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When Keith Jardine found himself stuck in his own time loop of sorts, he decided there was only one way out of it.
Now the former UFC standout and fan favorite thinks his gamble is going to wind up paying off – and that big things are on the horizon.
Jardine left the UFC in 2010 on the heels of a Fight of the Night majority decision loss to Matt Hamill. A couple years later, after a few more fights – including Strikeforce bouts with future champs Gegard Mousasi (a draw) and Luke Rockhold – he hung up the gloves for good with a 17-11-2 record.
Since then, Jardine has been a steady presence in Hollywood with dozens of acting roles ons his resume, as well as stunt acting performances. But when it seemed like he kept getting the same roles over and over again, Jardine set out to change the script. Literally.
Jardine set out to write his own features from his own ideas, and he said he put work into that part of the craft with the hope of the kind of success, financial and otherwise, that will help him get other movies made that are ready to go.
After a picture he wrote, directed and starred in called “El Paso 11:55” tore it up on the short films awards circuit in 2022 — with multiple wins for “The Dean of Mean” not just for his performance opposite Brendan Fehr, but for the script and his direction – Jardine had some extra cred.
And from that came “Kill Me Again,” which hit theaters three weeks ago, and also is available to rent or buy through major streaming services.
Jardine told MMA Junkie Radio the idea for the movie – think “Groundhog Day” meets “Dexter,” set in a roadside diner – is not new, but his spin on it is.
“This will allow me to do all the rest of the movies I have ready to go,” Jardine said. “I needed to find something I could do low budget and contain, and I was trying to think about ideas. I love the time-loop ‘Groundhog Day’ aspect, so I was thinking of that – that’s a great idea. We can do that.
“I had to give it my flavor, and what ‘Kill Me Again’ is, is ‘Groundhog Day’ from the perspective of a serial killer. That pretty much sells itself. The script, I wrote from beginning to end. It was great, I knew it was great, and I started raising money.”
Jardine brought on Fehr, who starred with him in his “El Paso 11:55” short, to star as the “Midnight Mangler” in “Kill Me Again,” and out of the gate, the reviews of the film have been solid. More than 75 percent of users at IMDb rated the film a 9 or higher, and more than 80 percent of those respondents said the movie is a 10/10.
Jardine pulled from his old MMA world for a few parts in the movie, as well. Michelle Waterson, Donald Cerrone, Maurice Greene and former “Ultimate Fighter” Season 3 contestant Tait Fletcher all get some screen time.
But after years of having plenty of screen time of his own, Jardine thinks “Kill Me Again” is going to put him into a different time loop.
“This is going to be the start of something really big for me,” he said. “I can’t wait for people to see this. I guarantee you, every bit of this movie sells. Every bit of this movie is great.”
Check out “Kill Me Again” at Apple TV or Amazon Prime.
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