Hard Core Roadshow - Extracts - Part 38
13 November 1995, Day 18, Cache Creek
...
Danny Salerno comes up with his cameras and asks how it feels, here at the end of the journey. It feels like being interviewed in the dressing room after winning the Stanley Cup. I tell him what I've learned on this film, about making movies, directing actors, scene blocking and coverage, all this technical stuff. I talk about the more important stuff I've learned, mostly from Bruce -- about persistence, stubbornness, focus, nerve, attitude. I've learned that there are few things harder to than making good films, and that the odds against ever making something lasting, interesting, or important, are very high. I think we've beaten the odds here.
Bruce joins me in front of the camera and talks about his love for the actors who became Hard Core Logo, his love for this story. For him the journey is maybe half over. The film has to be cut and recut, effects and opticals must be added, sound must be mixed, the film must go to festivals and must be sold. There is a soundtrack album to attend to. There is a long way to go yet, for him and Christine and Brian and Karen and Reg, for other post-production types I haven't met and may never meet.
A final gathering at the back of the tour bus with Bruce, Callum, Hugh, Bernie. We listen to the tape of HCL songs, all the way through, one last time. And we belt the words out. Bernie sings loudest, performing for Salerno's camera. Hugh and Callum sit back, looks of sadness. I get the sense that if they could do it, they'd chuck their lives and be Joe Dick and Billy Tallent forever. Callum leans to Bruce and says exactly what everyone else is thinking: "I don't want it to end."
But it has to. Bruce, Christine, Danny, Rachel, and a couple of others are going on from here, shooting second unit footage to the east, into Alberta. The actors are finished, as are the sound guys and most of the rest of the crew. I am invited along on the rest of the road trip, but decide to return to Vancouver, take a breather, visit family and friends.
The tour bus pulls up at the local liquor store and we stock up for the trip south. Then we're on the road. The party extends through the whole bus, with production assistants, ADs, wardrobe people, actors, everyone, telling stories from films they've worked on. Fun for an hour or so. Then things get more subdued. Hugh takes a low bunk. Callum lies on the floor beside him and they face each other, talking in hushed tones. In the end, it's still love. Other bunks are staked out. I fall asleep in the back room, wake later to find the entire bus quiet, the lights out, everyone asleep, the upcountry snowfall outside the window giving away to valley rain as we approach Vancouver in the middle of the night.
All parts (and pictures) here.