Category: movies

Well, I chickened out. I didn

I cried today.
Hard.
A lot.
The interesting thing for me was that it was very, very easy to call forth the emotions necessary to bring this scene to life…but it was equally hard to let them go, again.
When we finished this scene, I wanted to go into my dressing room, and just sob until I got it all out of me…but there wasn’t time, and I have this little knot in my chest, just below where my sternum ends.
Strange.
In a very bizarre twist of “six degrees of Anne Wheaton,” a real-life doctor, who treated her for some stomach trouble earlier this year, was playing a doctor in the movie today.
Also strange.
Tomorrow is my last day with Isaac Hayes. I’m debating whether or not I should take my “Shaft” soundtrack and my 18″ Chef plush toy and get an autograph.
Not sure if I will though…it could end up being strange.

FADE IN:
INT. STAGE – FRANKIE’S LOFT — EVENING
The crew settles. WIL and MAUREEN take their marks. A BELL RINGS and the crew falls silent. The CAMERAMAN, a serious, artistic Spaniard in his 30s speaks.

The GAFFER begins to work. Wil gets a mischievous glint in his eye, and dramatically takes his mark, stomping his foot on the ground and presenting his hands, upturned in front of him.

The crew LAUGHS.

WIL and MAUREEN collapse into giggles.

All this week, we

It happens sooner or later on every shoot.
The long hours, the pressure from production to finish the day and stay on time and on budget…people start to lose their patience, and they get cranky.
It happened today. We’re tired, and, we’re all trying to make a “bigger” movie than the budget will allow, so I think everyone is feeling the pressure, and cracks are beginning to show.
Fortunately, everyone seems to understand that we’re all cranky, and why we’re cranky, and we haven’t turned on each other, yet. It’s the time when “please” and “thank you” go a very long way to keep us all sane, and everyone seems to be aware of that.
It really says a lot about the cool people on this crew and in this cast, that even though we’re wiped out, and the production has set some very tough expectations for us (13 pages today!)we’re all still playing on the same team.
So even though we’re all in danger of reaching Donner Party status, the work hasn’t suffered, and everyone remains supportive of each other, which is cool. We’ve even managed to work some cannibal humor into the day to lighten the mood.
I like feeling like I’m on a team, and that I’m part of something much larger than myself. On days like today, that camaraderie is really tested. Fortunately, as far as I can tell, we’re passing the test.
The scenes today were mostly between me and Maureen, and our long personal history is adding this great extra dimension to our performances. We have this great trust in each other, and we’ve been allowed by the director to improvise a bit within the scenes, so they have this great natural, conversational quality which I hope translates into the final product.
On the way home, I pulled into my neighborhood, which is swarming with children and their parents, trick-or-treating. I drove slowly towards my house, smiling and waving at numerous Spider Men, Buzz Light Years, and a few vampires.
When I got to my house, I felt really sad…Nolan and Ryan had already carved their jack o lanterns, and they were out trick-or-treating…but my insanely cool wife hadn’t carved hers, yet…because she was waiting for me. As soon as they get back, the carving will begin.
Happy Halloween, everybody!