South Florida Actor/Director Cassius Corrigan Shines Spotlight On Miami Neighborhoods In "Huracán"

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The New York Times describes Huracán as a gripping thriller you can not stop watching.

It's the brainchild of writer, director and star 28-year-old Cassius Corrigan who grew up in South Miami.

"Huracán is a psychological thriller about an aspiring MMA fighter who suffers from multiple personality disorders. So on the one side, "Huracon" is a thought-provoking thriller. It's a deep dive into the mystery of mental illness and that's with this authentic and visceral MMA fight action and it's set in the real Miami, the colorful neighborhoods of Little Haiti, Overtown, and Hialeah," he said.

Corrigan, who graduated with a full scholarship from USC film school, spoke with CBS's Lisa Petrillo from London while he was on a promotional tour of the film. He said bringing this film to the streets of Miami was a dream fulfilled.

"The Miami that we've seen in film and television almost always is South Beach. That's the only aspect of greater Miami-Dade that's ever really featured in film and TV. Growing up I felt why don't we see the Miami I know and the rest of us who grew up here know. For me it was such a pleasure to come back and put these neighborhoods on screen, to have all of these culturally specific places and authenticity to shine in our movie," he said.

A self-described Mixed Martial Arts fanatic himself, Corrigan thought there's never been a real story about how amateur fighters go pro.

The film features real-life MMA fighters and showcases the acting debut of UFC superstar Jorge Masvidal, as his nemesis.

"I'm assuming you did all your own stunts," asked Petrillo.

"Correct there was no stunt coordinator on this movie which is one of the things I'm really proud of. This was all real MMA fighters and the gym that we shot at in Miami, K Ozone, which is in Little Haiti, is an amazing martial arts gym and a lot of the fighters who train there were the fighters in our movie," he replied.

"Let's talk about the mental health aspects of it, what did you draw from that," asked Petrillo.

"I've had a long-standing interest in abnormal psychology. I've always found it fascinating and I always felt that dissociative identity disorder, much more commonly known as multiple personality disorder, was never been authentically represented in film and TV," he said.

Corrigan hopes the film will keep viewers on the edge of their seats.

"It is a thought-provoking thriller, in the vein a of Black Swan whiplash. I can promise you it's going to be unlike anything you've ever seen before and, certainly so, if you have the pride from being in the 305 like I do, you're going to love seeing these different neighborhoods shown on-screen and shown in the way shown with love that comes from only someone who's a native," he said.

Huracán is now showing on HBO.