Abhiroop Das
Helmed by Joe Carnahan, Netflix’s ‘The Rip’ begins with a routine mission for the Miami Police Department’s TNT, or Tactical Narcotics Team. After receiving an anonymous tip, the crew heads out to a desolate neighborhood, where a few hundred thousand dollars are suspected to be stashed away at a house. However, their investigation soon reveals millions of dollars in cash, signaling that they are way out of their depth. With the cartel and other unknown antagonists closing in, the team, led by Lieutenant Dane Dumars, realizes that the only way out is to outsmart everyone in the way. Still, tension soon seeps into the once tightly-knit group, and as they begin to suspect one another, all-out chaos follows. The mystery thriller movie is dedicated to Jake William Casiano, who is deeply tied to the movie’s emotional core.
Jake William Casiano Died in 2021 After Battling Leukemia For Three Years
Jake William Casiano was born on December 10, 2009, to Cindy and Christopher Casiano and was the second of three brothers. From the very beginning, Jake was a bundle of joy, carrying pure excitement wherever he went. This is evident in many of the home videos and pictures he features in, where he can be seen playing with his beloved dog Brandy, laughing, dancing, and creating rich memories with his family and loved ones. However, life came to a halt when he was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of eight in June 2018. In the face of overwhelming challenges, Jake fought the cancer bravely and found support from the entire community. When he needed blood transfusions, the Miami-Dade Police Department, alongside a company known as Douglas Orr Plumbing, organized a blood drive that saw immense support from locals and police officers alike.
Jake passed away on May 8, 2021, at the age of 11, after three years of valiantly battling the disease. His family held a funeral for him four days later at Caballero Rivero Funeral Home. Jake’s demise was followed by an outpouring of love and empathy, with the entire town seemingly coming together to mourn his passing. In his memory, the 400 block of Swan Avenue in Miami Springs was renamed Jake Casiano Drive on October 12, 2022. Family members and friends continue to share remembrances of him on social media, often highlighting his humor and warmth, as well as the void left by his passing. For Jake’s father, Chris, life has changed completely since the fateful day, but he finds deep inner strength in remembering his son as a warrior who lived with a smile.
Jake’s Father Felt His Spiritual Presence While On-Set for The Rip
For Joe Carnahan, the director and co-writer of ‘The Rip,’ integrating Jake into the story as a character was a sensitive task in and of itself. In the movie, the protagonist, Dane Dumars, is loosely modeled after Chris Casiano, and a large part of his character arc centres on the death of his son, who is also named Jake in the movie. Initially, Carnahan struggled with portraying Jake in a sensitive manner, but a breakthrough came in the form of his symbolic storytelling. While talking to Gold Derby, he described his creative process, stating, “Can we create a vessel with which to put this grief and sadness into, and maybe turn it into something where it’s this living monument to Jake for his short time here on Earth?” In many ways, Jake is the beating heart of the movie and guides it both on an emotional and thematic level.
Chris was closely involved with the production of the movie and recounted a surreal experience that took place while the crew was in New Jersey. During filming, Chris was seemingly called up by an anonymous visitor, who never showed up when Chris responded to the call. Later, however, when he was talking to one of the crew members and shared a picture of Jake, the crew member said that he recognized him as a child he had seen on set that day, specifically wearing an Iron Man hoodie. Chris recalls that his son wore an Iron Man hoodie in real life during his chemotherapy sessions, and this detail imbues the whole event with a sense of spiritual significance for the father. He sees this as one of the many signs of Jake’s continued spiritual presence, which serves as a guiding force in the father’s life.
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