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PRODUCTION JOURNAL DAY 17 - Tuesday, MARCH 27, 2001 A ROUGH START
INT.
FRANCIS BEDROOM -- DAY INT. FRANCIS BEDROOM -- NIGHT INT. FRANCIS BEDROOM -- NIGHT INT. FRANCIS BEDROOM -- NIGHT INT. FRANCIS KITCHEN -- NIGHT INT. FRANCIS KITCHEN -- NIGHT Today we
were supposed to shoot scenes 74 - 77 and more coverage of scene
105/106, the final scene of the film, all of which take place at the
restaurant on South Flores. We had already completed scene 75, a
cutaway of Jessica sweeping outside the Food Mart and parts of
105/106. We arrived at the restaurant in the pouring rain and saw
that it would be completely impossible to match the parts of the
scenes we had already shot. The pavement was soaking wet, the
windows were completely fogged up and the light was totally wrong.
And did I mention that it was pouring? We evidently were going to
have to find something else to do for the day. Organized film productions have cover sets lined up. We had one
cover set for the entire shoot; Francis' apartment. It was ideal
because it required only one actor, Billy D., and the set was
pre-dressed in Paul Ross's house (the Prop Master). We only had a
single day's shooting there, however, and I really wanted to save it
until the end of the shoot, if possible. The only other cover option
for today was the housing project hallways, but that location had
not been secured yet. Why, I can't imagine. It's not like a hallway
is a tough location to find. At any rate, we assembled department
heads and announced the move to Paul's house. While the
sets were lit and set dressing was shifted around, Matt (1st camera
assistant) tackled the repair of the Arri camera. As you recall, it
sort of fell yesterday and the power connection broke. Well, this
proved to be a bigger time-eater than the company move. It was no
less than four hours from call time when the camera was finally
fixed. I want to stress, though, that Matt was by no means the
problem. We were lucky to have him. He saved our ass on more than a
few occasions when camera-related problems occurred that left
everyone else scratching their heads in total befuddlement. But all
I could think about was starting a day with four hours lopped off
right from the get-go. That ain't right. *
* * * *
* I think I
set a personal record today. We shot an entire day's worth of film
with only one word of dialogue. And, this being EvenHand, that word
was, of course, "shit." I was so pissed when Cherry,
our last film, was given an
"R" rating by the MPAA. Cherry had three
"fucks," two "shits" and NO violence, NO nudity.
The sexual references were all arch and mostly innuendo and really
not any racier than the double-entendres typical of classic Saturday
morning cartoons. The fact that we were given an "R" makes
it abundantly clear that the MPAA is a highly political
organization. If Cherry had been a studio film, you can bet
it would have been given a PG-13, as most ultra-violent sexually
depraved studio films are. Anyway, EvenHand is my revenge on
the MPAA -- it has seven or eight "fucks" in every scene
and some violence, too. If it is ever rated, it will absolutely get
an "R." No sex, though, unfortunately. Note to self:
include that stuff in another film someday. Today's
trivia fact: When Francis reads a paperback in scene 71 it is a book
called The Death of M. Golouja. This is the Serbo-Croatian
short story on which Julian
Po, our first feature film, was based. Will anyone ever
notice? Will anyone ever care? I don't know, but it made me
happy and Alan Wade may
get a chuckle out of it if he ever decides to watch one of our other
films, which he probably won't. The most
amusing moment of the day (in retrospect) was when we finished the
umpteenth scene of Francis moping around his apartment. Always
planning ahead, I had already chosen the song I wanted to use for
one of the scenes. When we finished the setup I was picturing how it
would all come together in post. I told Billy that he was great and
that the music would really make the moment. If I had thought about
it I would have realized that that was a really dumb thing for a
director to say to an actor. His interpretation of my words was
something like "you were OK, but that won't matter because the
music will make it really good." It didn't come out at all how
I meant it, so I apologized for my boorish insensitivity. Then,
after virtually every setup for the remainder of the shoot I would
say to Billy: "Yeah, that was fine, but you know what's going
to make this scene, this moment, really great? The
Music!" The song
in question is "The Creek Between Heaven and Hell" by
Jesse Dayton (thanks, Bill S.). And I gotta say, since we've put it
in in post, it makes the scene GREAT! - Joseph Pierson
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