Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Off Day

Our diggs

Getting necessary supplies at Whole Foods (I luv me a Whole Foods)



At the Humphrey-Grant Mansion (Denver)



Mads hard at work


There should be more big blue bears in the world

The lovely Imig family

Oh off-day. I only get one day's respite during this shoot and while I do love making movies, it's nice to get a break. And this was made even better because it meant that I got visit with some Bates friends (Mads, Skip and Lilly the blonde terrier). I hitched a ride in with Trevor who was shooting at a historical mansion in Dever and it worked out perfectly that Mads' work is within walking distance. Leave it to me to walk down the seediest street (Colfax I think it was?) 10 paces behind an angry and opinionated homeless man and all I could think was "I'm not in Boulder anymore."

I dropped in on Mads as she was wrapping things up at her office. Guys, she has her own office with a mountain view complete with a glass award on display. Clap, clap, clap Mads, clap, clap, clap. We drove a little around the downtown to take in some of the notables and then it was back to the Imig residence. Then it was take Lily for a walk, homemade butternut squash risotto in the best company, stroll to the local icecream stand for rediculous portion sizes and then a lift back to Gunbarrel. pretty much a perfect day off.

Night at the Museum (shoot day 5)

Waiting for our security escort into the museum

Holding

lens change

the amazing elevator


the crew, hanging tough

Today we shoot at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and therefore we had to wait for the museum to close before we could start shooting. We had one scene down in the guts of the museum and another in the most impressive elevator I've ever seen.

The actor playing Caleb (Chandan) and I had some time to wander around the museum and I learned something about myself. I've always known that I am not the kind in
horror flicks that will go and investigate what that noise is...no, I'm the kind that will that will get the eff out of there at the slightest possibility of somthing freaky. I had hoped however, that I wasn't a leave a man behind kinda person...turns out my self preseration skills are better than I thought.

So, we are snooping around, trying every door to see if it's unlocked and success! the planateriam door is ajar. Chandan leads the way and it is dark. We round the bend and suddenly all I hear is a male voice say "Hey!" and I am spin around and gone! so fast, I split leaving Chandan to, I don't know, get scolded, get arrested, get made into a skin coat.

In my defense, I do go back for him after a few minutes when he failed to appear (and because I thought I was locked into the Space Wing). It turned out Mr. Hey! was just the screen operator and he was nice enough to let us stay to watch an awsome planaterium film about Black Holes. Go figure

Monday, September 28, 2009

Back in the Lab (shoot day 4)

Prep

Yah, it's a real lab



Found this hat in the office...couldn't resist

movie magic

So this was a monster shoot day. We were suppose to shoot everything else that happens in the lab today, it was do or die. Luckily, come round 1am we got the good news that we could come back another day to finish. Thank goodness...but we still wrapped at around 2am.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Lab (shoot day 3)

The bagel professional

Scene from the Lab

The Red One in action


Some crew utilizing my jump rope during breaks.
Its a jump off!


This morning we stopped off at a bagel place on our way to set, a place called Hole-in-One and it was definitely another "you know you're in Boulder when..." moment. There was a worker? in the kitchen methodically stirring what we can only assume was venison chilli on a hot pot and he was dress in...well please consult the photo. you can't write this stuff.

Ok, so major props to location scouting because our "Beta Lab" is actually a real lab where they make Lasers for people who want lasers (including the government but beyond that they couldn't tell us). It looks really good...for real.

Shooting went a little faster than yesterday so I'm taking this as a good sign that we are all finding our bearings and soon we'll get into rhythm. We are already behind though...and we have so much more to shoot. But somehow, it always gets down...sometimes on sheer willpower.

Labyrinth (shoot day 2)


Sushi Zenmai

On the Bus


Day 2: we got our first look at the Labyrinth built in a Denver warehouse space turned sound stage. I have to say, in-camera and with some post work (and some amazing, awed-expression acting of course), we might just pull it off.

So it turned out to be a rather long day of shooting (the first of many I predict) and couple that with being trapped in a room the whole time...well, T and I fled the scene as soon as we wrapped. By the way, hats off to crew who always have so much work left to do even after the w-word is pronounced. They are the first to arrive and last to leave...amazing.

Anyway, the two of us have been hankering for sushi since the start so, as recommended by Djana the DP, we hit up Sushi Zenmai in downtown Boulder for a late dinner. Guys, it was so good. We were famished and I know that throws off perception but putting those rolls in my mouth made everything right in the world. The amount of food we ordered and consumed alarmed and borderline appalled our server...it was to the point that he actually had to vocalize his amazement. whatever, we earned it.

You know that we don't have any transportation out here? yup, totally reliant on the kindness of any involved with production with a vehicle. This makes us feel...well, bad. "Hi, sorry to wake you. I know you worked really hard today making us look good, but Migina and I have just finished stuffing our faces. Could you come pick us up and take us back so we can get some sleep and be fresh for out call time which is 5 hours later than yours? thanks." So, it was really great that T figured out that there was a bus stop close to the restaurant that would drop us near Paula's house. Brilliant, we'll definitely be utilizing that again.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Camera's Up (shoot day 1)

We arrive on set, 5:30 AM call. This pic pretty much sums that up.

Sunrise in Boulder Mountain National Park

My first trailer!

Yay animals! there was a whole herd

On Set

The Rocky's in the distance (the white ones)

You know you really love this stuff when you are actually looking forward to a shoot even with a 5:30 AM call time. Normally, if I am up at 5:30 AM it's because I haven't gone to sleep yet so, waking up to darkness (Colorado style darkness)...very confusing.
Set was up in the mountains, very beautiful but cold for New Yorkers coming from high 70s temps, hence our Northface-ing it up between takes.

Other than the cold, things seemed to go pretty well...all I know is that we were wrapped by 1pm. Michael (dir.) was nice enough to take Trevor and I to lunch at The Sink which is located in "The Hill" area of Boulder (guess they like making proper nouns out of...ordinary nouns?). The Hill is like everything you'd imagine a Colorado collegiate area to be: longboards are the perfered method of transportation, white blonde-headed boys can dred it up with the best rastas, bongos are sounding on every corner, and yes, Bob Dylan is pumped out from the loudspeakers at various outdoor seating areas.

After lunch, T and I strolled to the downtown area which we recognized only because of the sign that said, "Downtown Boulder". I'm not knocking it, it was just way quieter than I would have thought. We went and got some tea at a cute place called "The Tridant" (see, what I mean about the nouns?) where I met Perry. Perry, was a shaved headed biker, decked out in full motorcycle leather suit (of the racing persuation opposed to Hells Angles) who sat down next to me with his tea cup and saucer. "I don't really like the cold," he says as the groan of leather comes to a rest . "Last week I had to put the liner into my bike suit! What's your name? Hi, I'm Perry." I swear, full truth. Know what else I learned? He's been riding a motorcycle for more than 20 years, I should hitchhike up to some early snow covered mountain and then ski down it cause that's much better than a chairlift, and that when it gets to 30 below zero he fully intends to sport his electric motorcycle outfit that is powered by batteries which are stored in his leather chaps.

oh Boulder.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Here We Go

Heading off to LaGuardia

At Denver Airport waiting for our checked luggage

Popeye

Amy


Trevor (the other lead in the film) and I arrived in Denver last night after a more eventful flight than usual for me. We flew Frontier Air but were seated apart. I was in a middle seat with a woman prone to hysterics on my right and an elderly women who was extremely pleasant but slowwwww to my left. Right discover spilled tomato juice on some of the reading material in the seat pocket and understandably was concerned that it may have been stranger vomit. What was unnecessary was the shouting to the flight attendant that she "Better not get AIDS" and her subsequent refusals to change her seat. Left's response to all this was whispered in my ear: "I call people like her pistachios...cause their nuts." good one Left, good one.

Anyway, everything else was smooth. We are staying at the 1st AD's house in an out of the way part of Boulder called Gunbarrel (goes without saying that I would like a T-shirt) and joy of joys, she has two great dogs, Popeye and Amy. and yes, my salacious ones, we are in separate rooms.

The air smells great here and people are rediculously friendly. Case in point, stocking up at Wholefoods today, I'm grabbing some Quinoa and another customer comes skipping down the asile holding a thimble full steaming liquid and enthusiastically informs me, "Did you know that there are free samples of hot apple cider?", like it was a dream come true. Then later in the checkout line he spys me again and comes over to check and see if I had found the samples...obviously not recognizing a New Yorker's honing in abilities for free shit.

We had a loose rehearsal/read thru today and tomorrow is our first shoot day.
I'll let you know how it goes.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

First Post!!

Hello,
"Let's give the blogging thing a try," I said. "I'm a crap journal-er and even worse speller, but this could be ok," I said. So here we are. Ready, Set, Go...

Basically, I'm prepping for my Finalist Showcase show at The P.I.T which goes down this Monday night. By the way, this is a F to R to the double E show so if you are looking for a Monday night activity check it out (info at http://thepit-nyc.com/diversity.html).
I am freaking out because 1. I'm sick, and 2. the day after the show I jet off to Colorado to start filming "Spectrauma". To The Aspiring, there is phrase in the acting world that you'll get sick of hearing because it's true: "When it rains it pours".

Anyway, "Spectrauma" is the prime reason I started this blog. The goal here is to try to keep my pals up to date on the filming and my Colorado experience in general.

Oh, and Full Rich is not as uppity, or House of La Perla as it sounds. It's a term I heard when my tv remote froze on some NASCAR race. From what I gather it refers to the condition of an engine when it's push to its full output. I like that...go all out, don't hold back...you get the picture.