Everyone's excited. We begin filming Radio Free Babylon today. Counterforce XTC and Lost Colony Entertainment are the producers. Alternity Productions is line producing. It's being shot under a SAG contract and everyone seems to be jazzed about the script and the cast......
We show up at Rick Haithcock's studio in Dallas, NC and are immediately greeted by a friendly dog. He shakes hands with everyone. Must be a professional greeter by trade......
The film is being co-directed by the guys who wrote it, Richard O'Sullivan & Dan Chernau. They seem really tense this morning, going over last minute details with the SAG paperwork......
Danny "Kash" Lashley and Matt Meiners are there setting up equipment for DP Brad Ambrose. Kash and Matt are as nice as they come......
The wardrobe department is stressing because the only costume they could find for the alien was a women's Star Trek uniform (Capt Janeway). John Stevens is playing the alien and will look fruity as hell in that thing. He seems nervous. He goes outside to smoke like a chimney.......
We're shooting inserts that will be shown on TV screens during the body of the movie today. Steve Lawson (WHO ROCKS!!!) is there, playing The President. Melanie Murdock, wearing a Britney Spears costume, has a scene with a severed goat head. The goat is a trip. It's wearing vampire fangs and is foaming at the mouth thanks to some well-placed shaving cream......
Chernau and O'Sullivan seem to have a system worked out. They huddle after every shot and seem to know what the other is thinking before they say anything......
O'Sullivan came up with this story and the word is that every one of these crazy characters is him. I don't know HOW this wild script could be biographical for ANYBODY. It's a wonder he ain't dead if THAT's his life......
Chernau knows his acting. He's a theater veteran from Miami (was on Miami Vice even) and as they said at the production meeting, Richard is Houston and Dan is directing the astronauts on the moon......
There seems to be some tension developing between Richard & Dan and the Ambroses. At one point, it seemed like Andi was giving direction and snippy words were exchanged between her and Richard. Luckily Vinnie is there to mediate between them......
A local DJ comes in to do the TV anchor stuff and can't get his lines right. I feel so bad for him. Richard and Dan are patient with him but it just isn't working. Greg Glover, who's scheduled to play another TV guy comes in to do his lines as well. He nails them and is brilliant. The DJ looks crushed though and Richard tries to give him encouragement......
The first day goes well. We got some good stuff in the can. Danny Lashley is the MVP, handling the Nagra like a 20 year pro (since the veteran guy the Ambroses lined up is a no-show). Not bad for a rookie.
JUNE 7, 2002 -
Back at the studio in Dallas. More stuff with Lawson. Great actor. Robert the sound guy is there today. I can see mounting frustration on Matt Meiners' face. He has been on the project longer than anyone outside of Richard O'Sullivan and his duties at the moment seem to have been reduced to next to nothing......
Jerry Schuller comes in and does a cool job as Timmy the foreign affairs correspondent. Very funny stuff. The guy's face is amazing. Turns out he's also a writer and did a script for some cartoon show. Seems interesting. Jerry mentions his work on the civil war movie that Brad Ambrose is directing called Strike the Tent.....
Sound becomes an issue and there's fear that we'll have to wrap early because of a street festival that's taking place up the block. Sound REALLY becomes an issue when we discover that the sound guy the Ambroses' hired, Robert, has taped over the audio from the first day of shooting. Dan & Richard are beyond pissed and someone brings up that a similar situation happened the first day of auditions back in April (before I came onboard so I don't know the full story). Brad & Andi look like they're really feeling the heat.....
Funny moment in the parking lot when Cherie Wimberly & Ashley Novasad pull a practical joke on Richard O'Sullivan. Seems he had been bidding on ebay for a cowgirl vest for Claire to wear in the motel scene and they were outbidding him without his knowledge. They managed to sneak in and get the vest for six dollars at the last second......
One of the production people, A.E. Hawkins, has car trouble and has to call for a ride. This production has been plagued with automotive disasters since it began. Cherie Wimberly & Vince Mann were nearly killed when they were blindsided by a reckless driver. Dan Chernau's tire blew out driving up from Miami (looked like a terrorist attack). Jerla Gross totalled her car during casting. Jesse Janowsky's car blew up too I think. Meredith Sause was rear-ended by a bunch of crazy women driving a U-Haul without paperwork at a gas station. Matt, Kash, and Richard had a few car incidents, one funny, one scary. The funny one involved Richard startling Matt by reaching for his radio dial and nearly causing Matt to drive into an 18-wheeler. The scary one is the one where Matt's car was totalled when he was hit head-on by an aging Domino's Pizza delivery man. The airbags saved Matt & Kash's lives. There were six or seven other car incidents involving various production people and cast members which escape me off-hand but this isn't a lucky shoot when it comes to car travel.....
Aside from some tense moments between the directors and the line producers, things seem to be going well. We got more great footage in the can though now we're going to have to re-record the first day's audio. Kash is upset because all his hard work that day has basically been destroyed. I let him bum some of my Pez and he seems to be okay. He tells me about a short film he's writing where he'll play a serial killer. Sounds trippy......
JUNE 10, 2002 -
Production has been pushed back a day. Not clear on the reason. Strike the Tent stuff maybe?.....
JUNE 11, 2002 -
Everyone arrives at the funeral home in Cherryville, NC. We're shooting the morgue stuff today. Also White House interiors. Jason Little is there. Jason plays Pacey's friend (Trevor the Chef) on Dawson's Creek.......
Tensions seem to be increasing between Richard, Dan, and the Ambroses. Also seems to be something going on with Dan, Vinnie, and Cherie. Richard looks to be mediating something with them......
First AD Tre' McGriff excitedly announces that he and Brad just found a dolly at the funeral home to use for the morgue scene. This irks O'Sullivan who comments something like "Didn't we pay you to find us a dolly two months ago" or words to the effect......
Before shooting begins, Andi Ambrose gathers everyone in front of the funeral home and gives a long speech about how her reputation is on the line and how everyone must be respectful of the property. Two minutes later, the Ambroses' "right hand man" Tre' McGriff steps on a ceramic ashtray and busts it into a million pieces......
We go to the morgue. There's a long debate about lighting. The shot is blocked a few times but no one can seem to agree on anything. It's bad enough that we have two directors on this shoot but it seems like Brad wants to be the third director and even though she opens every sentence with "I don't want to tell anyone how to direct," it's obvious Andi does too. There are two many chiefs and not enough braves. The buzz is that this situation had better get better quick or this production is in trouble......
Finally, we're all stunned when we realize that Richard O'Sullivan & Matt Meiners have left the set. They just walked off. No card, no note, no nothing. We later found out they went to see The New Guy, which is a REALLY bad movie......
We carry on, shooting the scene with the Medical Examiners. The guys are really good actors but for some reason the vibe captured in the script just isnt being translated. The mood on the set is really down......
Teen model Missy Giblin comes in to shoot her stuff as the robot assassin. She's strikingly beautiful. Very high fashion. She's dressed like one of the girls in the old Robert Palmer videos and does a terrific job for someone who's never really acted professionally. She and her mom Wendi are really sweet......
We wrap. No White House stuff. We're already behind schedule and morale is bad. Dan Chernau keeps trying to reach O'Sullivan & Meiners but they don't seem to be responding to calls. Probably because of that little announcement at the start of a movie where they tell you to turn off cell phones, beepers, etc......
JUNE 12, 2002 (DAY SHOOT)-
We're at the high school in Cherryville, NC today. It's like Mayberry in this town. The directors are fond of telling the story about scouting locations and stopping at a place called the Shake Shop (which was perfect because there was a location called the Shake Shop in the script). Seems when they tried to order a shake at the Shake Shop, the owner, an old man named Duck, informed them that they didn't sell shakes. Apparently, so the story goes, they used to sell shakes but the shake machine broke and the guy who knew how to fix it didn't work there anymore.......
On the way in, we looked at the Red Door Inn motel. Matt and Kash had told us the story about how Andi Ambrose had wired up some deal for cast and crew to stay there. The place looked like it should be condemned (literally). They said it smelled of urine and was falling apart. It did look dangerous. I don't see how people could live there. Andi wanted Matt and Kash to paint and do work there. Yet the lady who owned the place still wanted to be paid and it wasn't like she was offering a great deal to begin with. We later heard the story on the place. It was the local booze and whorehouse during prohibition days. Andi saw it as a package deal since the motel's owner was the girlfriend of the old guy who was providing the bull for the flashback scene. The whole situation was just bizarre......
Word today is that the two directors' roles will be more "defined", with Chernau working with the actors off-set before the scenes begin and O'Sullivan blocking the shots. Everyone is relieved. It seems that the problems have been solved......
At the school, the doors were locked to the rooms that they wanted to use so they had to move the hypnosis scene to the cafeteria. It looked like crap. Matt and Andrea Crampe worked hard on the art decoration for that scene......
The mind control device that John Stevens was supposed to use in his scene wasn't there. Brad Ambrose had apparently been put in charge with making it months ago and just never got around to it. Andrea, Hawk, and Ryan threw together something at the last minute. It looked cool for what they had to work with (they earned everyone's respect for thinking on the spot) but in the end it just looked like a cheesy yo-yo. Everyone watched the video playback and realized it was cable access level. Once again, Brad is feeling the heat.....
John Stevens can't seem to get his lines right and he's shaking like a leaf. He's supposed to be playing a sauve, in-control villain but he's coming across like Don Knotts. We're getting way behind schedule once again. Vinnie comes up with a plan. He tells the directors that the school has ordered them to be out by five (this isn't true). Richard restructures the shotlist on the fly and manages to reduce 16 shots to 4 handheld dolly shots (even though he hates handheld). Dan pulls Stevens aside and when they return, John nails his lines......
We're pleased to be gaining ground but no one is happy with how things are looking artistically. Richard later learns that the ploy to speed along the shoot was a fake. Lots of finger pointing again with the Ambroses being reminded that shooting wouldn't have been delayed that morning if they had done the job they were paid to do two months earlier. Richard also begins to question Brad's skills as a DP......
The schoolgirls are all there and are adorable. Tonya Deerman is wearing pigtails and someone remarks that she's a dead ringer for porn star Gauge. I don't know who that is but I'll take their word for it. The guys all seemed to know and fell in love with Tonya immediately. Amber McCloskey and Aleksandra Plotnicki also seemed to make hearts go pitter-patter. Aleks had to get dunked in a water that day and had to have a banana peel strategically placed in her hair. Her make-up was smeared just right to give her that just crying look. Alaina McManus was only sixteen so she had her dad Mark (a veteran of the business in his own right) and little sister on the set. Ashley Novasad, who had been working as the Wardrobe Assistant on the project for weeks, filled out the last schoolgirl slot. The film's star, Meredith Sause, was there in her schoolgirl outfit too and got in some knife practice with O'Sullivan in preparation for her stabbing Bogey Wingfield's character in the ass......
We wrapped for the day shoot and made plans to meet back at the school for the nighttime stuff......
JUNE 12, 2002 (NIGHT SHOOT) -
Back at the school to shoot the night time stuff. Laura Aguire is there playing the TV reporter. Besides her acting skills, she's also done some on-air journalism so she's awesome in this role. Her mom came along with her and the directors decide to use her as an extra. Funny moment as Andi Ambrose keeps commenting on how Laura's mom resembles that famous actress "Helen Burnsteen". Everybody just looks at each other with puzzled looks, unable to figure out who Helen Burnsteen is. We later decide that Andi's referring to Ellen Burstyn......
Speaking of Andi, she tells tons of stories about what is going on with Strike the Tent. It's fascinating. She says Mickey Rooney's wife is trying to get Matthew McConaughey to do a cameo but no one on the set seems to believe that has a chance in hell in happening. We hear an amazing story about George Kennedy being offered $100,000 (which he didn't even get when his name meant something). Lee Majors is replacing either Donald O'Conner (who's dying of cancer) or Van Johnson. Not sure which. Robert Redford's daughter Amy is in the movie and supposedly she got angry because people kept mentioning Sundance. Apparently she doesn't want to be identified with her famous father......
We shoot some stuff with Meredith Sause (wearing cute angel wings) and two secret service guys played by Drew Harkley and Vince Paul. John Stevens has a brief scene as well.......
Richard and Dan have a bit of an argument this night. There had been a bet since production began as to which of these guys was more nuts. I think on this night, Richard took the edge. Dan's a martial arts expert and former boxer so he's pretty much seen as a tough guy. But Richard got in his face like a stark-raving lunatic. We all thought the whole thing was unraveling right before our eyes. Five minutes later though, they were laughing and joking with each other like the best of friends but the general consensus is that both guys are off their nut. Still interesting artists though. Kind of fun to watch to be honest......
JUNE 13, 2002 -
Back at the funeral home. The workers there are funny. Very dark senses of humor. They put the "fun" back in "funeral"......
We shoot the scene where Marti and the goat hide in the closet. Meredith Sause looks absolutely beautiful. Very Audrey Hepburn (but with funky boots). A total movie star.......
Then we do the scene where the bodyguards (played by Jeff Luckadoo & George Peroulas) chase the goat up and down the hall. It's a disaster. The goat isn't trained and Brad's camerawork isn't making him any fans on the set. Just awful.....
The goat's handler has his granddaughters on the set though and one looks just like Britney Spears, which comes in handy because there's a role in the script where Britney gives birth to a raccoon that they had been unable to cast. She's cast on the spot and they shoot a very funny scene in the funeral home morgue with a stuffed raccoon......
Vinnie pulls the "we have to get out before 5:00" trick again. This time Richard goes to the owner of the mortuary who tells him that he's being lied to by one of his own producers......
We film a scene in a hot basement with John Stevens and Missy Giblin. The scene was written as a night time exterior. For whatever reason, Brad & Andi scheduled it to be shot in a hot, unairconditioned basement on one of the hottest days of the year. Yet for some reason, they're blaming Dan. At one point, Cheri opens a door and Dan (not seeing who it is) yells at the person to close it. Vinnie goes ballistic on Dan, claiming that it was the owner of the funeral home. Richard heads out to apologize to the owner but is told that he left an hour earlier. Something strange is going on......
We wrap. We help the Ambroses and Vinnie load the equipment. Richard, Kash, and Matt leave in Matt's car. Well, they don't actually leave. They just keep circling the funeral home. Richard has a glazed look in his eye like some predatory animal. It's actually kind of spooky......
JUNE 14, 2002 (DAY SHOOT) -
We're at the Gastonia airport today, shooting scenes with the Emir of Kakabooboostan (Walter Glass), his bodyguards (Jeff Luckadoo & George Peroulas), Tramble (John Stevens), and D.A.N.I. (Missy Giblin).......
Dan is upset because one of his beloved dogs ran away from the Hart-Witzen Art Gallery. Dan and Richard organize a search effort to find the pooch......
Pretty uneventful. Just mostly get the shots and get out. Still lots of tension. No one seems overly pleased with anything but everyone seems to be keeping it in check now. I hear things have gotten really bad between Dan, Vinnie, and Cherie. Cher has her first scene as Claire tonight and Vinnie isn't on the set today. I have no idea what that means.......
Andi brings a reporter from the Gaston Gazette newspaper around. The reporter talks briefly to Dan & Richard but Andi quickly pulls the reporter aside and gets in her ear about Alternity's projects. True to form, when the article appears in the paper, it's mostly about the Ambroses' unfinished film, Whisper. The paper screws up the name of the Ambrose's production company though and says that Strike the Tent stars Andy Rooney (the guy from 60 Minutes) instead of Mickey Rooney. We all have a laugh over that, figuring that's the name Andi gave the reporter. The vibe at this point among everyone is that the Ambroses are taking themselves way too seriously given the scope of their work. Brad, calling himself Mr. Charisma, goes on and on about his exploits running the Strike the Tent set, ordering the writers to come up with dialogue for the great Lee Majors, yelling at the Shoney's waitress for screwing up his order, and so on. They seem to be becoming a parody of themselves......
Richard gets a severe sunburn today, especially on his clean-shaven head (which as he jokes, makes him look like Moby's retarded cousin). We tell him that pale Irishmen need to stay indoors.......
JUNE 14, 2002 - (NIGHT TIME SHOOT)
We're at the Amoco station on main street in Cherryville, NC. This isn't the original location that was lined up. Andi had originally gotten a signed agreement from a guy to shoot at another station but then Dan & Richard found out that the guy didn't even own the station. He merely worked there. It seems the station was then sold to some Middle Eastern types and they knew nothing about us shooting there. Once again, Brad & Andi are feeling the heat......
Half the town of Cherryville is there. The police, fire department, and rescue squad are providing assistance, letting us use their vehicles.......
Richard, who looks to have sun poisoning (his head is starting to swell causing him to refer to himself as Charlie Brown's retarded cousin), checks out the restroom at the gas station and decides they should shoot it there instead. Andi had lined up another location but by this point, neither Richard nor Dan seem to be trusting Andi's instincts. The Ambroses (and their right hand man Tre' McGriff) are the only people on the cast or crew who have demanded to be paid up front, which is causing a lot of morale problems on the set since it seems like they're the ones who keep screwing up. The Ambroses seem to have been getting cozy with Vinnie & Cher in recent days. Vin & Cher look to have problems with Dan as well, though they still seem cool with Richard......
We shoot scenes with D.A.N.I. (Missy Giblin), Warren (Jim Linka), and Claire (Cher)......
Vinnie's blood FX screw up big time and there's talk that we'll have to reshoot Warren's death scene. Warren's car is released before we finish shooting all the necessary scenes. We later learn that the car has been sold and we won't be able to get it back......
The gun handler/safety expert that Brad & Andi have hired shows up. He brings a revolver. Richard & Dan are upset with this since they specifically said "NO REVOLVER". The handler then brings in a one-shot Glock. The gun handler/safety expert then seems to disappear from the set. Andi gives the gun to Vinnie. At one point, after exchanging words, Vinnie puts the gun to the back of Dan's head (as he's standing directly in front of 17-year-old Missy Giblin) and pulls the trigger. A few of us laugh because we think it's a fake gun. We later learn that it's a real gun and talk about Brandon Lee starts to sweep across the set. We're now worried that SAG will pull the contract (which would be ironic since Vinnie's wife is a SAG member and has been the most adament about "safety" on the set)......
Later, Vinnie and Dan nearly come to blows in the parking lot as seemingly the whole town looks on. Richard and sixtysomething actor Jim Linka are the only two people who try to break things up. Vinnie is later overheard telling Cherie "Who says I can't act.".......
Richard and Andi also engage in a screaming match at one point. Andi tells Richard that the gas station wants them out in 45 minutes and he unloads on her about the tactics that she and Vinnie have been using to speed along production. Dan mediates but this thing is falling apart right before our eyes.......