Growing up watching old gangster movies — particularly 1938’s “Angels with Dirty Faces,” starring Hollywood legends James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart and the 1948 Bogart vehicle “The Treasure of Sierra Madre” — was a great bonding experience for Jack DeCerchio and his father, John.

Today, the Bloomfield Hills native’s short film, “The Last Role of Charles LeBlanc,” is his love letter to classic noir cinema. It’s now streaming on Apple TV.

In “Last Role,” Luke Harkins (DeCerchio), a young drifter, is hired to be the new groundskeeper for Charles LeBlanc (Arthur Roberts), a legendary movie star in his twilight years who is suffering from dementia. Luke bears an uncanny resemblance to Charles’ perennial co-star and best friend Stuart Benedict (also DeCerchio), an actor from Hollywood’s golden age. Charles believes Luke is Stuart and they’re about to begin filming their 1951 film noir movie, “Gangsters Don’t Go to Heaven.”

“I read this article a few years back about (Hollywood icon) Jack Nicholson. He doesn’t act as much anymore — or act at all. It inspired me to write this story about a movie star in Hollywood Hills who still yearns to do this, but doesn’t have the faculties to do it properly anymore,” explained DeCerchio, 30, of Los Angeles.

Without giving away the ending, DeCerchio spoke about Luke’s reasons for staying on as the groundskeeper.

“He sorta became a part of the family. Most people’d run away — ‘These guys are nuts!’ — but Luke’s like: ‘This is a wacky bunch. I don’t have many prospects and maybe I kinda like these people,’” DeCerchio said.

An alumnus of The Roeper School in Birmingham and the American University in Washington, D.C., where he earned his bachelor’s degree in business entrepreneurship, DeCerchio has completed New York Film Academy acting and directing seminars via Zoom. He’s also taken classes at the Richard Lawson Studios and attended improv classes at The Groundlings, both located in L.A. He served as a production assistant on the 2019-20 ABC sitcom “Bless This Mess,” starring Walled Lake Central High School alumnus Dax Shepard (“The Ranch”).

“Filmmaking was always something I wanted to do before I went to (AU). I decided it would be smart to get a business degree. I didn’t go to a film school and (AU) doesn’t have much of a film program. I graduated with my business degree. Towards graduation, I thought (filmmaking would) be something I’d want to explore and could use my business degree for the business side of film,” he explained.

DeCerchio also wrote and produced “Last Role” in addition to playing Luke and Stuart.

“I wanted this to boost my acting career and acting chops, so what better way to do it than write myself two roles in this thing?” he said. “I play Luke, the main character. I also play Stuart, who was Charles’ former co-star and best friend. Luke happens to be a doppelganger of Stuart Benedict. I liked hamming it up as Stuart, playing into 1940s gangster film tropes. It was really fun.”

“Last Role” was primarily filmed in L.A., but some scenes were shot in Bloomfield Hills and Detroit.

“We (treated) Bloomfield Hills and Detroit as L.A. It was great to add a few more scenes. We used my parents’ home in Bloomfield Hills as part of the LeBlanc home,” DeCerchio said.

Making “Last Role” over the span of two years was a family affair. His father served as a producer. His uncle, Tom DeCerchio — who directed 1996’s “Celtic Pride” with Daniel Stern (“Home Alone”) and Dan Akroyd (“Ghostbusters”) — directed the short film.

“My father had a lot of insight. For years, he was an adman and commercial producer at Doner Advertising. His experience translated over really easily into making this,” DeCerchio said. “My uncle’s a commercial director. … I wrote this screenplay and shared it with him. We started chatting about it. He was such a great guy to bounce ideas off of. He added so much creativity to the movie.”

All said and done, DeCerchio said he enjoys seeing the finished product on TV.

“That’s really cool. Doing this movie, I gained so much knowledge into filmmaking. It’s also a huge growing experience for me as an actor, as well,” he said. “Right now, I’m auditioning for things, looking for that next project. I’m also writing another short film and a feature film, which I’d love to shoot in Michigan. That’d be my big goal.”