It started when Sam Akina was mixing drinks at the bar at Henry’s Switch, now known as Lake Wilderness Grill, using his tips to pay for film school at Seattle Central Community College.

One day, long time Maple Valley resident Tom Doty, all 6 feet four inches and 255 pounds of him, strolled into the bar.

“He’s one of the biggest guys I’ve seen in my life,” Akina said of Doty. “He’s like a modern-day John Wayne. I felt like he was a movie character, like he just walked right off of a movie set.”

The pair became friends and would spend hours talking. Doty played a bank robber in Akina’s short film project for school.

From those discussions and that initial introduction to acting for Doty came an inspiration for Akina’s first feature film, “Bullets, Blood and a Fistful of Ca$h.”

“I told him one day I’m going to write a short film for him to be him,” Akina said. “We would joke around and he would say ‘I’d like to be in another movie.’”

Doty’s wife, Tiffany, was quite surprised when her husband agreed to be in Akina’s film.

“I was shocked at first,” Tiffany Doty said. “I said, ‘You’re kidding me. You’re the last person in the world I thought would want to go anywhere near that industry.’”

At the time Doty was on a year long sabbatical from work after spending more than two decades in the construction industry. He has a degree in construction management from the University of Washington.

Though he is a big guy that Akina describes as larger than life, Doty sees himself as somewhat shy, and “not really outgoing which made it all the more bizarre.”’

Still, there’s something about Akina, Doty said that made him want to star in a low budget action movie.

“He’s just a ball of energy,” Doty said. “Traveling around the country doing construction, I didn’t always have the cleanest mouth, and I had all these funny analogies and euphemisms. His line to me was, ‘Tom, I just want you to act like yourself.’”

Finally Akina had a script and he talked Doty into being in the flick.

Filming began in August 2004.

“We filmed all around, in Seattle, Everett,” Akina said. “We did have a couple days of shooting in Maple Valley. Those were all interior locations.”

Other regular customers from the golf course bar offered up their homes for interior shots because they had what Akina described as nice houses.

While the work was fun, Doty said, it was time consuming and required a great deal of effort.

“It was a heck of a lot more work than I ever thought it would be,” Doty said. “Sam made it a little bit more easy for me but the commitment involved for a movie, we spent a year doing that, and I didn’t realize that going in it would take that much time and that much energy. By the end of it I was exhausted.”

After six weeks of shooting, months of editing, work on the sound, among other things there was finally a premier in Seattle more than a year after work began on the film on Nov. 10, 2005, at the Neptune Theater.

Initially there were talks with Lionsgate Films for distribution but Akina said it was decided to get an agent.

Akina took the movie to Sundance and Cannes where it got more attention.

Shoreline Entertainment sold Bullets in 10 countries as well as to cable movie channel Starz which has been airing it on its channel Encore Action.

U.S. distribution company MTI is handling the movie here and work continues, Akina said, on a DVD release.

Akina has written a sequel and definitely wants Doty to star in it despite the way Bullets ended — it’s also available on Netflix’s Instant Watch — but if he had his way, Doty would star in every one of his films.

“He’s really, really cool,” Akina said. “He’s great to work with and he wants to do it right. The guy did all of his own stunts. The other part is he’s got a very good heart. He’s just sort of a gentle giant.”

Doty has commercial appeal, Akina explained, and he thinks if his star wanted to become a box office success in Hollywood he could but Doty likes his life in Maple Valley.

“He’s got a lot of talent,” Akina said. “If he tried to make a career out of acting he’d be huge right now. I would love it if someone made him a leading role in a movie and it blew up.”

Doty has appeared in other films since Bullets with his most recent project called Clutch, in which he plays a Drug Enforcement Administration agent who chases the two stars of the film, that’s written and directed by Jay Rowland.

He would also love to be in another Akina film. The young filmmaker would like to start shooting in the fall in Washington state on whatever script of the handful he’s written as soon as one is given the green light.

“I’ve got the time and I do appreciate the recognition I get from Sam,” Doty said. “Working with Sam was the best part of all. I’ve enjoyed the two or three other movies I’ve been in and working with the other people but Sam is still my favorite and I can’t wait to do the next movie.”