MERICA ADAMS is a gun-wielding, time-travelling, science fiction character created by Mike Sizemore and portrayed on film by Haruka Abe.
PRECISION 2011: Six Minutes Goes A Long Way
Mike had first cast Haruka in the sizzle reel for SLINGERS, an “Ocean’s 11 in space” TV show. When the buzz around the show faded, he wanted to create something new – a role specifically for her – as a thank you for bringing the heart of that story to life.
Enter director Andrew Sykes, who reached out to Mike in early 2011 with a wild idea:
Let’s make a short movie in 48 hours for the London Sci-fi Film Festival.
Never one to say no to something he hadn’t done before, Mike reached out to Haruka and brought on board artist Dave Kennedy and composer Steve Kilpatrick. Director of MOON, Duncan Jones, had advised Mike to get himself a gang – and now he had one.
Time to make some sci-fi.
The shoot went smoothly – and fast. Haruka flew in from Hungary, where she was filming 47 RONIN, arriving Saturday morning. She stayed on her feet, running through the backstreets of SE1 and clambering atop a tank, for 24 hours straight before catching the next plane back to Keanu. Meanwhile, the rest of the team powered through the edit, fuelled by coffee and a lot of pizza.
As the shoot was documented on social media, PRECISION began to generate buzz. By the time the short premiered, Merica already had a small but vocal fanbase. It debuted at the LSFFF and quickly found an audience online, where it went viral.
The character design and Dave’s art inspired other artists to riff on the time-travelling renegade, while Steve’s Carpenteresque score was turned into ringtones by fans. Merica struck a chord – and plans were put in place for more adventures.
THE WILDERNESS STORIES: Building Merica’s World
The first short captured lightning in a bottle. But putting together a crew for a sequel – this time with a real budget – took longer than anyone liked. In the meantime, Mike continued to develop the character and expand her universe, creating a story bible even more detailed than the one he’d built for SLINGERS.
The sequel was now entitled MERICA ADAMS, while the broader project became HAVE GUN ∞ WILL TIME-TRAVEL as a nod to the bounty-hunting Western series from the 1950s starring Richard Boone.
While writing the script, Mike realised he had enough material for a dozen shorts and decided to adapt them into stories. They remain unpublished – but in 2025, he finally plans to revisit and release them as a collected short story volume.
But back in 2014, the next chapter of Merica’s story was ready to film.
MERICA ADAMS 2014: The Abandoned Sequel
Birmingham. A scout of the city turned up some prime locations for a script far more ambitious than the 8-minute PRECISION. It called for a larger crew, the same camera that Mike had used on his American series CAPER, a lot more gunfire, some knife-play, a full day inside an abandoned bank vault, and the destruction of a purpose-built apartment set.
The cast expanded to include a squad of special forces operatives for Merica to pick off one by one – and a love interest to deliver some slow-dance romance, followed by bloody vengeance once he got himself killed. Daniel Ings, who Mike had previously cast as the lead in his stage production of HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE, gamely jumped into the morgue and onto the dance floor, dripping with charisma and bloody squibs.
Plus, Merica got a new signature weapon: The Paradox Pistol – designed by Dave and Mike, and custom-built for the shoot. A thing of beauty. Especially when drawn in the grandeur of a Roman Catholic Church that gave the cast and crew full access – and didn’t mind a little blood in the font.
And for a while, it all went well. The last moment procurement of a snow machine provided a touch of melancholy to the final shot. A few tears were shed. And a lot of blood.
Then the shoot paused for a few weeks while the producers – Mike included – lined up the final pieces to finish the movie.
And then it all fell apart.
Irreconcilable differences covers it. A banging of heads on both sides that, in retrospect, seems entirely avoidable – but at the time, it derailed everything. The footage was jettisoned into purgatory. The custom props and costumes into irretrievable limbo. And that was that.
2025: The Return of Merica Adams?
Reviewing the footage, Mike and Andrew agreed it was too good to let rot. One idea was to use it – along with the wealth of behind-the-scenes material – to make a documentary about the abandoned sequel.
But as Mike noodled ideas, he found a way to do something better: shoot an entirely new sequence to create a hybrid. One that would overwrite the unfinished story, but complete a slightly different version using the best of what had already been captured.
Pre-production is now underway on a new hybrid short with the working title:
HAVE GUN ∞ WILL TIME-TRAVEL.
Haruka is back. And another of the team’s favourite actors, [REDACTED], is also on board. And yes – Steve and Dave are back to do their thing.
Watch this space.
Merica Adams will return.
