Hard Core Roadshow - Extracts - Part 36
11 November 1995, Day 16
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The chain-smoking on this crew. By now my voice is getting to sound like an old lawnmower. Or like Bernie. Bruce is hacking his way through the day, but smoking a pack and a half anyway. The actors have butts hanging out of their mouths during every take. They must be up to about three packs a day each. Except for John, who actually quit a few days ago and is sticking with it. The others think him insane for trying this in the middle of an intense shoot.
12 November 1995, Day 17
Hell's Gate & Cache Creek, B.C.
Most of the crew went out last night to the only pub in town, and most of them seem to be paying for it this morning. I climb onto the tour bus early in the morning to find Bernie already smoking a joint in the back. Gearing up for another day on the job.
We drive up the Fraser Canyon, bound for Hell's Gate. The same route Bruce and I took nearly a year ago when we were out here casting and location scouting. We spoke then about how great it was going to be, shooting here during the summer under clear skies, mountains visible. Right now, outside, the snow is blasting out of the sky, you can barely see a thing, same as last January. Hugh stretches out on the long bench in front of the bus. Bernie sits next to him and rubs his chest. Signs of tenderness among our leads as things wind down.
We spend much of the day parked at a Hell's Gate truckstop as the guys shoot the band's first fight-in-the-van scene, where Pipe freaks out at Joe for not waking him at Herbie's. his favorite hamburger joint on earth. It's a long scene, and though it sounds simple enough, it's tough going. Pyper is actually driving the thing back and forth on the slush-covered road, through tunnels, as loaded logging rigs and trailers or wrecked cars barrel past. Bruce, camera crew, and the sound guys are crammed in the back, filming the scene. Rachel and others follow in other vehicles, for safety reasons. They go back and forth on the highway for hours and hours and do something like thirteen takes to get the master shot alone. Which leaves me with everyone else hanging out in this parking lot waiting.
Finally, with daylight running out, the crew packs it in and we drive on to Cache Creek, arriving in complete darkness to shoot further scenes in a snowy field next to a crumbling horse barn. Here the guys get back into their glam costumes and we shoot pickups for the acid sequence at Bucky's farm. Throughout the crew a sense that the end is drawing near, so a holiday atmosphere reigns and practical jokes abound. Hugh even takes a leak into a Cup-A-Soup which is slurped down without complaint by an unwitting crew member.
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