A face to remember lands Lexington resident on the silver screen | Entertainment

“Summer Camp,” which was filmed primarily at Camp Pinnacle in Hendersonville and stars Diane Keaton, Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard, Eugene Levy and Beverly D’Angelo, is about three friends who spent their summers at a summer camp, and they return as adults to the camp for a reunion.

Mauldin appeared in about 15 minutes of the film as a tattooed face patient who is shot in the leg and is accidentally urinated on by Woodward’s nurse character when he shows up chained to the bed at a hospital.

“I flatline on the operating table, and Alfre’s character is on top of me trying to revive me,” he said. “Her husband keeps calling her while she is trying to revive me and bothering her with nothing-type questions. She had to use the restroom before all this started, so in the chaos of all this happening, she releives herself while on top of me. It’s obviously a comedy movie.”

Mauldin said he has been involved in some type of entertainment since he was a teenager in Norwood singing in a rock band. The former Atrium Windows & Doors employee began trying to get into acting a few years ago and had a local agent. Nothing came of it, but he was always looking for opportunities.

One day while scrolling on Facebook, he saw a casting call for a movie being filmed in the mountains. He was skeptical because many of these types of posts eventually ask for payment to be considered and turn out to be scams, he said. As he kept getting deeper and deeper into the post, he realized no one was asking for money. He sent in a headshot and almost immediately got a call from one of the film’s casting crew members.

“They said, ‘The director loves your look,’ ” Mauldin said. “They were going to just cast someone and use makeup to put the tattoos on the actor. I already had the art on my face.”

The movie was filmed at Camp Pinnacle and a nearby hospital. Mauldin said it was an amazing experience, and he got to meet one of his Hollywood idols, Kathy Bates, and work with other well-known actors and make-up artists. When he got to meet Bates, he said, it was hard to not scream “Tawanda,” the name of her character Evelyn Couch’s alter ego in “Fried Green Tomatoes.”

“I thought when I was cast I was just going to be someone in background shots of the movie,” he said. “When I showed up for filming I was sitting in this area with all the other extras. Someone came in and called my name and told me I was needed in wardrobe and makeup. Everyone started kidding me and and calling me superstar. … I had no idea my role was going to get this much on screen time. We were told what wardrobe to bring with us. The person who called to cast me didn’t tell me how big my role would be.”

While the former pizza chef has been on TV in an episode of the Travel Channel’s “Food Paradise” that was filmed at The Salty Caper in Salisbury, where he worked, he said that being in “Summer Camp” was life-changing and makes him want to keep pursuing other acting roles.

“I know I look mean with these tattoos and like I would rip your heart out, but I’m really a nice guy,” he said. “People ask me how am I going to make money with these things on my face. I tell them I already have (made money).”

The movie is set to have a premiere screening in Hendersonville before it is released nationally, and Mauldin will be part of the red carpet affair.

“The whole experience was amazing,” he said, “and I have something better to put on my resume.”