Glenn Morshower thought he had seen it all during his 30-plus years of acting.

Then the Dallas native got the call for Desdemona: A Love Story, a Texas-made independent film premiering today at the AFI Dallas International Film Festival, which continues through Friday. It was an experience that, although not unprecedented, is certainly uncommon.

"On the night before I went to work, I watched the entire movie that I was getting ready to shoot," Morshower says. "The film was already shot, edited and scored! It was finished, except for the scenes I was going to do."

Desdemona, the tale of a kidnapper who abducts his childhood sweetheart, was completed and ready, the filmmakers hoped, to play on the festival circuit. But the producers got feedback that they needed one more ingredient to "raise the bar" for their picture: They needed "a recognizable face" in the cast.

Enter Morshower, a character actor who is the only person aside from star Kiefer Sutherland to appear in all seven seasons of the hit TV series 24. He plays Secret Service agent Aaron Pierce.

For Desdemona, Morshower was brought in for one additional day of filming after being cast as a priest who hears the anguished kidnapper's confession.

"In the original script, there was no priest," Morshower says. "They explained to me how they would weave my work into the story line. They would edit it in such a way that it covers from beginning to end, with the young man telling the priest the story of his life. And I have to say: When I watch the film as it is now, it is put together seamlessly."

Morshower – Hillcrest High School, class of 1977 – has worked for such big-name directors as Michael Bay, Ridley Scott, Wolfgang Petersen and George Clooney. So it speaks volumes when he praises Desdemona's Philip Guzman.

"I've done a whole bunch of movies in my career," he says, "and the three I'm most proud of are 84 Charlie MoPic, Black Hawk Down and Desdemona. And I told the director that. I said, 'You may think I'm pulling your chain, but I'm not. I love this film!' "

It's worth noting, though, that his day of filming opposite leading man Jorge A. Jimenez did hit some snags.

"There we were, filming in an actual church in San Antonio, 10 minutes till 7, they have a mass at 7 o'clock, and there's blood all over the floor," Morshower recalls. "Typically, priests don't want blood-covered floors when parishioners come in! So they're hurrying us to get out. But we hadn't even started shooting any of my coverage."

As a result, Morshower's confession-booth close-ups were all shot later that evening in a crew member's apartment. "But it's done in such a way," Morshower says with pride, "that no one can tell."

David Martindale is a freelance writer in Dallas. He can be reached at reruns@airmail .net.Plan your life

Desdemona: A Love Story screens tonight at 10:30 at the Magnolia, and 4 p.m. Tuesday at AMC NorthPark 15.

FOLLOW media critic Tom Maurstad during AFI Dallas.

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