bloggie blog

Saturday I was back on set for Look in the Mirror. This time we’re at an office on a stretch of Wilshire Blvd just east of the Miracle Mile. I’ll be there all day today Sunday.

But for Saturday, I just had one scene. So I showed up, chatted, got into makeup and wardrobe, sat around while previous scene finished up, waited while camera was set up, looked around for leftover food, worried a lot about elevators that were in the shot and sometimes didn’t cooperate. Then finally I did a little bit of acting, and left.

The scene was with Rebecca Rainboldt, the first I’ve shot with her — with many more to come. Funny how my scenes with her are so very central to the movie, but in the first five days of shooting, I’ve just had one very brief interchange with her.

Also: I’m counting my days on set at this point, in terms of the titles of my blog posts. There has been shooting without me. I’m on set about two-thirds of the time.

After three progressively longer days of shooting in Calabasas, I’m on a break from Look in the Mirror, and will be back on set next week.

This chunk of shooting ended very late, and on quite a high. We wrapped at 2:00 am after many takes of a long scene.

In film and TV work, you end up doing lots of little takes, or longer takes that get edited into little moments. But every now and then, there are long, uninterrupted scenes. Some are quite famous, like the opening scene of A Touch of Evil. There’s an amazing, long scene in the middle of Factotum with Matt Dillon and Lili Taylor.

In plays, on the other hand, you always end up working towards something that lasts for many minutes without interruption. Once you start, there’s no turning back. So when you shoot a long scene, it feels like a play. Except it’s not. The environment and rehearsal process are so completely different on set. In other words, you make a scene that’s only a few minutes long, barely a fraction of the final act of Streetcar on stage, and you feel great for accomplishing something remarkable.

I hope what we did at 2:00 am was remarkable. Take after take was required. A mistake in dialog or lighting or anything at all could ruin it because you can’t just edit it out. No cut-aways to save us. Well, it could be done in post-prodution, but it would very much change the nature of the viewing experience. So, after the last “Cut,” and “We got it,” I was feeling very up, not at all tired anymore. Good stuff.

This morning, unlike previous blog entries, I write after having shot a scene. It was a scene where Guy unexpectedly runs into his colleague Mr. Hinkle at the pool party. Hinkle is played by Ed Ford, pictured. I’ve got Ed figured out, now. You ask him how’s he doing and he says, “Terrible,” with a big smile, just to see if you’re listening. Also, he makes dirty jokes. I like Ed!

Today is the 3rd and final day at the Calabasas house. Our supportive and generous homeowners, Larry and Sheri (or Shlarry as they are sometimes called), have been putting up with a lot. Today, it’s just Sheri, actually. Guess Larry had to work. On a Monday. Go figure.

I hope to include soon a picture of Larry’s socks, because I am wearing them in the movie and Shlarry got married in those socks!

Juicy inside scoop: Last night, it was challenging for me on set. I had to blow up to a piece of tape. I have spent so much effort recently on doing good acting that is small, real and right into my scene partner’s eyes. This big, angry scene to a non-person was so different and felt very hard to do. We got a good take, but we ran late and I got a little grumpy. Oy — the inner diva is emerging. Run for your lives.

Good morning! At the start of the second day of shooting, with the dogs barking like crazy here at the Calabasas house, I offer a frank summary of yesterday: inefficient.

Let’s be honest, there’s a lot of waiting on any set. And in almost any new endeavor in any field there are often start-up issues and time killers galore on day one. So I simply did what I could to overlook the down time. In all, I feel good about how I did my stuff yesterday, and that’s what you can do. And it helped in a sense, because Guy is laid-back, but not pleased with how the day is going at his house.

The other thing to say about yesterday is that everybody here is nice, easy to work with, and all that. A good group. Excellent!

Today is Mothers Day, and we’re back in Calabasas, shooting indoors scenes. The cast is smaller today, but the dogs are barking. They weren’t barking yesterday. But it only helps, because Guy has a couple of lines like “Damn dog,” or worse. ’Sall good.

I’m in Calabasas, at a new house in a gated community. It’s got a pool. The walls and carpet and everything are on the white side of things inside and the orange side of things outside. You know the kind of place I’m talking about. It’s Guy’s house. I’m Guy in the movie.

This morning, Guy overslept and walks outside to see a raging pool party in honor of his mother-in-law. So I’m made up as if I overslept. This is a good way to start shooting a movie! It’s good to know that for the first scene it’s okay to be tired, to look tired, to not be your best self or worry at all about forcing things. Not that I look bad at all — I’m made up today in the trusty hands of Michael, who will be with us for the duration of the shoot.

Here’s the other thing to write about this morning: names. I’ve met about 25 people so far. Please don’t quiz me on their names! But I look forward to working with the same people for many days and getting to know them quite well.

Okay, it’s almost noon. My first scene will shoot soon. The RED camera is up and running now, shooting establishing shots of all the gossipy ladies in the hot tub. So I sign off for now.

On February 2, a little over three months ago, I auditioned for an untitled feature. The truth is that I can barely remember that audition. I read the scene three times, and it went fine, but there were 4 people in the room and it’s a blur in retrospect. I guess Jason and Brian where two of them. Jason and Brian and the guys who wrote Look in the Mirror and are producing and directing it. (It went from untitled, to The Whistler to Look in the Mirror.) The two other guys in the room … will I meet them again? Our first day of shooting centers around a large house party, with pool, barbecue and Nanna’s birthday. There ought to be room for them there, and if they come, it would help me feel better about the beginning.

Anyway, after Jason expressed interest in me, I became more curious about them — I needed to learn more about them because it was a large project we were talking about! So we met at a coffee shop on Beverly Blvd, and after a lovely 2-hour talk, I felt good about the project.

And now it’s about to start. The mental preparation is there. The hair is cut. And now my work is to sleep 7 hours, awake and prep, then schlep what needs to be schlepped to Calabasas, and then it begins!