That 4 Friends Movie
Day 24 - Monday night
Tonight felt like the last day of school. I
went to the store for Dove Promises chocolates for everyone (especially
Marcy and Tracy in wardrobe, who saved my life more than once during
production) in lieu of an all-night cookie baking session, and when I
got back to my apartment, Marcy had left a message telling me she and
Tracy wanted me to stop by wardrobe early, as they were giving away
some momentos and wanted me to have first choice.
At the location, there was a happy sense of excitement, hugs and
good-byes and What are you doing next? Fortunately, our location
was a beautiful beach, so if anyone was feeling depression about this
production so quickly coming to an end, the calming environment reduced
it.
I met with Marcy and Tracy, and I got the pair of bike gloves that
Hollis wore! The four principals' weren't allowed to be given
away, since the movie isn't completely finished, so Hollis' worked
for me -- kinda cool, since the one thing I would have liked from Star Wars would have been Han
Solo's gloves, and I nearly got Harry's gloves – Marcy offered me
a shirt from the pile of extras’ shirts (which featured our sponsors’
familiar logos), and I told her I wasn’t interested in a shirt unless
Harry was in it, which I meant in the past tense as in his character's
shirt. I heard incredible silence from Marcy and turned around to
see great look of horrified “Say WHAT?” on her face and realized what I
said somehow came out sounding like the present tense, and
laughed. Then laughed harder because she was still too shocked to
laugh.
And Jane had t-shirts printed up for everyone (“Filmed Entirely in
Schmactavision”), and the caterer had t-shirts
printed up, so it was nice. The four principles were there early
for a cast photo session which forced an early call for make-up and
wardrobe. Marcy and Tracy told me they got there early to pick
out clothes for them that would be nicely coordinated and approved by
the higher beings, and three of them came out of their trailer wearing
something different. “Name the three,” Marcy challenged me.
“Okay,” I said, feeling deep inside it was the three who weren’t Harry,
but I didn’t want to jump to the conclusion. “Thomas.” “One.”
“Richard.” “Two.” “Hmm, Jane or Harry… Jane?” “Three.” I
smile, announcing Harry as once again the undisputed hero of the
Wardrobe Dept. Marcy said the funniest thing was when Harry
stepped out of his trailer, Alice looked at Todd and said, shocked,
“He’s wearing what he was told to…”
And there were pictures taken. Crew with crew, cast with cast,
crew that managed to slip into the cast pictures while the
producers were getting final publicity pictures, producers that managed
to slip into cast pictures while cast was posing for final publicity
pictures. Continuity Marilyn, whose job it is to know when
the actors are wearing their glasses on camera, and Props Gabriel,
whose job it is to keep up with prop glasses on actors, traded
cameras to grab pictures of each other with the cast. The
opportunity taken and long past, I suddenly asked Gabriel, “Wait, was I
wearing my glasses?” “Yes,” he said shaking his head. “So was
I!” We both laughed, totally disgusted that we forgot to take
glasses off of ourselves before picture.
So they’re getting ready for the evening’s shoot, and I decide this is
a good time to ask them to sign my cover page, what with the ensuing
cold damp windy night ahead. I catch them separately, and they're
all equally quick to agree and sign with nice comments.
Then I join the actors, Alfredo and Gregg for their read-through of
today’s scenes. At first, I don’t have the revised pages and ask
Marcy for hers. She, needing to read it and me not giving her
time, dug through the production office pile and found the one with my
name written on top. Thrilled, I join the cast in Richard’s
trailer. They talk about the “one with the new lines” and I’m
holding yellow pages so I’m almost sure I’ve got what they’re talking
about, but they start reading and they’re not saying words I’ve got on
my revision. Then Jane misses something from the previous
version,
who’s got that? Oh, I do. So I hand my copy to Jane, and
they go around some dialog circles. Jane needs a pen, she borrows
Thomas’. Thomas wants to know if anyone has a second pen. I
give her a pen, telling her I want it back (she didn’t return my last
pen from a week ago). They piece their way through more
dialog. Harry stands up wanting to get some air, he doesn’t feel
good. They keep going through dialog and various ideas about what
will work and what doesn’t work. They need Harry to make a joke
when Richard refuses Jane and Thomas, and the best they can come up
with
is “Can’t we all just get along?” and I cringe – that joke was old two
years ago. Gregg laughs loudly, what a shock, and begs them to
keep it in. But they run the lines, Harry says it and he says it
funny. But he wants to follow it with “Guess not…” and Alfredo
doesn’t like the “extra words,” so he has to fight the natural
tendency to say them. More circles. Harry’s feeling
worse. I ask him if he’s hot, he says yes, I tell him to take off
his heavy coat, which he probably doesn't realize he's wearing, and he
immediately does. More circles, more
suggestions. Harry wants to say something, but they’re all locked
in their own conversations. Thomas is concerned that he isn’t
funny in this scene anymore now that his funny lines are cut (which he
cut himself), Richard wants to make sure his walk-away is believable,
Gregg laughs whenever he can - long past trying to put in his two cents
about his own script. Alfredo is trying to balance all the ideas
and suggestions and Jane is trying to keep everything cool while
putting
in her own ideas. Harry dances with them a little, tries to say
his thoughts, dances a little, more loudly tries to say his thoughts,
finally he turns to the mirror and starts talking to his reflection –
for a really long time and no one else notices. Now I’m laughing
and drop my head into my knees. Gregg asks if it’s all gotten to
me now, and I laugh and say I’m just watching Harry. So they
think they’ve gotten it, they’re ready to leave, I say, “Wait a minute,
you’re not doing a run-through, top to bottom? Bottom to top?”
Alfredo says no, I say okay, Thomas says, “Let’s do a full read-through
for Marilyn,” I beg him off, the others agree with Thomas and they read
through it. Another check on the lines, Jane asks Thomas for a
pen, Thomas tells her rather passionately that he all ready gave her a
pen
and I point out it is my pen
and where is it? Richard finds it on
the counter and gives it to her. I know I’ll never see it
again. They finish the read-through, and Harry goes to lie down.
We step out of the trailer and the sun had fallen down while we were
inside. The beach was black dark, and the sky was full of
stars. I make my way around the trucks and generators all the way
down the beach to the rest of the crew, where a huge crane reached up
toward the cliff and shown a huge light down on our location section of
the beach. It was lit like a football field, from cliff to fifty
feet into the surf. Pelicans floated on the waves looking for
illuminated fish. Cables that ran across the sand had to be
camouflaged with seaweed. And the crew was teeming with guests –
financiers, financiers’ guests – plus Dayna, now working for Set
Accountant Gina, were
there. The actors show up and they block – Jane and Thomas
walk from the surf toward the cliff, Richard and Harry join them from
the other side. The shot is a 35mm lens, WIDE, and the boom guy
looks into the monitor – nowhere for him to stand. Peter asks
Alfredo about the sound, and Alfredo says this is just an establishing
shot, all dialog will be picked up in coverage. There’s that
c-word again.
Harry is asked if he feels better and he says he feels horrible.
He’s got a sleeping bag wrapped around him and he doesn’t look
good. I ask him what he’s taken. He says vitamin C,
encheania, whatever. I say, “I’ve got a miracle cure for cold,
homeopathic, won’t put you to sleep, interested?” He looks at me
with the enthusiasm of a wiped out guy and says, “I’ll take whatever
you got.” I smile and ask, “Citrus or cherry?” He suddenly
smiles sweetly and says, “Cherry.” I need my backpack, Marcy
tells Craig to radio to the honey wagon and get Tracy to bring it, he
dawdles, we demand, and Tracy shows up with my backpack and after take
1, Harry gets his first hit of my latest favorite cold logenze.
So I watch the coverage points, and Phillip the flashy kid financier
who
occasionally visits the set with his entourage and flashy cars and
suits, tells Alfredo to give him the bullhorn, he wants to say
action. Alfredo tries to decline, explaining there’s camera
action, actors action and Richard and Harry action. Phillip
doesn’t care, he wants to do it, so he does it. It’s a quick cut,
the camera action is wrong, and Alfredo hands Phillip the bullhorn
again, encouraging him to do it again, as this time didn’t count.
The master finished, we move closer to the cliff, where AD Michael
tells someone only director and script’s chairs to be taken with the
monitor, he wants the entourage left to the side. Delays, delays,
and others start bringing the extra chairs. Michael nixes it,
telling them to take them back or stop short of video village.
I’m thinking the actors chairs, especially Harry’s, needs to be close
to set, but chairs are scattered everywhere, so everything seems fine,
everyone has somewhere to land.
Lunch.
I have to bypass Dayna and Gina for one last night’s lunch with Marcy
and Tracy. We sit in the dark, hearing more stories about her
days working Broadway, and the cook guys start handing out their
T-shirts. Later, I stop by Make-up to visit with Stella and Enya,
but Alfredo’s in there, telling them about his fabulous plans for his
next film and how they’ll be working with him, and I’m decidedly an
outsider, so I leave.
We’re back and we shoot some more. Harry’s sicker and Alfredo
commands me to give him another hit of of my cold medicine, which I
do. Then someone tries to give him an Altoid, and Alfredo quickly
nixes that, saying mint hurts homeopathic stuff. So I go for gum
and return with a stick of Big Red and offer it to Harry, who
immediately shoves it into his mouth. I stare at him. He
stares back, then says, “Oh. Thank you.” I playfully shake
my head and walk away.
More set-ups, more takes. At this point, Harry’s lying on someone’s
sleeping bag, wrapped in his own sleeping bag. I notice how much
he’s sweating and it occurs to me that maybe he hasn’t taken any
aspirin, so I go to him and ask, “Harry, have you taken any
aspirin?” He looks up at me with sad eyes and quietly says, “No,
do you think I should?” Richard says absolutely, and I tell him
I’ll get him some.
Harry does his big emotional scene with Jane and he’s almost crying,
more with each take. Alfredo wants another, and Harry, almost
breaking down himself between his illness and his gut-wrenching
delivery, tells Alfredo he doesn’t think he has another take in
him. Alfredo says one more and tells me this will be the
one. And it is, his voice cracking and almost crying.
Next set-up, the medic (not Maureen, a new one for the last night)
shows up and I wave her to me, which is where Harry is heading for a
chair. Naturally no one has water for the aspirin, so
I give Harry my water bottle and he settles in. I tell him
that the fever is a good thing, it means his body’s fighting off
the infection and the medic agrees, assuring him that a fever is
good. Harry tells me he’s concerned about driving home.
Another set-up, circle Take 3.
At this point, I discover Jane is sick as well. She, being a mom,
is hardly vocal about it, and I set her up with my cold medicine.
The night is flying by. I knew there would be a lot of coverage,
but a lot of people were thinking we’d be gone by 4. This was
laughable, not only for the time expansion theory that Jane announced
last Saturday night, but the last night of the shoot was going to be at
sunrise. There was some concern about us having to sit around
until sunrise, but that didn’t happen. On the contrary, we were
having to hurry some coverage with the ocean sky in the background
because the sky was lightening from the ensuing dawn.
Then, the martini. And hurry, because it’s a sunrise shot and the
sun is rising and we have to move the camera to the other side of the
rock, and what exactly is the shot? (This newly devised scene
isn’t even in the revised scene pages we got this evening.)
There’s a pile of sleeping bags on the beach and Thomas, Jane, Richard
and Harry don’t know if they’re supposed to get in them or not.
Alfredo and DP Mike are deep in discussion over the camera. After
three tries from Harry to find out for the cast what they’re supposed
to do, Harry finally yells at Alfredo to answer them. Not much
answer, Hurry, hurry! Rolling! Action! Get in the
sleeping bags, and then get out and walk to the ice cold Pacific water
(barefoot). Did I mention Harry and Jane were
sick?
So I don’t have a monitor, we watch them slowly wake up, slowly look at
each other, slowly walk to the water, Thomas and Richard walk further
into the surf and throw the ashes. The surf thinly rolls to their
feet, soaking a little water into the hem of their pants.
“Cut! Okay, I want you to do that again--” People say, no
way! Continuity, the water on their pants – Alfredo says going
again, he wants a take where all four will throw ashes, something he’s
wanted from the beginning. They’re standing on cold wet sand with
bare feet and we’re going again. This time, they’re all ready
awake and go for the water. We the crew are extremely
uncomfortable watching them walk into the cold water, or think we are,
until the third incoming wave which came out of nowhere and brought
with it enough water to crash freezingly into their waists.
Alfredo now wants another set up, this time a close-up, and a few words
between director and a few others, and he tells the actors they’re
done, they can go. “That’s a wrap?” we ask. Yes, someone
says. Thomas announces that the big group hug will take place
tomorrow night at the wrap party as the four bolt for their trailers.
I manage to get back to Harry and Jane’s dressing rooms with cold
medicine. Jane opens her door, half dressed and drenched, and
accepts the logenzes. Harry welcomes me into his dressing room
and I hand him the extra logenze, telling him one for the road.
He thanks me, and I ask him if we’ll see him at the wrap party.
He doesn’t look hopeful, and we hug good-bye, a quick kiss on his
cheek, he thanks me again, I tell him I miss him all ready, and that’s
good-bye.
I return to my notes, where Todd stops me and thanks me, telling me I
did a “great job!” and I’m stunned. “Were you happy with me?” I
asked, stunned, and he says of course. I want to cry Why didn’t
you tell me that two weeks ago! But I didn’t. So I hurry through
my notes best as I can, I give Peter and Mario/Michael with their sound
and camera reports, and go to the honeywagon, after giving good-bye
hugs to whomever I saw. I passed Richard, who was sitting in
Sarah’s car, and knocked on the window. He unrolled it, and I
asked him if he was attending the wrap party, he said no he was going
back to New York today, we hug through the window.
The beach is bright morning light as everyone finishes their work and
packing. Second meal, McDonald’s Egg McMuffins. The last
sponsored snacks and bottles of water are consumed. Equipment is
loaded, paperwork is signed off, hugs are exchanged. Wrap party
in less than 12 hours.
I walk down the road to the camera truck, where I’m waiting for my
shuttle back to the parking lot. Then camera finishes and they’re
waiting. And we’re all waiting. Michael and Linda discuss
who’s taking Mario home. Where does Mario live? I ask.
Pasadena. So do I, I say. I’ll take him home. He’s
happy. And we keep waiting. And waiting. And we
ask if we’re waiting for something that’s coming. Then we hear
our shuttle van took Jane home. Say what? And we have to
wait for it to return. No, that’s not happening, we
say. Get a car and get us out of here. So someone
throws keys to Craig and he drives us to our cars.
So Mario rides back with me, and we’re sitting on the 101 in morning
rush hour traffic. It’s taking forever. Fortunately, Mario
has a few cool stories, like how nice Angela Landsbury was during all
his Murder She Wrote years
and what good friends they were, how she insisted on meeting anyone new
on the set, even if they were a P.A. or a day-player. And how fun
it was working on Pee-Wee’s Big
Adventure, how Tim Burton knew when he was outnumbered and when
his camera guys weren’t going to do what he wanted sometimes, so he let
it ride. And what a great wrap party they had (Mario wasn’t
planning to go to ours, because he doesn’t like wrap parties).
Home, and in bed at 9 AM.
That 4
Friends Movie
Production
Journals - On the Set
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