It's been quite the journey.
There's a great joke in a Simpsons episode spoofing Joan of Arc. Homer is reading the tale to the kids and explains, "The French were fighting the English in the Hundred Years War, which was then called "Operation Speedy Resolution"."
When it was first decided to get The Zero Point off the ground, it was under the notion that it would take 10, maybe 15 days of principal photography. That's partly true. We came in at 17. Only it was 17 days spread out over seven months! But here we are, so close to a wrap we can taste it.
Originally conceived as a feature-length film entitled "Surge" (as in electrical), The Zero Point was written in the late 1990s. The four core characters and overall premise were all there, but the story focused more on the morality and consequences of altering history, despite one's intent. In the original draft, Cain Shinotake, a University drop-out and all-around irresponsible schlep, has altered catastrophic events in the past to prove his theory that history can be changed (it's theorized that the laws of physics would block any attempt to do so, but of course there's only one way to know for sure). An anonymous phone call by Cain prevents the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols in 1995, saving hundreds of lives. But when he's cornered by the repo men, Cain learns that this act set off a chain of events that led to a larger disaster just a couple of years later, thus proving that nature will balance the universal scales, substituting one disaster for another. In spite of a psuedo-heady premise, the full script read more like a Michael Bay script than anything (and that ain't good).
But the seed was there.
The timing for the script's completion couldn't have been worse. A pitch to a team of local filmmakers was scheduled just before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. A few days after the tragedy, everyone involved, especially the writer, felt a story with a terrorist act at its center would be frowned upon, and for good reason. But due to the usual factors, the film never got off the ground anyway.
Over the next few years, several Hollywood features were released that bore an uncanny resemblance to Surge. The biggest sucker punch was from The Matrix -- a film with the high tech stylization intended for Surge. Most disheartening, though, was the use of body jacks featured in film, something that had not been seen in film before (the closest similiarity would be Cronenberg's Videodrome) but was at the core of Surge. It was a bittersweet pill: The Wachowski's had beaten us to it, but at least they did it well.
Another film that stole our thunder was Jet Li's The One, which featured a Control Room for interdimensional travelling nearly identical to that described in Surge. Even Matt Damon's breakthrough masterpiece Good Will Hunting depticted a 'hiding his light from the world' genius far more convincingly than Surge had done. The collective unconscious takes a real bite sometimes.
Since there wasn't much point in launching what would look like a bandwagon, or even a copycat film, the script was shelved for some time. But this was a blessing in disguise, since the script was in great need of a full overhaul.
The threads weave together.
2006. Ravenswood Pictures is formed for its cornerstone film Gloryland, an animated feature. Neal cast an ensemble team of 13 local actors for voice-over performances, some of whom he'd met over the years working on various other projects. Shortly after Surge had been pitched, Nancy Veloo was featured in Neal's dark comedy short, Painkillers, starring the first actor pitched as Cain, Daniel Yabut http://imdb.com/name/nm1717425/ (surely not a project Dan would care to remember). Aaron Galvin, a new actor in Chicago fresh off the proverbial bus from Muncie, Indiana, was cast in two of Gloryland's leading roles.
Looking for a project to help springboard Gloryland, Neal decided to revisit Surge. By now The Matrix and other films were ancient history, too old to be considered a parent film. And of course, time improves a writer and gives him perspective.
The script was broken down to its base elements -- basic premise (time traveller being chased by repo men), characters (all four remained intact), and the hook (the implants that will be the hero's undoing). With the stage set, the script was retooled into something far more mature and coherent than its previous incarnations. The deux ex machina of a specific disaster was tossed. Though still plot-driven, the story became less of a gadget piece than previous incarnations.
It was an easy transition to cast four actors from Gloryland in The Zero Point, all of whom fit the parts like a glove.
From there on, things fell into place. Travis Cameron and Eloy Cavazos were the first to come on board as D.P. and C.O/A.D. Line Producer Seneca Lester, short-lived Script Supervisor Jua Epperson, and Genoveva "Geno (HEN-o)" Flores followed shortly after.
Soon the movie was in full-swing with a tight knit, dedicated core crew putting in unbelievably long hours, mileage and labor to see the job through to completion. It hasn't been without some major upheavals: Changing the main set location nearly halfway through principal photography because of a change in building management. Scrapping the fake wall it took days to build because of the change. Getting stopped by Chicago's Finest twice in one night.
With a few battle scars to show for it, the film is moving into post.
And who says making movies isn't fun?