Pollak will mark his directorial debut with his stylistic, modern-day, twisting and turning whodunit. “They call it contemporary noir,” Pollak explained, “I’ve just always been a fan of these movies that force the audience to be a participant, rather than just a voyeur. When written and directed well, the audience loves the challenge of figuring out the puzzle, before that ticking clock stops, and the film ends…”

Of course, Pollak participated in a landmark example. “I was truly fortunate to co-star in The Usual Suspects, but you have to remember that no one knew the writer and director when the film was being put together. At the time, A Few Good Men had come out, and for the first time in my career, I had a multitude of offers. And even though there was also not a single established star in the cast, the Suspects script was the best I’d ever read in the film style that I loved the most, contemporary noir, so I leapt at the chance.”

Even still, Pollak was a fan first. “Oh, I’ll never forget seeing the Wachowski Bros. first film, ‘Bound’. In addition to the great story and talented cast, the look and feel of that film, make it an amazing example of contemporary noir. Now, you may not have seen it, but when Warner Bros. did, they backed the then unknown writing/directing pair on their next script, The Matrix, so you see the power that this genre can have on people.”

Waiting for Helen is a modern-day, twisting and turning whodunit. Its genre could be called contemporary noir.