Wally Oppal seen here at his office in Vancouver April 1, 2005.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail
The commissioner overseeing the Robert Pickton inquiry, whose career also includes time as a judge and provincial attorney general, is now dabbling in acting, landing a bit part in a forthcoming film by a director notorious for his ultra-violent, B-grade flicks.
Wally Oppal says he filmed a short scene over the weekend for the movie "Bailout," directed by Uwe Boll.
The film follows a character played by actor Dominic Purcell who loses his job during the financial crisis and takes his revenge by assassinating bank executives.
Mr. Oppal said he's friends with a producer involved with the film, who brought up the idea over dinner recently.
In the scene, Mr. Oppal delivers a few short lines before he's shot, prompting a pack of fake blood to explode through his shirt before he falls to the ground.
"It was really an education for me, it was impressive as to how films were made," Mr. Oppal said in an interview outside the Pickton inquiry Thursday.
"There's a hundred people in the room and all the defined roles they have – it was a real eye-opener for me, so I quite enjoyed it."
Before filming, Mr. Oppal said he had to rehearse his lines and then practise falling, for which he was outfitted with elbow and knee pads. Mr. Oppal said he nailed the scene in a single take.
Mr. Boll is best-known for campy, violent films, some based on video games, such as "Alone in the Dark" and "House of the Dead." They are frequently panned and mocked by critics.
In 2009, the Razzies, which honour the worst of Hollywood, handed Mr. Boll the worst-director award for his work on three films: "In the Name of the King," "1968: Tunnel Rats" and "Postal."
Mr. Oppal is currently overseeing a public inquiry to determine why police failed to catch serial killer Robert Pickton as he murdered sex workers from the Downtown Eastside.
At the inquiry on Thursday, one witness joked that she was standing next to a "Hollywood star," a reference to media coverage about Mr. Oppal's film cameo.