I don't really know where to start other than to say that this was the best experience of my life thus far. Although it was 13 days of 12-14 hours (sometimes more: shhhhh don't tell SAG!) I was rarely exhausted because the energy of this amazing team kept me going. I must say that I got the easier end of things because I didn't even shoot the first two days or the very last! Poor Mike!
What a difference from the March shoot! In March it was 6 days of pacing around Christians house, crying/ranting and looking like hell. And this was 13 days of being in a different location every couple days or so, being silly, and even being on a Lynx bus for a night. The shot will look so amazing though! Thank goodness for processing the shot because upon first try of really riding around on the bus and doing the scene, I almost puked in Mike's lap. In my defense: it is a LOOOONG scene! And, Jethro said he was getting sick too, but I think he was just saying that to make me feel better.
The café scene was the most fun "acting wise" because I love the juxtaposition of Tom and Marlo's characters. I can't wait to see the finished product of that scene spliced together because we are all already cracking up on just some rough edits. And I also spent what seemed like two entire days laying in bed with the camera hovering above me! Whether I was Meisnering (is that a legal verb?) Shakespeare or spooning whilst sweating enough to drown a cat I was thankful to be able to take a load off!
But, I would have to say my favorite was the dolly shot that we took in front of the history center. I remember looking at this long track that went all the way from right outside the doors to the bus station and realizing, "Oh my gosh, this is a REAL film!" HA! And when you see how beautiful and brilliant Danny and Johnny's (and EVERYONE else who helped!) work is on it, it's more interesting than the scene that is taking place! I never thought Downtown Orlando could look so romantic! Just wait till you see it.
This is the first feature length film I have worked on and I just couldn't get over how wonderful everyone was. We had a lot of support from Valencia between equipment and the amazing students that worked on the shoot. You all rocked! Much of the time you were bored out of your mind and pushed out because we would have a closed set and you would still be all smiles whenever I would look around. The art department on this film rocked my world! The second I walked into Marlo's apartment I got chills! It was beautiful in it's lived in shabby chic-ness! Thanks to Arty- Drew, Brendan, and Brian and anyone else who had a hand in that.
When we lost Danny to Thailand in the last few days, we really missed him being around. His work on this film as the DP was brilliant and he is just one of the most fun and inspiring people to be around. I hope he is being covered in Thai kisses! And I don't think I have ever seen anyone as professional and focused as Johnny Rice (except when he says "Fuck me!" that was SOOO inappropriate!) ha! Johnny: it's always been you.
But the two people who I have to say really got me through everything are Christian and Mike. I hope I never lose the image of Christian grabbing this film by the balls but still drinking Pedialyte the entire time! He certainly did not let Mike and I step on toes this last go around, and Thank Goodness because his vision is superb! And there is no one on EARTH that could have been a better Tom for my Marlo. I'm forever grateful for Mike because of how talented and just how nice of a guy he is! He blew me away with his performance and is still so down to earth and I felt totally comfortable and safe that he had my back.
And now I'm back to waiting tables in New York and I can't say the past few days haven't been depressing! I miss getting to set around 5pm and working through the night. I miss seeing everyones faces and feeling that energy of: we've got something special here! But hopefully this is just the beginning! I'll see you all at the first screening!