I then sat in the back porch and wrote out yesterday's blog while Wey read a Calvin & Hobbes book next to me. Calvin & Hobbes is maybe the greatest artistic achievement to ever come out of the funnies. Here's Sharon playing dinosaurs with Henry:
While writing, I realized that the previous day was 5/25/13, 34th anniversary of 5/25/77, the release date of Star Wars. I asked Phoebe if she loved Star Wars. She shook her head no. I said, "Why not? Did you see it?" She said, "I saw Angry Birds Star Wars." I don't even know what to do with that, Phoebe.
As I continued writing, 4-year-old Phoebe guest directed a scene for the movie, of an establishing shot of Harry house. She was a very hands-on director, telling the dolly grips they could go "a little farther, a little farther, almost there... stop!" She later told Brett she wanted to direct a scene with actors. What the fuck, Phoebe!
Meal had been planned for 5pm, but I guess it was pushed a couple hours. While I waited, I asked a handful of people what their favorite Shakespeare adaptation was. Someone said The Lion King (1994), but I said that doesn't count because it's not an adaptation; it's just highly derivative of Hamlet. Keston asked if West Side Story (1961) counted, and I said it does because I'm pretty sure the Romeo and Juliet parallels were intentional. He said that was his answer then. We all agreed Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996) was great. I asked how people felt about the Julia Stiles Shakespeare double bill of 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) and O (2001). Sheldon said 10 Things was better, and Keston downright hated O. I thought it was okay. But I agree that West Side Story is better.
For meal, we had meatballs, rice, and bread. I partook of a portion of a vegan meat dish that had also been prepared. It was good. There was talk after meal of going to Lowes Wharf, but instead people ended up drinking wine and eating ice cream in the kitchen. I had some box pinot greeje and slept for two hours before the scheduled 1:30am breakfast to our 2:30am call time. Right before I went to sleep, I saw that the mail carrier scene had been rescheduled to the next day's shoot, so when I woke up, I made sure to give myself a haircut because I am playing the mail carrier. Our breakfast meal was eggs, sausage patties, and biscuits. I ate biscuits with a side of biscuits, after which Anne offered to reheat me the vegan meat/rice leftovers from meal. I said hell yes and ate that as well, as we adjourned to Harry house for another twelve hours of nonstop shooting.
Stuff that happened on this day during downtime:
- Brett talked about some movies that mixed narrative storytelling with documentary bits, like JFK (1991) and District 9 (2009). Those are good movies. I asked Brett if JFK was his favorite Matthau/Lemmon movie and he said yes.
- Brett played some Simpsons tracks on his phone, like "Can I Borrow a Feeling" and "Mr. Plow."
- Kevin told us about a nice girl he used to date.
- We talked about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles because I was wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt from Target.
- Whit and I agreed that Alec Baldwin is balls funny.
When we were nearly wrapped with Keston and Kevin, I asked Brett if we had spare masks for their characters. Brett said no and started laughing when he realized how dangerous that was. These were fragile masks that were tossed around all over the set for days and if someone had stepped on them or otherwise ruined them, there would be no way to replace them. Indeed, I had thought of this days earlier, but said nothing because I didn't want to have that thought stressing people out.
The way this shoot day was structured was a sandwich. First some easy stuff, then two horrifically long climactic dialogue scenes, then some other easy stuff. The first things were 32 and 78. Then the actors rehearsed 81 and we waited for adequate sunlight. This allowed us to discuss the works of Wes Anderson. I loved Darjeeling Limited (2007) but have yet to see Moonrise Kingdom (2012). And when conversation turned to Ben Stiller and other jacked short guys, I put in a good word for Jack Reacher (2012).
At some point, meal happened, which was several delicious chickens, lettuce, and a weirdo salad that was watermelon, onions, and cheese. There was also quinoa, which is what I ate. I also had a peanut butter sandwich. This blog is full disclosure. When we got back, Brett shared with me a theory about The Dark Knight Rises (2012). He thinks that movie was originally conceived to be presented nonlinearly. I think this theory makes a lot of sense, given Christopher Nolan's history of almost exclusively challenging timeplay in his films, and the fact that Dark Knight Rises could only make more sense out of sequence.
Shooting 81 alone today would have been impressive enough, but we then had to follow it up with 85. This was the difficult climax where people confronted each other with tense declarations of issues and things. By the time we finished shooting, we were all fairly well spent. Even those of us who'd slept as much as possible before the shoot were feeling the fatigue. Hopefully it at least enhances the onscreen emotional strain of the characters in the movie who have been up all night fucking with each other. But we still shot 11 after that, and 11 was the mail carrier scene.
I went back to Dolly house, where Anne was stitching my character name onto my delivery boy shirt. As I mentioned in the last blog, we had previously discussed color. Anne stayed away from brown, because she didn't want it to look like I was on safari. I had suggested an aquamarine or teal or bluish thing, which she agreed with, and she ended up going with a navy blue. The previous day, I had told her I was a size XL and she said no way, I was L. Indeed, the L fit me and Anne and Brett said it looked better than my other shirts, which are all a little big on me and "make it look like there's more Diego than there really is." She also got me high crew socks, which she says is a prerequisite for all mail carriers. I don't think you see the socks onscreen, but they sure helped me get into character. It was a thrill sharing a scene with Whit, but discombobulating, because Brett had me do it without glasses, just like in The Comedian at The Friday (2010).
After we wrapped for the day, I told Nick the story of my traumatic last days at UCF and then accompanied Brett to Target, where we got some extra snackies for the kitchen. Highlights included Chips Ahoy with Reese's peanut butter cup stuff in them, which were apparently new to Brett, and birthday cake Oreos, cited previously by Whit as a fan favorite. We also browsed movies, but I didn't make any purchases.
At 6pm on this Memorial Day Monday, I went to sleep. Two days left on our shooting schedule. I keep meaning to watch Gattaca (1997), which Brett says is canon with P46, but I keep spending all my free time either blogging or sleeping. Will I ever squeeze it in? Tune in next time.
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