D.S. MacKenna

 is a minor character and Stranger featured in Red Dead Redemption. He appears in and gives the player the Stranger side-mission "Lights, Camera, Action".

Background
D.S. MacKenna is an early pioneer of professional film making. He has aspirations to start an emerging film industry in New Austin. His name, personality, and pioneering efforts in the film industry were probably inspired by early filmmaker D.W. Griffith.

MacKenna was sure that he would make movie houses all over New Austin.

Red Dead Redemption
He can initially be found in the back room of the Cinema in Armadillo, posed in dramatic contemplation on the bed. MacKenna wants to create a new film studio and bring the motion picture industry to New Austin. He promises a reward to Marston if he will bring him the deed to a ranch just north of Armadillo by beating its owner in a game of High Stakes Liar's Dice in Thieves' Landing, as well as bring his lead actor, Spatchcock, who convinced himself that the gunslinger role he acts is true, back to Earth, as MacKenna is worried he's going to get himself killed. Marston says if he sees him, he'll tell him.

After Marston knocks some sense into Spatchcock and wins the deed to the ranch, he returns to MacKenna. MacKenna then says he probably has more adventures that await him, and Marston wished him good luck.

However, it is far from good luck that MacKenna has. Marston runs into him at the Pacific Union Railroad Camp once the player gains access to West Elizabeth, sitting by a fire and carving a piece of wood. Marston asks him what happened to his film studio dreams, and he explains "how the fates have spurned [him]." He says he lost everything he invested into his studio after filming was delayed by weather and Spatchcock ran off with the cameraman to Canada. "Damn you, the gods of bad weather, and the hearts of vain men!" MacKenna then states he'll "have to go make dreams elsewhere." After Marston wishes him good luck yet again, MacKenna says "It'll take more than luck to stop me!"

Undead Nightmare


"I'm trying to help my family."

- John Marston

"Yeah, quite the hobby of yours, that."

MacKenna can be found in Plainview after saving the town from the Undead, where he'll initiate the mission &quot;Filth and Other Entertainment&quot;. MacKenna views the undead apocalypse as the perfect opportunity to make a big blockbuster film (according to him, a film aimed at "the lowest common denominator") and has already tied up one undead as an actor. MacKenna wants Marston to capture one Retcher to assist him in his misguided attempt to make a film about the Undead. As he releases the two zombies "to act", he is devoured.

Quotes
"Leave me now, sir; I have a career to resurrect."

"The hubris! The hubris!"

"Damn you, the gods of bad weather..."

"Help, Marston!"

- MacKenna's last words, in Undead Nightmare

Trivia

 * There is a glitch that after you finish his quest, he will be sitting, whittling the wood he is holding, but sitting in the air about 2 in game feet from the stool.
 * The Western part of U.S has always been a favourite spot for film makers in the 1910s, due to the year round sunny weather. By 1915, Los Angeles produced the majority of U.S movies, and before then it was New York.
 * He is the only Stranger from Redemption to give you a Survivor mission in Undead Nightmare.
 * Occasionally, MacKenna (or at least someone who looks like him) can be found conducting the Red Line train.
 * His name is a play on "Deus ex Machina " which implies an abundance of pun-loving. It's possible MacKenna isn't the character's real name, either, given his theatrical streak.
 * Even if the Retcher you retrieve for him in his Undead Nightmare mission is female, he will still refer to it as a male.
 * Despite the fact that he dies in Undead Nightmare (the events of Undead Nightmare take place in 1911), Jack Marston is able to encounter him in 1914. This is very strange.

Achievements/Trophies
Aiding Strangers will contribute toward the following Trophies/Achievements:

D.S. MacKenna