Lights, Camera – Deaton!

College of Aeronautics Dean John Deaton will play a key role in “The Twilight Years,” a movie from Brevard County-based Atlantic Studios that is scheduled to film in Melbourne next month.

The film is an “intense drama” that looks at a family riven by a granddaughter’s struggles with thanatophobia – a chronic and often debilitating fear of dying – and her grandmother’s struggles with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. 

Deaton plays the grandmother’s husband.

This is not his first time in the spotlight for the retired U.S. Navy commander and longtime Florida Tech professor. As a young man living in San Diego, Deaton was cast in Douglas Sirk’s “The Tarnished Angels” starring Rock Hudson, Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone and based on William Faulkner’s book, Pylon.

In a scene set at a carnival, Deaton can be seen on a ride.

The film airs periodically and is available for streaming on The Criterion Channel.

Deaton would later star as the disciple Thomas in the stage production, “Living Last Supper,” a depiction of DaVinci’s famous painting brought to life.

“Acting affords you the opportunity to be someone else, at least for a short time,” he said. “I think getting into the role of someone else, with different circumstances, makes you appreciate what life throws at you and how we can overcome those challenges.”

Coming next for Deaton is the role of “Father John” in Atlantic Studios’ “Starting Over.” The movie is a comedy about online dating over age 50.