Pour Yourself My Last Martini: Barry Gifford Short Film Starring Wendy Robie Premieres Online

Wendy Robie stars in My Last Martini, a 14-minute short film written and directed by Rob Christopher and adapted from a story by Barry Gifford, whose novel became David Lynch’s Wild at Heart and who later co-wrote Lost Highway with Lynch. Gifford’s original My Last Martini story was first published in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1998 and later appeared in his 2000 collection My Last Martini: Stories.

A frustrated writer named Paul, played by Mickey O’Sullivan, is sitting alone in an elegant cocktail lounge. He has a rule. He breaks it and orders a third martini. That’s when a mysterious woman named Anna — Wendy Robie — drifts over from the next booth.

She needs a good listener.

What follows is the kind of conversation you might never have with someone you know, but somehow find yourself having with a complete stranger in a bar.

My Last Martini was filmed entirely on location at Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge in Milwaukee, a historic, deliciously dim drinking establishment whose roots stretch back to the 1930s. Director Rob Christopher had been a regular there for nearly a decade and saw the setting as an essential part of Gifford’s story rather than simply a backdrop.

If Christopher’s name sounds familiar, there’s another connection. He previously directed Roy’s World: Barry Gifford’s Chicago, the documentary narrated by Willem Dafoe, Matt Dillon and Lili Taylor that explores Gifford’s childhood and the world that fed his writing. Returning to Gifford for My Last Martini brought him one step closer to Twin Peaks territory. “Casting Wendy Robie in a key role is simply a dream come true!” he said when the film was announced.

The cast also includes Madrid St. Angelo, Edward Thomas-Herrera and Jackson Mercier, with John Otterbacher and Aaron Wertheimer producing and Christopher Rejano serving as cinematographer.

My Last Martini had its world premiere at the DC Independent Film Forum in 2025 before travelling to festivals and special screenings around the country. Earlier this year, it even found its way to the actual Twin Peaks, screening at the North Bend Theatre during Real Twin Peaks 2026.

Watch Wendy Robie in My Last Martini

Today, September 1, 2026, My Last Martini makes its online premiere on YouTube and is available to watch in full below. Time to break the rule and order that third martini.

Cheers!

Also check out Scott Ryan and Em Marinelli’s interview with Wendy Robie and Rob Christopher.

I’ve never played a character that’s hurt as much as Nadine, the pain of playing Nadine. And I’ve done Greek tragedy. Nadine, it was like walking in a firestorm.
—Wendy Robie