The Otter Creek Outdoor Recreation Area near Louisville, Kentucky is Josh Nally’s favorite place to play dead.
This time of year is particularly “creepy,” he said. The ruins of the campsite with the shutters closed and the fallen leaves scattered about are perfect filming locations.
For the past year, Nalley has Own TikTok Pretending to be dead in hopes of being cast as a corpse in a TV series or film. stream Close to home in Kentucky.had three of his dog licks his face when he leaned against a tree. fell down in the car; floating in the pool; I wrapped myself in the doorway and splattered onto the pavement.
Nalley always included a caption tallying the number of days “I’m not alive until I’m cast as a non-living body in motion and TV shows.”
By mid-July, about 200 videos had been released, and CSI: Vegas was the center of attention. On November 3, Mr. Nalley, 42, will appear on an episode of CBS’s forensic crime drama. The Courier-Journal of Louisville reported Mr. Nully’s big break.
“I was just enjoying the internet,” Nary said. He never expected his campaign to actually become popular. He said he developed the concept “out of boredom.”
“I spent a lot of time on TikTok trying to figure out what I could do to be on TikTok and maybe be in a movie with as little effort as possible,” he said. I got
“CSI: Vegas” showrunner Jason Tracy said Nally was the perfect person to play “the corpse in the background of the morgue.”
“Probably no one in the history of television has auditioned for a role that doesn’t speak so thoroughly,” Tracy said. “After 321 photos or so, it’s time for him to pick up momentum and get called up to the big leagues.”
Mr. Nully is not a big fan of the crime genre. In fact, he doesn’t watch much TV. But he was a fan of the original “CSI”.
He lives in Elizabethtown, Kentucky and works as a restaurant manager in the neighboring town. He typically shoots multiple videos on his days off in nearby parks (such as his Forrest in Bernheim and Saunders Springs) or in his backyard, which he posts throughout the week. Sometimes he even records outside the restaurant where he works.
“A desolate, empty parking lot is always a good place to dump a big body,” he said.
Often he shoots videos using a cell phone and a tripod, but sometimes he enlists the help of a family friend. Nally’s method is simple. Take a few deep breaths, then hold your breath for about 25 seconds and try to stay still as much as possible. If rocks are digging into his side of the ground, it proves difficult.
“You want to move, but you’re like, ‘No, hold it for a little longer,'” he said to himself.
When he sits and plays dead, Mr. Nally usually has his eyes open so that the viewer can see his face. If he is lying down, he usually has his eyes closed because “half of his face is usually pressed to the ground.”
Nally’s intentions are comedic in nature, but TikTok doesn’t always agree. He used the term “not alive” instead of “dead” and stayed away from gory makeup like fake blood and bullet wounds to avoid clashing with the platform’s content moderators. (He has been given probation several times on TikTok, he said.) Even Mr. Nully’s handle living dead joshwas created with TikTok’s algorithm in mind.
He tries to capture the TikTok trend of the moment and adds music to lighten the mood. Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” and the “Peanuts” theme song for the Thanksgiving post. One of his favorite videos is Christmas, he usually gets together with friends to have pizza and beer. last year, they all pretended to be dead together.
“They are family to me and I love it because they were all there,” said Mr. Nally.
After over 200 videos, a CBS producer emailed him about a role in CSI: Vegas. He was incredulous at first, but after exchanging a few emails, the studio flew him to Los Angeles for the summer, and Mr. Nally said in his Sept. 15 video No. 321 that he announced the new gig in the caption of the footage from . Spread on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Next to the star of longtime ‘CSI’ actress Marg Helgenberger.
For this job, he had to do two hours of makeup to make it look like his character’s autopsy was complete. During the five hours of filming, Nalley’s instructions were simple and familiar.
“CSI” showrunner Tracy said the show and the job of a crime scene investigator “can be unrelentingly grueling” and that the producers “have gallows humor in the history of the profession and franchise.” said he was trying to find
Nalley’s quiet presence was “a nice way to keep the day’s set light.”
“Often there are dummies in the morgue,” Tracy said. “The cast were more surprised than anyone else to find a breathing corpse next to them.”
However, he did have some semi-serious notes about the aspiring corpse.
“Honestly, I would have liked to breathe a little less, but I can fix that in the post,” Tracy said. His trick is finding spots and focusing even when they’re closed. “
Mr. Nuree said he doesn’t know what’s next for his career. Perhaps another TV show or movie, or even a show with filmmaker and actor Kevin Smith, he thought. “I’ve always liked his movies and I think he has that same sense of humor,” said Nally. “Even if it’s a cameo, it’s great.”
But for now, he continues to post daily on TikTok for his nearly 120,000 followers.
“I hope they laugh honestly,” he said. “I hope it makes them laugh. And I hope it gives someone patience.”