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Day 27 of 29 - Thursday, February 15, 2001 - Frits removes unwanted guests from the Love Liza set... Crew call is around 1:00 this afternoon, so I figure I have plenty of time to get at least one more report done, the pictures scanned in and the links for them set up on the Web. Alvin Reed, the Web Guru who has been maintaining my journal on his Website for me was forced to slow down a bit because of a bad back, but he's better now and catching up to me again. He's doing a fantastic job setting up all the hyperlinks to the many pictures I send him by e-mail every day. Plus he puts up with my constant changes and revisions! As I sit there typing on my computer, my cell phone rings. It's Scot Broadus, the movie production's Property Master. They need my van for blocking, he says, because movie character Denny's van has not shown up on the set at the Dog River residence yet. "Blocking" is when the scene and the camera are set up using all props that are in the scene and stand-ins for the real actors. "You have a van just like it," Scott says, "the color is just different." "Okay," I say, "Let me shut down my computer and I'll be on my way." "When you get here, just pull up into the driveway," Scot says. When I get to the residence at Dog River I turn into the driveway and then I notice that Denny's van is already parked there! The camera is being set up. It looks as if they are in the middle of rehearsal already, or worse yet, actual filming! My heart almost stops. I hit my brakes. Everyone on the set is looking at me. Mark Hannibal (On-set dresser) walks over to my van and motions to kill my engine. He mouthes the words: "Are you out of your mind?" When he gets close enough I whisper: "I'm just doing what I'm told." "The real thing is here now, so we won't need your van," Jimi Woods (1st Assistant Director) says. Fortunately they are still just blocking. I back up the van and park it in the street. By the time I get back to the set the "first team" has been called. This refers to the main actors. I stand by and watch the filming of this driveway scene which includes characters Wilson (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Denny (Jack Kehler), Maura (Sarah Koskoff), and Angela Ryan (played by Shannon Holt, an actress I had not seen before.) They are in the middle of a scene when two dogs walk up, a chocolate brown retriever and a little short brown and white dog. The two have been hanging around the set from day one. The dogs are getting closer to the set. From the first day on this location their metal dog tags have been taped up. They were tinkling too much... "Roll sound!" is called. Jimi Woods (1st Assistant Director) turns around, spots the dogs, looks at me and says: "Frits, tie up those dogs. Get rid of them!" I walk over to the dogs, distract them and coax them away from the set. They start to follow me. I hear "Action!" as I the dogs and I walk toward the house. After talking Lavelle out of some rope, I hear one of the grips says: "So Frits - you are a dog wrangler now?" That's what it looks like! I tie both dogs up. The big dog is okay with that, but the little one doesn't like it. I find a big saucer that is part of a flower pot, walk over to the food cart and get a bottle of water. Let's see - I saw a plate of half-eaten breakfast someone left earlier... There it is! I get it and take the water and the food to the dogs. They are happy and start drinking and eating. I start walking toward the front of the house, and as I turn around to make sure the dogs are okay, I see the little one running after me. She's chewed through the rope! &* §¶•! I lure her back to her friend and tie her up again. She starts chewing the rope immediately. I'm running out of rope! The big dog is just standing there, and looking at me with sad eyes... With the help of Boyd and others we manage to keep the little dog entertained around the side of the house until the wrap. Then I untie the other dog and return the ropes to Lavelle's truck. While the camera and the people associated with it are moving inside for an interior scene in the family room I spot Jeff Roda (Producer) doing some paperwork on a bench. I snap his picture. At Sanford's Craft Services truck I catch Leonard Reynolds in the middle of grabbing a bite. Leonard became 2nd Assistant Director after Sholto left. A few minutes later I find Ruth Charney (Producer) sitting in the middle of the front lawn. She's doing some paperwork. She looks up and she says: "I take terrible pictures!" "That means NO, Frits!" I hear Scot say as he's walking by. But Ruth is smiling, so I take it anyway... Scot asks me to mix up about five gallons of "gasoline" for an upcoming scene where Wilson knocks a gas container over in the middle of the living room floor. "Use some red food coloring from the props truck and a couple of fizzing vitamins from Sanford's truck," Scot says. I get the food coloring. On Sanford's truck there's a box of all kinds of over-the-counter medicines and vitamins. I find the 1-inch diameter fizzing vitamins in three flavors - fruit punch, orange and raspberry. I pick two of the raspberry. I find a 5-gallon bucket, fill it with water in the sink in the garage and start mixing food coloring with it. I then drop the vitamins in and dissolve them. The mixture turns out looking very much like gasoline. Scot sees some particles floating around in it. I had not cleaned the bucket well enough! "Let's filter that trash out," he says. I find a funnel and a wash cloth. I then pour the liquid through the rag into another bucket until it's clean. I set the stuff aside until it's needed. In between activities I take a picture of Victor Keatley (Lighting/Electric) and then I run into someone I had not seen on the set before. He's Tony Cecere, a Stunt Coordinator. According to Tony he's "done more burns" than anyone in the industry. He mentions some of the movies he's been involved with. The list is so long that I can only remember one of them - Ghostbusters! Tony is spraying a shirt and a pair of pants with a fire retardant chemical. He'll wear the outfit in the filming of a scene that calls for Wilson to accidentally set his clothes on fire. The scene will be filmed on the final day of filming. I find out from Tony that the scene will be set up in vacant house somewhere else and that the Mobile Fire Department will be standing by. "Is it something I can watch, or is that sort of scene restricted?" I ask. "I don't see why you can't come and watch," he says. In the middle of the afternoon Scot tells me that they may want me to fly the trainer plane soon! "What? Fly? Here? Did you say FLY?" I ask. "Well, drive it around and hop it about four to five feet," he says. "You can do that, can't you?" Oh, jeez... He and I start walking toward the grass area across the street. Pine trees are standing everywhere, but there are some uninterrupted strips of grass about twenty to thirty feet wide here and there. "Sure! - Yeah, I can do it," I answer. I get all my rc stuff, my starter and fuel out of the props truck and stage it across the street. In the truck I attach the wing to the fuselage, but I leave the plane and the transmitter connected to the chargers in the truck. "This should be interesting to watch," one of the truck drivers says as he hears what I've been asked to do. No kidding, I'm thinking. I run across a strange scene where Forrest Perryman (Grip) is lying under the front of Denny's vehicle. He appears to be lifting the van! I take his picture. But he's really doing something with the bumper which has been attached and re-attached several times for the driving scenes. Because crew call was later than usual, lunch is late in the afternoon, around 5:00 PM. Let's see... What have the two cooks from Louisiana prepared for us today... Cajun Crawfish on Pasta, Sliced Roast Duck with a Special Fruit Sauce, Fried Cauliflower, Cold Poached Salmon and fresh garden salad. It's hard to turn down! I make sure I get plenty! Just as I'm finishing my meal, my wife Carol drives up with our granddaughter Isabella. After I dump my food tray, I swing by the food truck and compliment Gary and Steve on their fine food, as I do every day. I walk over to where Carol has parked the car. Isabella is glad to see me! As I show them around several of the crew members talk to Isabella. She tells them her full name ("Isabella Noel Jetten") and how old she is ("Two-and-a-half," as she holds up two fingers.) She will actually be three this Wednesday. Lisa talks to her and we find out that her 3-year old daughter is named Isabella too. Actor Jack Kehler stops by and talks. Jill, Dolores and Andrea all talk to her. Then I take them around to the side of the house. Gilly chats with Isabella. I then take them into the house through the garage and show them the different rooms. Scot says I can go home for the rest of the evening. Good! I can spend some time with Isabella. We tell Scot bye and walk to the car Carol and Isabella came in. But my granddaughter doesn't want me to follow them in the van. She insists that I drive the car. So Carol ends up following the two of us. We knew that was going to happen... Isabella has missed me... |
