Copuple of updates on the movie:
I’m having a really good time. This director is just awesome, the crew is friendly, professional, and all the actors I’ve worked with so far have been great.
There is this one strange thing, though…the movie isn’t being called by it’s title on the call sheet, or our signs to location, or the slate, or anything…theyr’e calling it “Boise,” like it’s a codename or something.
I wear lots of suits, so I walk around talking into my cuff, telling people “I’m on Project Boise,” and looking mysterious.
Hey, without WiFi at work, I have to find ways to entertain myself, right?
Yesterday was Day One and it was a typical First Day On A Movie(tm). Most of the actors had gotten their material late Monday night, so they were having a tough time with the lines. Luckily for me, I had the studio email it to me as a .pdf, and I printed it out.
I shit you not, that laser printer paid for itself on Monday!
So I knew my lines, had worked out enough of the character to feel really comfortable living in his skin and stuff. Since we’ve all really hit the ground running, I’m being forced to trust my instincts and make quick and deliberate character choices, which is actually good for me, I think. If left to my own devices, I have a tendency to overthink things, and complicate the hell out of stuff. Since I don’t have the ability to do that on this picture, it is a good test of my acting skills.
Speaking of my acting skills, I was paid a very nice compliment by the director late in the day yesterday. We were between scenes, and we were talking. I mentioned to him that I hadn’t done any real acting jobs in over a year, since I’d been working primarily as a writer.
He looked at me, his face showing real surprise, and he said, “Wow! I would never have known. You’re performance has been so wonderful, I thought you’d just come off of another movie, right into this one. You’d never know that you’ve taken a year off.”
Shortly after that, the producer came over to me and told me how happy they all were that I’d been cast, and that he’d been watching me work. He told me that I was doing great things with the role, exactly what they’d wanted.
It felt good to be told that I was doing a great job, without it being followed by, “but we’re going with another, bigger actor.”
My character in this picture has suffered a terrible and tragic loss, so he is never too far from tears, covering his pain in various ways. He’s ironic, he’s angry, he’s sarcastic, he is occasionally vulnerable…boy, it is grueling work.
At the end of the day yesterday, I was physically and emotionally exhausted.
Today was much easier. I was only in 2 scenes, and I was mostly reacting in them…but I was so tired from yesterday, I was having an insanely difficult time focusing and staying present. I’d forgotten just how tough it is to not get distracted and let my mind wander…it seems that in every spare moment I am thinking about the book, or how I’m going to write about the day when I get home.
The next two days are pretty much like today. I don’t talk too much, but I’m there for each scene…Patrick Stewart called it “Face Acting.”
I was able to break away from the set long enough today to call Screen Savers when they aired my segment. I haven’t seen it, but Anne tells me I didn’t look like a total dork…even though I was wearing what she calls “Your Croccodile hunter Shirt.”
Yeah, there’s nothing quite like gettin’ dissed by your wife, you know?
So that’s it. I’m bleary-eyed and having a hard time staying awake.
More tomorrow.

“This assistant, who was way overqualified to be doing this, turned to me and said in his French accent, `I have scouted this alley for Luc Besson, Neil Jordan, John Frankenheimer…and you.’

UGO has a really funny interview I did with them to support the release of Jane White is Sick and Twisted. Don’t forget to scroll past the advertisement, or you’ll miss the whole second half. (When I read it I thought, “Hey, didn’t I say a lot more stuff?”)

So I’ve gotten lots of emails about this apparent Nemesis script that’s on the net, and I have a thing or two to say about it.
I took a look at it, and it’s not the script I was handed, stamped “CONFIDENTIAL” all over it. It’s not the script we shot.
I guess lots of people have jumped to some wild conclusions about this, which is understandable, because we all want the movie to be good.
Finally, here’s something to ask yourself , if you’ve read it: Would you judge a baseball team’s world series chances by their performance in their first Spring Training game?
Like every movie, some people will love this, and some people won’t. I bet every hard core Trekkie will find something to love, and something to hate. That’s the mark of a good movie. The studio could still mess it up, but I’m not too worried.
Relax, everybody. It’s not Episode One. I promise. It’s going to be fine.
Thought for today:

“When the country falls into chaos, patriotism is born.”
–Tao Te Ching

I am in this movie called “The Good Things.”
This should come as no surprise to regular readers, because I talk about it alot, as I am very, very proud of it.
People ask me all the time, “Wil, how does your skin stay so clear?”
I tell them it’s a plesant side-effect of hard-drinkin’
Then I tell them that, if they were so inclined, they could SEE THE GOOD THINGS!
That’s right! From the convenience of your own monitor, you, too, can view The Good Things! View it while eating dinner! View it while butt naked! View it while your roommates think you’re working on that paper they’re paying you to write!
To explain how this wonderful opportunity has come along, I turn the microphone over to my dear friend Mr. Seth Wiley, who directed the film. Seth?
“I found out today that our short film “the good things” is a quarterfinalist in the Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival. this is a really good deal for the winner (something, something…million dollars,) and an exceptionally good deal for the semi-finalists, who get a trip to Cannes. so I’m asking everyone to visit the link and vote on the film as well as see the twenty-four other short films that are
viewable on the site.
This link will get you to a group of shorts, one of which is “the good things.” there’s some registration and password cha-cha, but it only commits you to buying a minivan…no, two minivans. I apologize for the quality of the digitization, but alas, the technology–she is young, no?
For those of you who don’t want to sit through the entire film again, please feel free to vote for it, as the votes could help the film become a semifinalist. for those of you who’ve never seen the film, please watch it and save me the false promise of sending you a tape.
Thanks a lot for helping out!”
This movie means so very, very much to me. We worked very hard on it, and I am so excited to share my work with the world. Please watch it, please tell your friends to watch it, and then vote for it, dammit!
If javascript is busted on your computer (like it is on my POS 9000), our movie is in the top row, in the middle.
Feel free to discuss the movie in the soapbox.