Following appearances as an extra in hit shows such as “Ozark” and “The Walking Dead,” Waterloo’s Corey Thouviner is continuing his acting career with a role in an upcoming film.

The 40-year-old actor plays a villain named Billy in “Lost Treasure of Jesse James,” a movie shot in Missouri slated for release in November. 

Thouviner, who plays a supporting character in the film, said making the picture was enjoyable.

“It was one of those sets where it was just an amazing experience,” he said. “It was actually incredible and actually really fun.”

According to the Internet Movie Database, the movie follows “a backwoods team of kids (as they race) to solve a 100-year-old family mystery to save their friends, family and all of Ford County in this inspirational story about unity, friendship and how the color of our skin is so ‘last century.’” 

Thouviner, a stay-at-home dad who home-schools his son, learned about the role because he previously worked with the film’s director, Adam Boster. 

Boster asked Thouviner to audition for each of the main villain roles in the movie, which he did. 

“But I didn’t get either one,” Thouviner said. “But (Boster) said ‘I’ve got another character I’d think you’d be awesome for. Do you want him?’ I said ‘sure.’” 

So, Boster cast Thouviner as Billy.

Thouviner said he wanted to work on the film because of what he knew about Boster. 

“He’s one of the nicest, most awesome guys you’ll ever talk to,” he said of the director. “To do him a favor was kind of an honor. Just knowing who he is and the kind of director he is, it was an honor work with him.”

Thouviner also spoke highly of the film’s cinematographer, Kyle Devlin. 

The movie was shot over about 2.5 months in Columbia, Blackwater and Crystal City, Mo. 

In Columbia and Crystal City, most of the filming took place in caves. 

One day on set, Thouviner, who did his own stunts, had to shoot a scene in water in one of those caves that was 35 degrees Fahrenheit. 

“I was not looking forward to that day, but it was actually pretty fun,” Thouviner recalled. 

The movie was purposefully shot in Missouri, as Boster wants to make a point with the film. 

“That’s one of the things  Adam is really trying to push with the production of this movie: to let big companies in Georgia, Alabama, Hollywood and New York know that the Midwest also has what it takes to produce what they can produce,” Thouviner explained. “That’s his main goal with this movie itself, just to push the Midwest filmmaking industry.” 

People can support Boster in that goal by seeking the film out when it is released. 

In the meantime, individuals can like “Lost Treasure of Jesse James” on Facebook and add the movie to their watchlist on IMDb to support the movie. 

Those sites will also feature a trailer for the picture later this month. 

As he waits for that film to come out, Thouvnier plans to stay busy. 

He will be helping his wife, Melissa, make a film they wrote together later this year. The cast and locations for that film are already lined up, with Thouviner set to work more behind the camera on the production.