A UB staff member’s Hollywood story

Just imagine.

From the time you snuck around to watch “Friday the 13th” as a teenager, you’ve loved movies. Something about the mystery and psychological thrills in the ’80s horror movie genre spoke to you on a deep, impressionable level.

Then your life takes a hit. Your dream job ends, beyond your control. And it hurts. But during that dark time, a movie star friend you know through your love of movies calls — and asks you to be in a new film. It’s not only a real movie, it pays homage to the movies you fell in love with as a kid. This new movie casts numerous actors and actresses you’ve watched all your life, as well as the good friend who got you connected in the first place. The friend, who grew up in Hollywood with her famous mother, will be there. Her famous mother, too.

And that’s only part of it.

Meet Nathaniel “Nate” Oliver, associate director for custodial, Residential Facilities. His office in the Ellicott Complex might be the extreme alternate universe from the Beverly Hills Hotel and Rodeo Drive. Yet for three weeks in February, Oliver was on a movie set in Southern California, ready to deliver his on-camera lines adjacent to people he had dreamed about in his cinema paradiso imagination. And they were all right there, filming the movie. Alongside him.

“It was surreal,” Oliver says. “Things you have dreamed about became a reality. You’re in a room with people you have admired from afar since you were in high school.”

Oliver’s story is one celebrating individual spirit and resilience. He was upset when the Buffalo Beauts professional women’s hockey team dissolved with the rest of the league — and with it his job as team general manager.

Now, back from filming in the Los Angelas suburb of San Pedro, Oliver has stories and memories he never imagined. He also never expected the genuine excitement his colleagues have shown him. For Oliver, this rivals the happiness he had filming the movie.

The movie is called “CATnip.” Its IMDb summary: “A struggling family’s fresh start in a run-down apartment building turns into a fight for survival as a horde of feral cats unleashes terror, revealing the dark and deadly horrors lurking within its walls.” Oliver describes the movie as a horror-comedy, similar to the kind he fell in love with as a teenager. “‘Gremlins’ for grownups,” he says.

“I’m not one who normally seeks out the spotlight,” Oliver said in voicemail responding to a call from UBNow. “But my co-workers and colleagues found out about it and thought it was really cool, and I suppose it is.”

Since then, he has had a minor conversion on this whole movie thing.

“I get why people feel this is unique,” he says, sitting in his Evans Quadrangle office. “This is not what you would expect. I am the associate director of residential custodial. I am a quieter person. Who would have thought this random guy at the University at Buffalo ends up acting in a movie?

“I think it catches their imagination because I’ve never met a person who doesn’t like movies. We might not like the same movies, but everybody has had those thoughts of ‘What if?’ and ‘Could I be an actor?’”

Oliver cites a Kinks song, “Celluloid Hero.”  Ray Davies wrote a line that hits home.

Everybody's a dreamer
And everybody's a star
And everybody's in movies
It doesn't matter who you are

“It’s the truth,” Oliver says.

Let’s dispense with the pleasantries and get right to tales from the set. “CATnip” features Chevy Chase, from the legendary original cast of “Saturday Night Live” and one of the stars of the iconic golfing comedy “Caddyshack.” Bruce Dern is another star, twice nominated for Academy Awards. Dern was Jane Fonda’s husband in “Coming Home,” a Vietnam War-era movie essential for understanding Vietnam era America, as well as the owner of Spahn’s Ranch in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” 

“And he’s Laura Dern’s dad,” Oliver says.

So. What was it like?

“It was great,” Oliver says without hesitation. 

“At first I was kind of hush-hush about it,” Oliver says. “I’ve never acted in a movie. I have never been on set. You don’t know how things are going to go. Right?”

• The work lasted 12 to 15 hours a day. Besides his three lines on camera, Oliver became associate producer, then added assistant property master for the art department. Oliver read Chase’s and Dern’s roles during the first two table reads before both actors arrived.
• Oliver secured his speaking role with a phone call interview with director Nyle Cavazos Garcia. Oliver’s Hollywood friend, Tiffany Helm, known for her role in the 1985 “Friday the 13th, Part V: A New Beginning” and daughter of actress Brooke Bundy, suggested Oliver try out, then talked him up to Garcia.
• “Chevy Chase’s sense of humor is very similar to how it was in the 1970s,” says Oliver. “He had a great time on the set. He loved it. He was very friendly to everyone. He got to be a bit of a hero with his role. You could tell he enjoyed it.”
• “Bruce Dern knew Tiffany’s mom from the old days of Hollywood. So we had the chance to just listen to him telling stories. I was in awe of him. I got to help him. One of the scenes was on a rooftop. He is 88 years old and still extremely strong and has a real presence. But someone 88 needs some help. So it was a cool opportunity that he used my arm for support getting up to the rooftop. He seemed to take a liking to me and gave me a few fist-bumps. 

“CATnip” will be released in theaters in time for Halloween 2026. After all his experiences, Oliver has a clear message to take away from all the enthusiasm and support from his colleagues.

“I think people are just happy for me,” he says. “They see me each day and you form relationships by being a good colleague and being a good person, trying to do your best, and sometimes you wonder, does what I do each day really matter? This is an example that shows it does.

“One part of ‘Celluloid Heroes’ talks about the permanence of film. What is my legacy is going to be? My wife and I don’t have children. What is something I am leaving behind?

“And no matter what, I’ll always have this movie,” Oliver says. “I’ll always have ‘CATnip.’ At some point you’ll pull it up on Amazon Prime, and I’ll forever have my lines and face there.”