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.