DAY 14: Snow Very Close

Did an hour long interview on the Walt Dizzo radio show last night. Probably one of my best. Well at least, we talked about more than just if I think Duluth is really horrible. In fact, I broke the exclusive last night that it really IS horrible and that I'm secretly making a documentary about how terrible the town & the people are. EXPOSED! For this venture, I traveled over the bridge to Superior, Wisconsin. I wasn't purposely driving slow. That's just how fast my car is. Upon first glance, Superior reminded me of a snow-capped Stockton. Lower-income housing and more urban sprawl. Even the UW campus seemed familiar somehow.

This morning, we completed the karaoke scene at the Round-Up. I'm looking forward to this part in the movie and it's the one place where all the central characters collide. I'm pretty damn proud of my original karaoke tune "A Bear, A Hedgehog, Or A Monkey" too. Our star Shane May does a great job on it, though he'll never believe you. From there, over to the most beautiful bench at Lake Superior. When it wasn't available, we settled for that one bench behind the Portland Malt Shoppe. We stood out in the cold waiting for a truck to stop making noise for a good thirty minutes. We watched over the frozen lake. I watched PA Tony attempt to walk on it. I came up with the idea that I should walk into the movie at the very end and tell a few bad jokes. Nobody was listening. I agreed to have a local photographer come by and take a photo for his Duluth Survey, but was surprised and slightly offended he wanted everyone but me in the photo. That's like going around and taking pictures of my kid. It better be a damn good photo.

After illegal parking at a college and annoying some students, we ventured over to the mall for some guerrilla shots of our tourist couple. The only opposition came in the form of a skinny unintimidating janitor with long hair, who basically said he wasn't going to do anything but somebody could. We were in & out and I had a slice of pizza from Barro (the s had fallen off). We also did a quick shot of the tourists at the aquarium. Maybe I'm spoiled with Monterey Bay, but I found it to be a little, um...lacking. While nice looking and would be terribly impressive in someone's home, it was pretty underwhelming for the money. I've seen more fish at sushi restaurants. Sorry Great Lakes Aquarium, it was just my first impression. I'll still go on a second date with you sometime.

Cinematographer Kevin, Soundman Jason, the PA's, & most of the actors are wrapped but there's still a few more things I'll get tomorrow before WINTER NEMO traps us all inside. I must go out and have some drinks tonight too because of this. TTFN.

Of Course It Was DAY 13

A smirk gleamed across the girl at Walgreens' face when I asked if there was a toll to take the bridge to Wisconsin. Hey, we don't have these free bridges in the Bay Area ok? Tonight, my media tour continues as I appear on the Walt Dizzo radio show. We'll be playing some original tunes, talking about Duluth, & contemplating whatever is fun & fancy free.

This morning my cinematographer's car broke down as we were out shooting tourist attractions. That pic of the Depot was enough to break his serpentine belt. When asked if Kevin had any words for the blog, he replied "No comment." Hopefully his car will be fixed by tomorrow and a special thanks to production assistant Libby for rescuing us. Because of this auto fail, we did have to reschedule one scene on the weekend but otherwise, things have been running relatively smoothly. Well outside of nearly everyone in the cast & crew get insulted & threatened by the hometown drunks at the Round-Up bar last night. We'll be back there in the morning when there just won't be enough time to get plastered.

Yesterday, I was given free reign of the Duluth News Tribune offices and whenever given that opportunity, I put 5 women in fanciful latin dancer costumes. Sorry, no spoiler pics. From there, we went over to the Blackwater Lounge to get a guerrilla shot of HOT Duluth nightlife (see, the film IS fictional), over to Chris LeBlanc's house for his role as the redditor troubled by litter box problems, and we went to 1:00 am getting our lead, Shane May carrying boxes & stalking people. It was a cold outdoor shoot. I was told I looked like Kurt Russell from "The Thing." I felt I looked more like Kenny from South Park.  

Today, we got the awkward date scene at Bellisio's & the anything-but-hot sex webcam scene. It all looks fabulous and the credit there goes to cinematographer Kevin Horn. This will certainly be the most polished looking of my work thus far. My prior films generally tend to have the early 80s music video aesthetic. I hope nothing gets lost in the gloss. I think it will be a good film. Pretty artsy fartsy, if you're into that. The tragedy will be really tragic and the comedy will be really absurd. It's a personal goal to adequately gel those two. I've played around with it in some of my other films (Chickens In The Shadows has been said to be really dark despite "Taste The Biscuit") but I think "Duluth" will be more of a drama with comedic elements than vice versa. I'm excited for the finished product.

The local news came by to do a story while we were filming yesterday. Here's that interview with behind-the-scenes footage: http://www.fox21online.com/content/short-movie-duluth-horrible-begins-filming. Ok, seriously what's with my hair? It's just everywhere. I really look crazy. Like a totally insane European director (despite being from Stockton, CA). You can actually see the insanity, like this man truly has no idea of where he is or what he's doing. This is all true by the way. I just don't remember being so obvious. I finally am the pretentious artist type I tried so hard for so long not to fit into. Can somebody CGI a beret & a glass of red wine into my interview scenes? 

Well off to do some radio and back to filming at 8:30 tomorrow morning! Please drive safely.

DAY 11: Filming Eve

I really hope my cast/crew appreciate me braving the elements to make sure we know exactly where we're shooting, even if it means making huge fashion fopas and getting Niagara-like amounts of mucus in my balaclava. But don't let's start.

We start shooting tomorrow and it will be the busiest day of all, doing almost twice as many shots than on Thu & Fri. The largest amount of cast will also be on hand. At one point, there will be 5 women dressed like this. Along with cast/crew, I'm told the local news is coming by as well as random fans & onlookers. It'll be a long, crazy night. I apologize now to the crew, but IT GETS BETTER the next two days. Why pack it all into three days? Purely financial reasons. In shoots like this, I use my "good enough" approach.

Today was jam packed getting ready for tomorrow. I stopped by Ace Hardware to get some supplies when I heard an old man complaining he had to come all the way from West Duluth! Buddy, I came all the way from California to go to this Ace Hardware. I went to the grocery store & Walgreens & the post office & ended the outdoor day, going along the lakewalk looking for "the bench" where our lead sings the title song. It was bloody cold.

I'm afraid I'm going to have cut tonight's entry short. Tomorrow will likely be short too. I have to finally do what I'm here to do and that requires rest. My curlers are in and my cucumber mask is on (Hey, I'm gonna be on tv ok!) Goodnight.