. Former Silver model Neville has only been seen with his bell hop suit on thus far, but hopefully soon his character Derrick will bring something other than food to one of the rooms he services. Neville is so darned appealing, and Sean acts circles around the main couple that his character supports. These two new additions are not so much making the main more tolerable but instead making them even less significant than they were before. Keep these two as a couple and then send Sonny, and especially Will, off into the sunset until new actors can be found!

3 images of Spencer above from Rick Day

Soap Snaps!

Casey Moss

There was a time in the 80's and 90's when daytime drama's were huge. The high audience demanded high promotion and there were dozens of soap opera magazines on the rack. During that time period, there were photographers who made their living shooting magazine covers and head shots of the most popular soap stars and soap couples. Today, finding great shots of daytime actors can be hard to find, that is... unless you're following the work of photographer Brad Everett Young.

Spencer Neville

I first discovered Brad's work last year and since then, whenever I profile a soap actor, especially one of the hot men who inhabits Salem, I turn to Brad's work. If Days Of Our Lives doesn't have an official photographer, they should hire Brad. his images of the cast, both male and female, are always the best, and hottest shots, that I can find.

Brandon Beemer

Although Brad doesn't only shoot actors from daytime, you will find some of the best shots of your favorite daytime stars on Brad's site, and project, Dream Loud Official. Dream Loud is Brad's response to the many schools that have have been forced to cut their art programs due to budget cutbacks. All of us who were in the school musical, took music or art, sang in a choir or joined a photography or drama club know that those experiences, and the learning that took place there, had and continues to have more of impact on our lives than all of the math, science and geography classes we took combined. Brad shares his passion for the arts through his images, and the actors he shoots, always seem to give that little bit extra in front of his lens.

James Lastovic

Dream Loud

Christopher Sean, Neville and Freddy Smith

Year In Review:

When it comes to the artists and models that I profile, I could never do a 'best of'. The F in FH represents favorite, and almost all of the photographers and models that I feature, I sought out and approached due to my love of their work. Entertainment and fads however are a bit different. 2016 was an interesting year for the male form in the media. The stories below are some of the one's I found the most.... compelling.

It seems many hate the man bun, but I love it. I think the first time I truly appreciated the man bun was watching some of my favorite Survivor hunks (Joe Anglim and Malcolm Freberg) sport them in the jungle. Although it appeared well before 2016, last year was the year I saw specifically featured and used in photographs and media. If the 'right' man is wearing that bun, it is incredibly sexy. Canadian model Cameron McElroy, shot in these two images by photographer Edwin J’Lebron, wears it very well.

His chest, abs and lower stomach have been salivated over for years, but never looked better than when Nick Jonas showed them off in Decembers Men's Fitness magazine.

Milo Ventimiglia gave us plenty of reasons to watch television last year. First off, his flash of nudity in the This Is Us pilot. Promoted heavily on social media prior to the premiere, I was surprised to see the scene remain in the NBC broadcast. As a huge fan of Gilmore Girls, I was also thrilled to see Jess briefly return. When I first watched the series years ago, I was 100% team Jess. Now, like many, although I am still team Jess, he seems to have out grown Rory, and I am ok they did not have a happily ever after. But... with the recent tease of the revival's final 4 words, you never know...

I actually think Game of Thrones has done a decent job with male nudity, especially in it's first few seasons. Last season was a little more lackluster. The two highlights were a brief and darkly lit flash of Jon Snow's beautiful backside, (seen more clearly on stage HERE:)and an uncredited extra's penis. Of course I credited him in a post HERE:

I have covering, and un-covering actor Spencer Neville from his modeling days, through those Days of his lives. There, for getting to enjoy Neville's beautiful booty in The Deleted was an enjoyable Autumn surprise.

The Internet went crazy this past summer, when both Orlando Bloom and Justin Bieber were fully exposed by the paparazzi. This was not the first time (I don't even think the second) that lil Bieb has been shot naked, but was the first for Bloom. I used to excited for the odd Bloom butt crack shot, but the full monty was breathtaking.

Now I don't want to get into conspiracy theories, but Bloom and Bieber are known not to get along. Bloom even lodged a punch at the Bieb's a few years ago. If memory serves me, Orlando bloomed naked first this past summer, with Bieber's shots coming out just a few days later. Could it be Bieber wanted to pull the attention back? Most likely not, but whenever things get quiet in Bieber land, he seems to release a butt shot on Intagram or is caught naked on vacation with his current squeeze. Justin's butt even has it's own Twitter page for those interested.

Sometimes a well placed 'hunk moment' can help save a weak movie. The Ghostbusters re-boot had a great cast, a great director but a piss poor script to pull it all together. Nothing really flowed or headed in any interesting direction. But... Chris Hemsworth was a standout as Kevin and his dance during the film's closing credits made it worth watching.

Sometimes however, a 'hunk moment' cannot save a sinking ship. I love me some Chris Pratt, especially we a wet and naked showering Pratt. But the sort of nude scene in The Passenger, didn't change my mind that I just wasted two hours and twelve bucks.

Welcome to the Men's Group provided a hilarious nude scene featuring a group of actors many of us were surprised to see going completely naked on film. The films's Writer and producers Joseph Culp and Scott Ben-Yashar provided digital copies of the film to those who helped contribute financially to the films release. I did, and enjoyed my viewing. I did a piece on the film to help support it, but chose not to cap the actor's frontals. I saw them elsewhere on the net, but given the sneak peaks were to raise funds, thought I would wait until the movie was released.

(l-r) David Clennon, Timothy Bottoms, Ali Saam, Mackenzie Astin, Joseph Culp, Terrance Rotolo, Phil Abrams, and Stephen Tobolowsky down in front.

Speaking of full frontals and charity, I also don't normally post penis shots from The Warwick Rowers. A difficult task at times especially with my favorite rower Will, who is back again this year. (see my post on Will from 2015 HERE:) The project raises funds to fight homophobia and although I have been supporting the project for many years, usually tick to PG shots. But... After a couple of recent posts, I received two e-mails, one from a FH reader wondering if there was full frontals in the calendar and another from someone who bought the calendar and was not happy there was not full nudity.

Photographer Angus Malcolm has organized the yearly project beautifully, featuring nude (but PG) shots for promotion and the main calendar, and full nudity in the book and behind the scenes videos. I just watched this years England and Spain films, and they were worth every penny. It was interesting watching Angus and the rowers shoot PG and full nude shots in the same set ups for use in the calendar, and for the book. The calendar and book come in the mail, but the videos are their immediately on WarwickRowers.org for download to your computer.