Movie Update #1
Tuesday night we did our first shoot for the film.
Well, it isn't really the first shoot. The entire movie is already in the can (completed) and was being shopped around to distributors when the director and the company decided to add some extra scenes for more running time to get it a feature length distribution contract. It would also fill in what they felt was a gap or two that could set up a sequel.
We met on location in a fancy double-wide trailer that was actually quite neat and cozy. This served as the interior of the house scenes. In my part of the script, I get into a sort of a snit with the two gals I'm going to a Halloween party with (we're all in costume) when I foolishly wander into the scooby doo house and meet my fate at the end of an axe.
The costumes were left up to us. I went to the legendary Burt Easely's Fun Factory, probably the best costume shop in history. Or the history of Phoenix at any rate. I spent almost an hour shopping every inch of the place to find the right look.
I decided to do something monochromatic for the ease of cinematography so I looked for something in black and white. Eventually I found a jester outfit. This was not my first choice; I wore a black and white jester outfit (a much more simplified version) for Halloween my Junior year in High School and for some stuff I did with the SCA in the early nineties. For the record, I will never go near those greasy nutjobs again in my life, but that's another story.
Finally, I gave in and went with the jester outfit because it was the only thing that seemed reasonable, plus having worn one very similar to it way back when I knew it would be amenable to any weather we were going to have. Just warm enough to be cozy if it was cool, just cool enough to be cozy if it was warm.
The director later praised the costume and said another cast member had gotten one just like it in red and black. Good omen, methinks.
I jump into costume and watch them shoot the first pick up scene when my two co-stars arrive. Holy shit, were they smoking hot. Good GOD. One olive skinned, raven haired beauty with piercing eyes and an intelligent lilt to her words that easily exposed her higher than average intelligence. The other was a statuesque blonde with clear blue eyes and a sparkling smile. They were both fairly tall, and they looked to be about 24 or 25.
In fact, according to the raven, they were 19. 19!!! I was floored. Not only for the fact that they looked far more advanced for their years, not only for the fact that Hugh Hefner would probably die to meet these gals, not only for the fact that their costumes followed a minimalist philosophy my last ex might have praised mightily, but for the fact that here I am - playing a 35 year old man - and one of these girls, the raven, is my character's love interest.
I pointed that out to the director. "What's a 35 year old like me doing running around with a scantily clad 19 year old? What kind of guy is he?"
It was in good humor. The answers were, "Having fun," "Getting luckier than me," "becoming my hero."
Well, I'm a professional, whatever anyone says. So I was in the trenches. I actually spent most of the shoot hanging out with them and talking to them. The raven was absolutely brilliant, and the blonde was charming and fun. So it did make the shoot painless.
Oh, because I know the lads might be dying to know; their costumes. The blonde wore this great Jason Voorhees themed black and red minidress that was so tight the seams were starting to tear after a couple of hours, with a plunging neckline and a hem so short a miniskirt might have been seen as conservative. The raven wore a microscopic white miniskirt and an equally tiny, very flattering white midriff top; she picked the "hot chef" costume but we lost the hat somewhere along the shoot.
We ran our lines here, watched the shoot there. I would occasionally step in to move something like a bottle of windex out of the camera shot or to assist some of the other actors in delivering the menace of their performance, but largely I was hands off and letting everyone do their thing.
We got to my shoot and filmed my approach and murder quickly. The next 45 minutes or so were spent with the raven (who turned out to be a model with an impressive resume already) using her knowledge of make-up to apply a vicious head wound to the left side of my forehead. This comically included about 15 minutes of her gently blowing on the wound to seal the latex. Men, let your imaginations roam, but we joked about how ridiculous an eye blowing fetish would be for anyone.
That done, the girls filmed their scenes and did so quite admirably. They really sold it and I enjoyed watching them work. They were definitely a good casting choice. For my part, I sat in the chair I'm discovered in motionless for their shoot and then extra motionless for my death scene close up. I'm happy to say the crew was awed by my absolute stilliness. Apparently I sold the death pretty well. I'm skeptical and my own worst critic, so we'll see if it was all that in the final product.
We're to meet Thursday to wrap the shoot at a new location to represent the outside of the house. Meanwhile, the director and I have really hit it off and he wants to see some of my screenplay work. He wants to work again in the future and it seems we respected each other's professionalism on the set.
Stream of consciousness: Such a breath of fresh air, this whole thing. I remarked on facebook that I'm surprised now that I ever became so disenchanted with acting. I took to this like a fish to water and felt truly at home. It's strange how we can mislead ourselves, sometimes, from what we're meant for or what we love. Cynicism is everyone's enemy as we get older; we're told not to dream, just to do, and to do what's practical. That was Carolyn's ultimate thrust; go fuck yourself for dreaming, Chris; do as I command or your life is shit. Well, I consider this moment to be one of my finest acts of revenge. An opportunity that came out of nowhere that has serious legs and may go a great distance for me if I milk the opportunity for all its worth. The fresh air taught me how calcified, how complacent and overly comfortable I've become. I may just write about that feeling, how complacency in a thing is only a brief comfort before it becomes a gilded prison.
I already know, resuming my day job and the grind of day to day monotny as I've been pretending to deal with it over the last several years, I'm going to feel smothered and frustrated and anxious.
Well, I've learned my lesson. And I'm going to take this as far as I can.
So it is that once again, for the first time in years, I'm a writer and and an actor. And you know, a guy like me, he should be doing something, anything, expressive. Not locking himself down into self sustaining patterns of mere acceptability and tolerance. THis is good enough, don't rock the boat. Tashia, this is what they were saying in WANTED, both the movie and the graphic novel. Grow balls and seize life by the throat and stop living like a moron who takes his fate lying down.
Tashia also believed that 2008's excruciating procession of events was a cosmic thing, cleaning my slate, rearranging the House of Turco, rearranging me emotionally and spiritually to be something now. And now, here we are. Because as we were shooting, you know what? I realized what Carolyn would have done if I'd told her there was this opportunity.
She would have gunned me down in cold blood like a rampaging psycho. Or close enough to it. She run off all the reasons I'd be a complete idiot to chase any kind of dreams, how moronic I'd be to seize an opportunity like this when she had my life plan so meticulously, boringly, drearily drawn out. She would have done everything in her power to stop this.
Isn't it cosmically convenient, then, that this dead weight and the dead weight of other poisonous people isn't there to drown me anymore?
Revelation upon revelation, I tell you. 2009 is truly enlightening.
PS - Im collecting resumes from people I know ground-level who are musicians, artists or writers. It's common for someone on the production team to turn to you and ask "Do you know someone who..." and if you do any kind of music, writing, graphic design, even computer drafting specializing in special effects, I want to hear from you. I can upsell you to my new masters if the need arises. I'll take care of the people who took care of me over the years. :)
Well, it isn't really the first shoot. The entire movie is already in the can (completed) and was being shopped around to distributors when the director and the company decided to add some extra scenes for more running time to get it a feature length distribution contract. It would also fill in what they felt was a gap or two that could set up a sequel.
We met on location in a fancy double-wide trailer that was actually quite neat and cozy. This served as the interior of the house scenes. In my part of the script, I get into a sort of a snit with the two gals I'm going to a Halloween party with (we're all in costume) when I foolishly wander into the scooby doo house and meet my fate at the end of an axe.
The costumes were left up to us. I went to the legendary Burt Easely's Fun Factory, probably the best costume shop in history. Or the history of Phoenix at any rate. I spent almost an hour shopping every inch of the place to find the right look.
I decided to do something monochromatic for the ease of cinematography so I looked for something in black and white. Eventually I found a jester outfit. This was not my first choice; I wore a black and white jester outfit (a much more simplified version) for Halloween my Junior year in High School and for some stuff I did with the SCA in the early nineties. For the record, I will never go near those greasy nutjobs again in my life, but that's another story.
Finally, I gave in and went with the jester outfit because it was the only thing that seemed reasonable, plus having worn one very similar to it way back when I knew it would be amenable to any weather we were going to have. Just warm enough to be cozy if it was cool, just cool enough to be cozy if it was warm.
The director later praised the costume and said another cast member had gotten one just like it in red and black. Good omen, methinks.
I jump into costume and watch them shoot the first pick up scene when my two co-stars arrive. Holy shit, were they smoking hot. Good GOD. One olive skinned, raven haired beauty with piercing eyes and an intelligent lilt to her words that easily exposed her higher than average intelligence. The other was a statuesque blonde with clear blue eyes and a sparkling smile. They were both fairly tall, and they looked to be about 24 or 25.
In fact, according to the raven, they were 19. 19!!! I was floored. Not only for the fact that they looked far more advanced for their years, not only for the fact that Hugh Hefner would probably die to meet these gals, not only for the fact that their costumes followed a minimalist philosophy my last ex might have praised mightily, but for the fact that here I am - playing a 35 year old man - and one of these girls, the raven, is my character's love interest.
I pointed that out to the director. "What's a 35 year old like me doing running around with a scantily clad 19 year old? What kind of guy is he?"
It was in good humor. The answers were, "Having fun," "Getting luckier than me," "becoming my hero."
Well, I'm a professional, whatever anyone says. So I was in the trenches. I actually spent most of the shoot hanging out with them and talking to them. The raven was absolutely brilliant, and the blonde was charming and fun. So it did make the shoot painless.
Oh, because I know the lads might be dying to know; their costumes. The blonde wore this great Jason Voorhees themed black and red minidress that was so tight the seams were starting to tear after a couple of hours, with a plunging neckline and a hem so short a miniskirt might have been seen as conservative. The raven wore a microscopic white miniskirt and an equally tiny, very flattering white midriff top; she picked the "hot chef" costume but we lost the hat somewhere along the shoot.
We ran our lines here, watched the shoot there. I would occasionally step in to move something like a bottle of windex out of the camera shot or to assist some of the other actors in delivering the menace of their performance, but largely I was hands off and letting everyone do their thing.
We got to my shoot and filmed my approach and murder quickly. The next 45 minutes or so were spent with the raven (who turned out to be a model with an impressive resume already) using her knowledge of make-up to apply a vicious head wound to the left side of my forehead. This comically included about 15 minutes of her gently blowing on the wound to seal the latex. Men, let your imaginations roam, but we joked about how ridiculous an eye blowing fetish would be for anyone.
That done, the girls filmed their scenes and did so quite admirably. They really sold it and I enjoyed watching them work. They were definitely a good casting choice. For my part, I sat in the chair I'm discovered in motionless for their shoot and then extra motionless for my death scene close up. I'm happy to say the crew was awed by my absolute stilliness. Apparently I sold the death pretty well. I'm skeptical and my own worst critic, so we'll see if it was all that in the final product.
We're to meet Thursday to wrap the shoot at a new location to represent the outside of the house. Meanwhile, the director and I have really hit it off and he wants to see some of my screenplay work. He wants to work again in the future and it seems we respected each other's professionalism on the set.
Stream of consciousness: Such a breath of fresh air, this whole thing. I remarked on facebook that I'm surprised now that I ever became so disenchanted with acting. I took to this like a fish to water and felt truly at home. It's strange how we can mislead ourselves, sometimes, from what we're meant for or what we love. Cynicism is everyone's enemy as we get older; we're told not to dream, just to do, and to do what's practical. That was Carolyn's ultimate thrust; go fuck yourself for dreaming, Chris; do as I command or your life is shit. Well, I consider this moment to be one of my finest acts of revenge. An opportunity that came out of nowhere that has serious legs and may go a great distance for me if I milk the opportunity for all its worth. The fresh air taught me how calcified, how complacent and overly comfortable I've become. I may just write about that feeling, how complacency in a thing is only a brief comfort before it becomes a gilded prison.
I already know, resuming my day job and the grind of day to day monotny as I've been pretending to deal with it over the last several years, I'm going to feel smothered and frustrated and anxious.
Well, I've learned my lesson. And I'm going to take this as far as I can.
So it is that once again, for the first time in years, I'm a writer and and an actor. And you know, a guy like me, he should be doing something, anything, expressive. Not locking himself down into self sustaining patterns of mere acceptability and tolerance. THis is good enough, don't rock the boat. Tashia, this is what they were saying in WANTED, both the movie and the graphic novel. Grow balls and seize life by the throat and stop living like a moron who takes his fate lying down.
Tashia also believed that 2008's excruciating procession of events was a cosmic thing, cleaning my slate, rearranging the House of Turco, rearranging me emotionally and spiritually to be something now. And now, here we are. Because as we were shooting, you know what? I realized what Carolyn would have done if I'd told her there was this opportunity.
She would have gunned me down in cold blood like a rampaging psycho. Or close enough to it. She run off all the reasons I'd be a complete idiot to chase any kind of dreams, how moronic I'd be to seize an opportunity like this when she had my life plan so meticulously, boringly, drearily drawn out. She would have done everything in her power to stop this.
Isn't it cosmically convenient, then, that this dead weight and the dead weight of other poisonous people isn't there to drown me anymore?
Revelation upon revelation, I tell you. 2009 is truly enlightening.
PS - Im collecting resumes from people I know ground-level who are musicians, artists or writers. It's common for someone on the production team to turn to you and ask "Do you know someone who..." and if you do any kind of music, writing, graphic design, even computer drafting specializing in special effects, I want to hear from you. I can upsell you to my new masters if the need arises. I'll take care of the people who took care of me over the years. :)