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Thursday, February 8, 2001 - Reshooting scenes at Mobile Memorial Gardens and a Shell station. They are being easy on me this morning! Crew call is not until 8:00 AM. I get up at 6:00 and by the time 7:45 rolls around I have yesterday's report half done. Perhaps I can sneak away around lunch or right before moving to the Shell station scene to finish it up. The scenes that were filmed at these two locations a couple of weeks ago were among the ones that were ruined by the malfunctioning camera. I was present at the filming of the cemetery scene but missed the Shell station on the first go-around. I only live less than a mile from Mobile Memorial Gardens cemetery, so I leave the house around 7:55. But I forgot about the heavy traffic on three Notch Road around that time, so I don't get to the cemetery until 8:10. The crew has just arrived. Props Master Scot Broadus and On-set Dresser Mark Hanibal are already busy unpacking things that are needed on the set. Hanibal will be working with us today. "Let's carry four director's chairs and that squatty lawn chair. I have the black thread and the Streaks & Tips spray," Scot says. We head up the hill to where the grave site is located. The same grave is used as during the first shoot. I notice that the mostly-brown grass has been touched up with some green spray paint. The grips are assembling the camera dolly tracks. The lighting people are doing their thing with cables, lights and reflector screens. Skip Godwin, the Sound Mixer is setting up his equipment. Soon all the key film people arrive. Again only a limited number of people are present like at the previous shoot. There is a new guy on the set. He is the stand-in for Philip Seymour Hoffman. Finally someone almost Philip's size (But Philip is still heavier...), with blond hair too boot! Hanibal is placing the flowers on the head of the grave, and Scot is rigging the black string that will make the vase with the flowers "blow" over. I help by making sure the strings don't get tangled and try not to trip people who are constantly walking across them. There is no wind. There was the last time. Scot asks Lisa Rinzler, the Director of Photography, if we should have a fan to blow on the flowers to simulate wind. "Yes - we may not need it, but let's try it." I head back to the truck and get a box fan and an electrical extension cord. But when I get back to the set, they have decided to hold off on the artificial wind. That's good - there's no juice to the set anyway and no generator in sight... The stand-in is called to stand at the foot of the grave during setups and he goes through the motions as directed by the camera operators, Lisa and her assistant, Martina Rawan. I find out his name is Dent Boykin. Scot has tied three strings to the vase of flowers this time. One is to topple the vase and the others are tied to individual flowers. He shows me that by twitching the strings we can make it look as if the wind is blowing. Scot and I each get a hold of a string and we make wind - so to speak... We're good! It looks very believable... I hear the five-minute warning. A call goes out over the radio to send Philip to the set. When he arrives, they start filming. Right off the bat, as Philip squats down and straightens the vase, he gets his left hand tangled in one of the strings. Philip doesn't like the new strings. "My hand has to go straight down there where that string is," he says. "Let's kill 'em." Scot says. "Kill those two new strings." We take the wind-simulating wires off. Rats! There goes my special effects part... Several flower vases are borrowed from some surrounding graves to fill in some empty areas in the picture. Hanibal has some difficulty finding vases that are not tied down to their bases with a small chain. But he finds some that are unattached. They are waiting, but he takes the time to write down the names on scraps of paper and sticks them in each vase to make sure they get back to the right grave after filming. Everything continues pretty much like it did on January 26 with only a few minor differences. After about three hours a wrap is called and the set is torn down. Everyone packs up and relocates to the Shell station at the intersection of Azalea and Cottage Hill Roads. The weather is great, mostly sunny and quickly warming up into the low seventies. I tell Scot I'm going home to shed my long johns bottom. "Okay - that's fine. Would you do me a favor?" "Sure," I say. "Would you pick up four pints of vanilla ice cream?" He hands me a twenty. "Gee, thanks, Scot, could we make it rum raisin? That's my favorite." "It's not for you! It's for Philip. In one of the scenes this afternoon Wilson sits in his car and eats ice cream." I go home and before I leave I decide to check my e-mail. One thing leads to another and I start adding to the half-completed report of the previous day. I get totally absorbed in it, until I need the name of the boater who was at the park yesterday, Willie Dennis. (I hate to get names wrong.) I look in my wallet, because he had given me his name and address. I see a twenty dollar bill. Funny, where did that come from? I though I was broke... Then it hit me! §¶•ªº#$%^&! That's Scot's twenty! The ice cream! It's needed for a scene this afternoon and I'm sitting here fooling around, forgetting all about the time! What if they need the ice cream RIGHT NOW! They ALWAYS want things RIGHT NOW! I feel the blood leave my face... I do a quick 'file save' on the computer, grab my keys and head for Azalea Road. The set is 15 minutes away... I expect my cell phone to ring anytime now! I drive pretty fast. There's a Foodworld grocery store on Cottage Hill Road not far from the set's location... Why do these traffic lights always turn red when you get close? Why do they stay red so long? Why do I always get behind those slow, slow drivers? I feel nervous, but it slowly wears off the closer I get to the store! Finally I'm there! I grab my cell phone and I hurriedly walk into the store. I'm not used to shopping here, so first I go to the wrong end of the store (of course...) Why aren't grocery stores built and laid out the same way for people in my predicament?... I am getting a bit worried. I hope I don't make Scot look bad. The props have to be on the set when they're called for. Sholto doesn't accept excuses! Neither will Scot... I hope I don't disappoint him... I find the shortest checkout line. Only one person ahead with just three items. Great! But now there's a slight problem with the scanning (of course...) Then the lady has to write a check (of course...) She writes very slowly (of course... oh why, why me?... My nervousness goes back to the level where it was 10 minutes ago.) Now she has trouble tearing the check out of her check book (of course...) She hands it to the cashier. The cashier looks the check over like she's never seen one before. Why so slowly? They all look alike! I'm in agony now... She inserts the check in the computer. The check gets folded, tangled, spindled and mutilated in the check-eating gadget (of course...) It regurgitates it... The cashier tries to take out the folds, spindles and mutilations. She does it carefully and slowly... She re-inserts the check in the check-eating gadget. Finally, it takes it correctly and now we wait for the computer to approve it. Aren't computers supposed to be fast? This one must be old. The cashier smiles at me apologetically. "It's slow," she says. No kidding... I nod but I'm not smiling back... Finally! The check is approved and the lady in front of me clears out. I pay for the ice cream, grab the change and rush out of the store. The set is only one minute away and I feel totally calm now! Hah! If Scot were to call me at this moment - no problem! I can just hear him now: "FRITS! Where the hell are you? Where is that ice cream? We have TWO MINUTES!" And I'll just calmly say: "I have the ice cream, Scot. I'm only 52 seconds away." What an impression I'll make on him! "GREAT!" he'll say... I turn into the parking lot and park my van close to the other movie vehicles. I get the bag with the ice cream and look for Scot. There he is. His eyes light up as he sees me. He walks over, grabs the bag. I hand him his change. He doesn't even ask any questions! I walk to the Shell station with him. He stores the ice cream in one of the freezers. Whew! I feel so totally relieved! And Scot doesn't even know what I just went through!... "Let's eat lunch," Scot says. Good! I need to sit down. Let's see... On the hot side of today's menu we have a choice of meat loaf and potatoes with veggies. On the cold side there's smoked salmon and cold poached salmon with all kinds of salads. I go for the salmon, load up my plate and sit down. The food is absolutely delicious! Philip Seymour Hoffman gets his food and decides to sit at a totally empty table behind me. There was an open seat right in front of me, and I was hoping he... Oh, well!... After Philip leaves, his co-star Jack Kehler (who plays Denny), carrying a tray with food, walks over to where I'm sitting. He goes around behind me and almost trips over my chair legs. "Sorry, Jack!" I say. "That's alright, Frits," he laughs and sits down in the chair to my left. Across the table are Bill Newell, the Gaffer (he heads up the electrical riggers), and a gentleman with a shaved head who I still don't know. I think he's a rigger too. They get into a discussion of movies. I ask Jack how long he's been acting. He's been in films since 1971, he says, and has been acting in movies and television since 1982. He names a long list of TV shows and films, but I don't remember all of them now. I'll have a chance to ask him again later. I also want to take his picture before this filming ends. After lunch they mount a camera in the bed of a pickup truck for a driving scene. Denny's pickup truck is hitched to the camera truck, and Wilson's car is hitched to Denny's truck. So there are three vehicles attached to each other with trailer hitches. Two police cars that are to be the escorts are waiting. People are loading up. The back of the camera truck has the camera, Lisa, her assistant Martina, and Gilly Charbonnet (Key grip). In the second truck, Denny is "driving" and Wilson is a passenger. I run into Matt Gaumer, 2nd Assistant Camera. He's always rushing around! He's definitely one of the busiest people on the set. "Matt, can I have a picture of you?" He stops and smiles. "Sure, Frits!" I snap a picture of him. "Are you going on that road trip too, Matt?" I ask. "Yeah, do you want to come?" he asks. You bet! I quickly locate Scot and ask him if it's alright to go on the road with Matt. "Of course. Go!" he says. I get in the 12-passenger red van that always follows the traveling camera. A hair/makeup person, on-set dresser and wardrobe person has to go along. And of course the film loader, Matt in this case. In the van are the driver, George Mills, and Mark Hanibal (On-set Dresser), Dolores Hernandez (Key Hair/Makeup), Andrea Sweet (Wardrobe Assistant) and Matt. At the last moment Jimi Woods (2nd Assistant Director) slips into the van too. The police cars turn their blue lights on and the whole caravan gets onto Cottage Hill Road. We are behind the camera vehicle but stay back several hundred feet. With one flashing escort leading the way and one bringing up the rear we go about 15 miles per hour, taking up two complete lanes of the five-lane road. Traffic is piling up behind the rear escort vehicle... Soon I hear Sholto Roeg say "Action!" and I assume a discussion now starts between Denny and Wilson in the truck being towed. They want for George and the police officer in the rear to kill their lights. I turn around as the cop car behind us turns off all his lights. "George, turn your headlights off!" I hear Sholto say over the radio. "These won't go off," George says. "They're always on." "Activate your emergency brake briefly and they'll go out," someone says over the radio. George does and they go out! Nobody in our van knew this trick... We go a couple of miles, turn around and head back to the Shell station. They have to put a different lens on the camera and change film canisters. I get out of the van. After they change the camera lens they leave again for some close-up shots. That was a nice experience, but there was not a whole lot of visible action from where I was! I walk around and take a picture of Jeff Roda and Ruth Charney. Jeff and Ruth are the producers of Love Liza. I then strike up a conversation with Dent Boykin, Philip Seymour Hoffman's stand-in. He lives in Mobile and he was called in late last night. That explains why his name does not appear on the call sheet. Dent knows a lot about horses and guns, and he gives Scot his telephone number, in case special props are needed. Scot is definitely interested and I hear them talk about weapons several times during the afternoon... Late in the afternoon, as we are waiting for the set to be completed for the next scene Scot suddenly calls out to me: "Frits, how soon can you get the red and white plane ready?" "Ready? Ready for what? You mean put the wing on?" They must need the plane in the back seat of Philip's car, I'm thinking... "No! Ready to fly!" he says. "FLY? FLY HERE?" ¢ §¶•ª%&*! This is not happening! But at least this parking lot behind the Shell station is bigger, I'm thinking as I turn and look around. I see plenty of light poles, cars, and the rush hour traffic on Cottage Hill Road is building... "You are not serious, are you, Scot?" "Yes I'm serious! Come on, man, how soon? Sholto wants to know." &*$%¢ §¶•ª!!! "Twenty minutes." I reply. "Too long! How soon?" "Ten minutes." I say as I head for the truck. "Too long! Make it in five!" $%&*¢ §¶•ª crazy movie people! I jump into the props truck. Just what I thought! The wrong transmitter is plugged into the charger! In New Orleans Scott taxied the backup plane around for some reason. This one has never been flown! I quickly swap the chargers to the No. 1 plane. I'll swap transmitter batteries in a minute, but first I have to rob a muffler screw from the No. 2 engine and put it on the No. 1 engine. I do that. One minute goes by... Where's that wing? It's up on a shelf, underneath the Japanese Zero. I climb on the stool and untie the rope that holds the Zero in place. I carefully take it down. I don't know why I should be careful with it. Nobody else is!... The propeller is loose again, the canopy is about to come off, and now the left gear is wobbling in its mounting block... §¶•ª$!!! I get the trainer plane's wing down. Another minute has past... I put the wing on the fuselage with eight rubber bands. Where's the fuel? There it is! Where's the radio antenna? I rummage through the box and find it. I screw it into the transmitter. Where is the starter? I find it in one of the storage bins. Where's the 9 Volt battery for the navigation lights? Do they even work still? I don't even try them. If we must fly then fly we shall... It's not dark yet anyway, but then who knows... And where is that glow driver? I can't find Scot's. §¶•%#ª!! I have one but it's in my van in my other flight box. I run to my van and get it. Another minute has past... Now - I need to swap that that battery... "Hey, Frits!" I know that British voice. It's Sholto's, and I'm not ready yet! Oh, $•§¶! I turn around and here comes Sholto walking up to the truck. "Yes, Sholto?" "Frits, that flying scene has been 86'ed." He motions with his hand across his throat, a universal gesture to mean kill it or stop whatever you're doing. But what is that 86 thing?... "And that means WHAT, Sholto? We are NOT flying?" "That's right," he says. "THANK YOU, Sir!" I say, and I meant that from the bottom of my heart. He smiles broadly and walks off. I breathe a deep sigh of relief... Later I ask Sholto if he and Scot were pulling a joke on me. Scot would do something like that. "No," Sholto says. "But we're getting behind and there's no time left..." I'm still not so convinced... I help Hanibal put up some colorful red and yellow plastic sheets of corrugated plastic, pre-cut to cover the Shell logo and the word 'Shell' above and on the pumps. We each climb a ladder and stick the panels over the words and logos with double-sided tape. I walk over to the video monitor. It looks good! We're now filming at a generic, non-brand gas station!... A pretty young girl, Britney, 16 years old, is used as an extra in the next scene. She is the stepdaughter of fellow modeler and rc club member Ernie Rivers and has been in a couple of beauty pageants. Britney is a junior at Davidson High. She is a varsity cheerleader and a candidate for this year's America's Junior Miss pageant. Britney is dressed as a typical school girl and has a backpack on. She patiently waits as they are getting ready. Then she goes through a couple of rehearsals. In this scene, while Wilson is pumping gas, she walks from the store across the pump islands past Wilson. As he spots her, he asks her for the way to Slidel (where in the movie some boat races are going to be held), but she ignores him and keeps walking... They start filming. During one take, right after "Action!" is called by Sholto, a car suddenly drives up to the next pump and a young man gets out. A regular customer! This person apparently doesn't have a clue that a movie is being filmed here! Philip Seymour Hoffman is pretending to be pumping gas and Britney has just ignored Philip's question and she keeps on walking. The customer who just drove up starts to walk to the store while puling his wallet out of his pocket. Philip, staying completely in character turns to the customer and calls out: "Hey, buddy, is this the way to Slidel?" Sholto and Jimi silently but visibly begin to crack up. The young man turns around and walks back towards Philip. What?" he says. "Is this the way to Slidel?" Philip asks again. "I don't know..." the guy says. "Okay, thanks!" Philip says and continues pumping. "CUT!" Everyone that saw this take starts to laugh and some clap. "That was good, Philip!" Sholto says. For the last scene, movie character Wilson has to eat ice cream while sitting in the front seat of his car. They do the take three times and during each take Philip gobbles up ice cream in pretty rapid fashion! He practically empties the first pint container and seems to really enjoy eating it... But by the third take he's slowed down a bit! Then it's a wrap! We're done. Time to pack up and head for the house! I help Hanibal and Scot get all their stuff back to the truck. Scot ties everything down, and we head home. Today has been great! Tomorrow they will film at Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach. I'm planning to be there... |
