Johnny Depp and David Lynch Help Teen with Cancer Make a Horror Film

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A group of Hollywood’s most famous names—Johnny Depp and

Twin Peaks

co-creator David Lynch, to name a few—helped a teen horror fan with stage four kidney cancer make his very own zombie movie,

Metro.co.uk reports

. Anthony Conti, 16, is an emerging filmmaker and creator of

The Satanic Zucchini Show

, a comedy and sci-fi YouTube series. He also wrote a short film called

The Black Ghiandol

, in which a young man—played by Conti himself—“risks his life to save the girl he loves, after his family is wiped out during a zombie apocalypse,” a synopsis reads (as quoted by Metro.co.uk). Instead of letting the script languish on his computer hard drive, Conti ended up turning the project into a real-life movie.

The

Make A Film Foundation

—a nonprofit organization that helps teens or children with serious medical conditions create short films with the help of a star-studded cast and crew—caught wind of his project, and offered to lend him a hand.

The Black Ghiandol

ended up starring Depp and Lynch, along with actors Laura Dern and J.K. Simmons. As for its directors, they included horror movie heavy-hitter Sam Raimi (

Evil Dead

, 1981), Catherine Hardwicke (

Twilight

, 2008), and Theodore Melfi (

St. Vincent

, 2014). The movie shoot ran for five days, and the film is currently in post-production. Check out some pictures taken during the filming process below, or watch a video of Conti describing his project.

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