Day 3 of the marathon, and we were all exhausted. I decided it was high time to eat something, so I had a bite or two of the lemon poppyseed cake that Amy had donated. Tragically, it tasted like lamb shanks. And surprisingly, lamb shank cake is not delicious in the morning.
Backing up a bit to Day 2, I totally forgot to mention the last sequence we did as part of Dinner Party Part I--although it's kind of amazing I remember any of it at this point. We had everyone--Leila, Kevin, Mark, Michael, Jim, Stacey, and Tony gathered around the dinner table while Amy as Ally gave an awesome speech. She did a superb job and it was an effortless scene to shoot (probably why I forgot it). Stupid Costco advertised that there were 8 lamb shank servings, but each serving was like half a shank, so we had to rotate the food depending on the camera angle. That was pretty funny in hindsight. I'm pretty sure Lou had to rotate the cherry tomatoes in the salad bowls too, to make sure they looked pretty depending on who was in the shot. There was also a suggestion to have Todd cough out his line rather than the way I had imagined it, so we let him do it that way too. But of course, I'm a genius and my way is right, and I only ever entertain other people's ideas to humor them (and because so many times they're good).
So...back to Day 3. It was Sunday, so we all went to an early Mass and then got ready to shoot. That morning Jim & Leila left, and we began shooting the Paul/Ally scene that occurs early in the film where she tries to sneak shampoo back into the house. Stacey set up the shots for that scene, while Mark & I ducked behind the counter and watched. It was a nice break and I very much enjoyed the scene as it played out. Also, as usual, Stacey and I had slightly different reads on how the characters would be in the scene, and I'm really glad we got both versions. I thought Tony & Amy did a great job, and it's really fun to see the dynamic between those two characters blossoming (as they also will in the tennis scene), because I think it does a lot to mess with the audience's expectations.
We shot the second half of the scene in the dining room, now 100% shank free, (yes I'm trying to see how many times I can use the word "shank"), and I thoroughly enjoyed both setting up the shots--which is rare for me--and watching the scene play out. Mike was a huge help with both the lighting and the framing, and that continued when we got to shoot the floor shot of the purse/shampoo/shoe close-ups. Mike & I love us some floor shots.
At that point we probably took a break or something, and then got ready for the Will scene. If there's one scene we shot this week that I feel was most poorly managed by me, it was this one. The scene as written is far, far better than what we had in the original script, but it was rewritten so recently, that we never took any time to rehearse it. I hate when we spend so much time setting up the lighting and shots and then rush all the actors into performing. So the scene started out rough, largely because it was a lot of dialogue between Suzanne & Ally that they had never really gotten a chance to play with, and it wasn't coming out exactly as I wanted, but I didn't have any suggestions on how to fix it. By my count, this was my third director implosion on the whole Joneses shoot, which percentage-wise is not bad. When I can't figure out how to make things better, I sort of shut down and become even less helpful than I should be. Making matters worse, Stacey & I practiced the scene on the way down on Friday, and I knew how good every line could be...but in the moment I kind of lost it.
So we took a break, and came back to it and everything was a hundred times better. I should always use my parallel parking theory of directing when faced with something that's not clicking: instead of constanly readjusting little things to fit into a tight space, just pull the car out completely and start over, from a fresh angle. It sounds dumb, but it really works. Things went SO smoothly after that, and I LOVE the dialogue in the first half of the scene. I especially love Stacey's re-imagining of the line "she called me a whore at the Ice Capades," which for some reason is ten times funnier than "she called me a wench at the Ice Capades." I also thought the interplay between Mitch, Ally & Suzanne in this scene was so great--Mitch and Suzanne are all business with the will, and Ally keeps trying to make it a moral issue.
Then for the second half, Amy did an outstanding job with her confession, to the point that she was shaking when delivering the lines, and Jim was extremely generous as an actor in trying to make sure everyone was quiet and allowed the room to do the scene appropriately. I asked him to do a different version of Mitch (less caring, more menacing) which played out very nicely and I have a feeling may be the version we use. I have to give huge credit to all three of the actors for this scene; I didn't make it easy for them, and they did excellent work until I got back on the horse.
Then I did a shot or two and readied myself for the evening shoot. It was the kitchen parts of the Dinner Party sequence--again, my favorite sequence in the movie, and it ended up being probably the most fun we had the whole week.
It's almost too difficult to describe every detail of why it worked so well, and was so much fun, but I can give a few that I recall. To begin with, these scenes have been perfect since the very first time we rehearsed them--Tony, Jim, Amy & Stacey are just AWESOME to watch when they all get to really tear into each other. We rehearsed the blocking over and over before shooting each scene, and after watching the first one, I was inspired to shoot it all as one take, panning back and forth with each character that crosses through the kitchen. It made it feel very chaotic, cramped, and flowed so nicely. I loved it and I loved doing it.
When we got to do the second and third scenes, it was just even better than I would have imagined. Ally trying to be peacemaker, Mitch and Suzanne yelling at each other, Paul sticking up for his wife--these four gave such thoroughly great performances, that all I felt I had to do was capture it all on camera. And we were all so into watching it, and the tension kept building, that I'm pretty sure we created a ton of bloopers as the giggles started to come out in full force. And Jim's line reading of "Hey, I Think We Already Paid Enough for That Blanket!" had us all cracking up. It was such a joy to make those scenes.
Then we drank some more and Mark and Jim tried on the wig--Jim looking either like Garth from Wayne's World or, as Rajah recently suggested, one of the Lone Gunmen from X-Files.
Drink of the night: Sambuca
Food of the night: Pizza
Song of the night: The jingle for boobiesonmyface.com
Our second day at the Dixon House got off to a slow start, due to the late night drinking and thelack of desire to face our first full day without toilet paper or hot water. Some of us were a bit grumpy. Others were just trying to ignore the very, very loud sounds downstairs. But the weather was beginning to look less dismal, and so our spirits perked up.
During the day we got a chance to rehearse the dinner party scenes, we met Matt, Jim bought an appropriate sweater or three, and we were soon joined by Mike and Michael, who was ready to play Andy the Pizza Guy! However, the front room was a shooting disaster. Our "easiest" scene turned out to be our most difficult one, and we proceeded to try to light the front room for the next 2 or 3 hours, to no avail.
First I tried to do a diagonal tilt up from a purse to the front door, where Suzanne lets Andy in. But the pan was shaky. Then we tried to put the purse by a mirror, and do a tilt up on Suzanne fixing her hair, but no matter what light we moved, we couldn't light up the reflection. Then I scrapped those ideas and we attempted to just shoot the exchange at the door, but Lou pointed out how it would be a problem shooting outward because our house exteriors would likely never match the view we were getting. Then Mike came up with a good shot shooting inward, but I was afraid we'd either be so wide that we'd see the door #, or so close that Andy would mostly not be in the shot, which is bad since it was his big scene. Finally we came up with a 2-shot that seemed to be the best compromise. And it started raining. This scene, like some others we've shot, was doomed! Doomed, I say. But we got through it because we're excellent people. And Stacey & Michael both did terrific jobs.
At about this time we were joined by Leila and Kevin, and were able to block out all the dining room scenes for the big Dinner Party sequence. I've been excited about shooting this section for a LONG time, and was really glad the time had finally arrived.
The first scene we did--let's call it the "quiche" scene--was very funny. We created some funny business for Todd & Andy to do (waiting for a drink, and gobbling up quiche, respectively). Then we moved on to the second part, where we got awesome reaction shots for Renee, Todd, and Michael, while Mitch & Suzanne had a total standoff, Ally tried to hold him back, and Victor swept up the floor like Carol Burnett. I really loved this section so much: no fancy camerawork but just great acting all around. I've always gotten excited about the dynamic between Mitch & Suzanne in this scene, and I have to give mad props to Stacey & Jim for their work here--it was flawless. Amy was really great as Ally, trying to keep her cool and hold Mitch back, and I laughed every time we cut to Leila and Mark. Kevin and Michael were equally important to the scene, and I was proud of what they did. Basically everyone was awesome.
We then did a "quickie" (not to be confused with "quichie," which is "of or like quiche") scene with the fabulous foursome: Victor, Andy, Todd & Renee, that will be even funnier when cut in between the tense kitchen scenes. And finally we shot the last sequence in which everybody talks about games and Paul's absence. Stacey set up a great shot and then I think Maura and I tried to mirror it. I'll admit I remember liking this and not remembering it much right now.
Oh, I forgot Mike and I got an AWESOME floor shot of the broken glass and the shoes that Rajah's going to be totally jealous of, and it serves him right.
Then I think I told everyone we were wrapped for the day, until I realized (i.e. somebody pointed out to me) that we had to shoot the first kitchen sequence because Leila would be leaving the next day. So we gathered up Amy, Leila, Paul and his fantastic pants (not a biblical-based musical), and shot that scene too. Very funny stuff.
I'm sure there was other stuff that happened that day, and I'll probably just squeeze it into other blogs as I remember it. Suffice to say there was still no hot water by bedtime, and for some of us that was ridiculously late. What I recall is Jim, Tony, Stacey, Maura, Leila and me staying up all hours huddled around the tequila. Then Jim went to bed. And then Tony. Then it was just me and the girls for a little girl talk. It was a highlight of my week.
Song of the night: "Key Lime Cheesecake Pie" (to the tune of "(She's My) Cherry Pie"
Bedtime: 5:00 AM
Drink of the night: Tequila!!
Food of the night: Lamb shanks?
Catchphrase: "Youwr weiwrd because youwr a giwrl."
Coincidentally, our marathon weeklong shoot began on Day 21--which means our production was officially old enough to drink. Who were we to argue?
First on the scene to our awesome location for the Dixon house was Stacey, me, Mark, and Maura--the four benefactors behind the "vacation," though to call it that is pretty silly. But when we arrived, Stacey & I catalogued every detail of every room in our mind to be sure that everything would be returned to their exact positions. Every item we brought in had a specific, precise place (the equipment room, the prop closet, the wardrobe closet), which we surprisingly kept to for the week.
Lou arrived with a contractor bag full of buns. And eight containers of Fluff. It would be far funnier if that's all he brought, but in fact the Fluff containers had pasta and chicken salads, and he also brought platters of dessert, lasagna, and other food swag he stole from some European Monkey Football event that he had attended. Lou wasn't supposed to be part of the shoot this week, as he was having ACL surgery on Wednesday, but given my inability to set up a light on my own, he gave into my pleadings and came that first night. Then he proceeded to nap for the next two days. And, as usual, once he left we were very sad because his napping presence always helps us work for God knows what reason.
Besides Stacey, our other superstars for the night--Jim, Amy, and Tony--arrived. And 75% of those in attendance had the appropriate wardrobe. We soon found out we wouldn't be shooting very much (i.e. nothing) that first night, which was probably fine since we were all tired from the drive and the unpacking. Though it might have been nice to shoot something since we had a lot scheduled, but one of the actors did not remember his sweater, though I will not name names. Although using the masculine pronoun really does exclude Amy & Stacey. Also it wasn't Tony's fault.
So what did we shoot that first night? Close-ups of Amy cutting vegetables (she did a great job). Close-ups of Amy chopping garlic (also great). Close ups of water boiling (we looked away, so that it would work). Close ups of Tony scraping the burnt tops off of buns (very dramatic). Essentially the whole night played like a Food Network show, with not much of a recipe to follow, but I would suggest adding an ingredient next time: Jim's sweater.
Drink of the night: wine.
Song of the night: Hot Tranny Banana (to the tune of "Hot Child in the City")
Catchphrases of the night: "Ty-rell!" and "Mark, it's not your fault."
Stacey & I are a little blown away by the strange, strange stroke of fate that we found this morning, while preparing for our big shoot.
Last night we had a great time with Jim at the Beanywood/New Film Nation/Berklee event that introduced us not only to some terrific composers, but also educated us a lot on what the process of film scoring is like from their point of view. It was amazingly educational and fun, and as always it was great to see Lindsay who treats us like the local stars that we are. Or someday may be.
Jim, Stacey & I left the building, although we did a double-take at a stack of empty pizza boxes on the way out because we still needed some good ones for a scene we're shooting. The boxes are green...which is the color we've tried to inject into every part of this movie, so I decided might as well go back in and steal them. So, yes, I did a little trash picking for the sake of The Joneses.
This morning I noticed that every one of the three boxes has the name "Andy" on it. Stacey thought I wrote it. I thought she wrote it. We know Jim didn't (he has problems with words). Andy is the name of the pizza boy in the film. Out of thousands of possible names, these boxes have the one we need it to have! And did I mention they're green? What a bizarre coincidence. I can't even get over it. I look at it as an omen of good things to come. Can you have good omens? I'm not sure.
Several months after our first and second attempts to shoot the funeral scenes, we finally got our chance on Day 20. And, my God, was it a terrific day!
Back in November, on our second day of shooting, we were slated to shoot at the Robert K. Gray Jr. Funeral Home in Hampton, New Hampshire, but there was an actual death that took precedence over our movie (if you can believe that!) On a rescheduled date, the same thing happened, and again they were very apologetic and promised that they would accomodate us in the future. But we had no idea how above and beyond they would go.
We were introduced to the funeral home by Alex (see Day 2 Blog for more on his generosity and our great shoot at Casket Royale), and I had been listing some of our desires for the funeral shoot to Monique and Robert over the course of the week. To say they went all out and opened their doors to us is an understatement.
Robert made an outstanding floral display for the casket, which he helped coordinate with Alex to be there waiting for us Saturday morning. Monique and Robert arranged for a hearse and driver to be there for us for most of the day (and of course we used both even longer than expected). They had the whole home decorated beautifully, gave us complete free reign, alerted local newspapers and TV stations, enlisted friends to be extras, and loaned us Billy for anything we needed during the shoot. It was a dream come true for a producer, and I know that my entire cast and crew felt so welcomed and thankful to have been a part of the day. Also we ate all of their candy.
The day started early with Frank and me arriving around 7:45 (poor Loubert and his torn ACL were in his car waiting for us). Mark showed up next, and the four of us unloaded everything and set up all that we could without a tripod or a cinematographer, who arrived somewhere between call time for the actors (9:30) and midnight. Mike rounded out the crew, and on hand as the cast for the day was Stacey, Jim, Amy, Leila, Mark, Michael, and a sweet-natured soul who played the character of Smitty. We also had old friends from past shoots as extras (Alex, La'Shante, Marsha and Francis), and the Gray hairdresser (and husband) as new additions to the film.
One note about the weather: it was dismal, cold, rainy, and it made it that much better that we were allowed and encouraged to use as much of the interior of the funeral home as possible. The home used to be a Friendly's restaurant, and the Gray Funeral Home aims to be as comfortable and pleasant an experience as one can have in their time of grief, however they do not have Fribbles. Sorry I keep making this an advertisement for the funeral home, but give me a break...the place is awesome. It made me reconsider my plans for cremation--how's that?!
So we did our first shots of the casket, with some chairs thrown in at the last minute, and a kneeling thingie (not the technical term) up by the casket. Without giving too many of the plot points away, I can say that the first scene was so very, very good with Mark, Leila, Jim and Amy conjuring up all the appropriate sadness it deserved. It was one of those times where it got very quiet, and you could feel the performances creating the mood.
Then we moved onto Stacey's big moment which was note-perfect the first two takes we did. And then the third take just blew me away, and I couldn't talk afterwards because I had man tears in my eyes and was all choked up. It was one of the most important 10 seconds of the film, and my hats off to Stacey for creating a brilliant moment. We all applauded after it. Rajah also scored some points for some excellent tracking for this pivotal moment.
Then we switched the camera around and did a tracking shot of the casket, which also came out great and should really sell the casket punchline. While Lou started setting up for some cutaways to the extras, we decided to shoot the hearse scenes next because the sun was coming out and we had already kept our faithful driver there for hours as it was. He drove the hearse in place, Billy brought the casket outside, Robert moved the awesome floral display, and I figured out the pallbearers.
For some reason I had a hard time counting to six, knowing that the pallbearers would be Mitch, Todd, and Smitty, and then planned to use Alex as well. I'm pretty sure I told Michael that he could and then couldn't be one of the pallbearers about 4 times over the next 4 minutes. I settled on the hairdresser's husband (I feel bad I don't know his name at this time) and Mike "the Mike" Ricci as the sixth member. We had our driver give us the instructions on how to load the casket into the hearse, which lent a lot of authenticity to the scene, and then Rajah got his wish by getting the camera up on the back of Mike's truck for an overhead shot that I'm sure will look mightily awesome. Still..Mark was my favorite person in that scene because he was fighting the good fight, and only he and I will ever now what the hell I'm talking about. I am so excited to see this shot, I must say.
We then did the wide shot with us pallbearers doing our stuff, while the procession (Marsha & Fran, Michael, Leila & Amy, Stacey & Billy) proceeded out of the home. It was really moving to watch this as well, and the scene ended so well on Stacey looking so sad and alone on the landing. I'd have to say that every single person there made this scene as perfect as it was. And then Rajah got a chance to try an artsy "casket coming toward the camera" angle which is like a Dutch Angle but much, much better.
After that we drove to a secluded location to shoot the exterior funeral procession shots, which I'd rather not go into at length because I think we got exactly what we wanted. However, it's pretty impossible to keep a long line of cars with people (and their many, many questions!) coordinated and confident knowing that if we need them to do more than "follow the car ahead of them" that they will be told. I wasn't as communicative before departing as I should have been, so it was an example of very, very orderly chaos, and I want to thank Frank for helping make it go very smoothly. Also I think Jim owes Amy a new car.
We moved back inside and shot one scene with Mike, Alex, Marsha, Fran, Stacey & Amy, which looked great, and then a subsequent one with Mark, Leila, Michael, the hairdresser and her husband--in which she had the best ad-libbed line of "They say after death things get better, but they don't. They just get different," after which she and her husband improvised a little spat, cracked up, and the rest of us watching did as well. This was one of many moments during the day where I realized how much I love making movies.
At this point many people were dismissed and the rest of us said our many thanks and goodbyes to Billy, Monique and Robert, who could never be thanked enough. We (Frank, Amy, Jim, me, Michael, Mike, Stacey, Mark and Rajah) had a great meal, filled up so much that we weren't really into shooting anymore, but we persevered. Stacey & Michael went home, and the rest of us set out to our location, then dismissed Frank and Mark to hang out in the funeral home parking lot.
And there we were again, like deja vu, Jim driving, Amy riding shotgun, Mike and Rajah in the backseat, and me in the trunk shooting the funeral procession scene again just like we did on Day 2. We no longer had fall foliage, which sucks, and necessitated the reshoot. Oh, also we had quickly diminishing light and--as we soon found out--seven minutes of tape. Over the next half hour we rushed through the scene and got a lot of good footage, but I don't think any of us (except Rajah) think we got everything we needed. Jim did a good job acting, driving, braking, and not killing children, and Amy doing her entire performance in about a minute and a half of tape. If we had a little bit more time, a little bit more tape, I think we would have really gotten it, and I feel bad that I've made these guys do this whole scene twice now as the words are quickly losing meaning for all of us. But we'll be more than prepared when we "reshoot the reshoot" (that's one for me and Stacey) on Day 40. :)
It was a great, great day, and it was nice that nobody had to die for it to happen. Oh, also we made some local papers, which I haven't seen yet, but hope to soon...
It was a rainy Saturday in Peabody, a very special day for Judy Jaffe, because it was the day of her bat mitzvah! We hadn't met her yet, but we have been very involved in planning her special day for years now.
Stacey and I created Judy's bat mitzvah at least three years ago. Last year we determined the location--Spinelli's was going to allow us to hold it there on a Thursday but after 6PM, we'd have to pay to have extra coverage. I cancelled the event a few times, as did Spinelli's, when Stacey got the bright idea to ask our new friend Craig if we could possibly hold her blessed event at the Springhill Suites Marriott on Route 1 in Peabody. Not only did he say yes, but he allowed us to have it the whole day, the biggest room on a Saturday, and come in and set up the night before! It was excellent, and we on behalf of the whole fictitious Jaffe family, were so grateful to Craig and Tony for helping us get this space.
But our planning wasn't done. Lou, Frank and I invited tons of people, including a DJ and a cantor. Stacey made designer labels for bottled water to mark the occasion, a three tier cake, 30 fashionable yarmulkes, a big green board with Judy's pictures on it, she and Maura wrapped dozens of gifts, blew up balloons with Mark's help and made them into centerpieces, Michael took care of the popcorn catering, while Maura provided a pasta salad, we bought pink and green plates to liven up the tables, and nobody got coffee. It was a shindig to end all shindigs! There was dancing, and singing, and some very weird moaning next door, and snacking, and pictures, and we all learned a lot about bat mitzvah traditions. And it was all a movie, people! A movie!
So like I was saying, Stacey & I pre-set the room the night before, after a week of her making everything she could possibly create, with a big hand from Maura too, and the fruits of their labors paid off in spades. It looked awesome! And who was the first person there that rainy Saturday morning? Rajah! Yes, you read that right. I gave him a fake call time to cure him of his tardiness disease, and he tricked us all by showing up at that time. Then Mark and our new lighting /assistant camera dynamo Kimmie showed up, unbeknownst to Rajah, and then I moseyed on in with Maura, Stacey, Mike and Michael arriving not too long after. Frank (filling in for the Loubert) arrived with Frank II, our very first extra, and we began finishing the set-up like a military operation. A military operation whose purpose was filling up balloons with helium.
I'd like to take a moment to give a huge thank you to all of our extras, who did a fabulous job, kept us excited all day long, and I hope had a lot of fun for the day. It can be a thankless job, but as this was our largest scene to date, I am so grateful to every one of them for showing up. That includes: Frank Godek, La'Shante Cox, Keira Lee, Ann-Marie Iacoviello, Rebecca Maddalo, Patti Taibl, Alexandra James, Lesley Moreau, Mikey DiLoreto, Clare Garberg, Lyn Pinkus, Heidi Medeiros, Yuri (not Huey) M. Rothman, Joseph M. Silva, Colleen Arnold, Matthew Picardi, Meghan Clark, Monica L. Workens, Marsha Golden (who gave us an EXCELLENT impromptu lesson on Jewish culture--and we needed it!--and is a faithful reader of the Joneses blogs), Francis Latour, James Stasio, Jenny Stasio, Samantha Flahive, Kendall Fitzpatrick, Natalie Harrah, Tami Harrah, Louis Holmes, and Maria Rivera. If I forgot anyone or misspelled your name, please let me know at bjortproductions@yahoo.com. That's what the EDIT feature is for on blogs! (Also a second thanks to Frank, who did a ridiculously awesome job that day).
We also met the star of our evening, Julia Taibl (Judy Jaffe), our cantor (Pharrel Wener), and DJ Jazzy Dennis. They were all also tremendous to work with and we were so pleased to have them. Oh, yes, and then we had some actors/actresses you might have heard of--the goils Stacey Cruwys (Suzanne) and Amy Ulrich (Ally), and the boyz Kevin Cirone (Victor) and Jim Shalkoski, Jr. (Mitch). If I misspelled any of their names, they're just going to have to either live with it or officially change them, for the good of the movie.
We began with a tracking shot that may or may not have worked. (P.S. it probably didn't). But God bless Rajah and Kimmie and Mike for trying the tracking board, a hotel cart, a kitchen cart, and everything else on wheels. In the end I saw some pretty outstanding panning shots of the crowd that did the trick beautifully anyway, and Rajah also ran around with his posse getting shots of every table. We'll have a lot to choose from when it comes editing time!
Oh, and I almost forgot the dancing! We thought, hey, it might be fun to have every one out on the dance floor (of which there was none), so we asked if a few people would like to get up and shake it like a Polaroid picture--I definitely didn't ask it that way--and were surprised that almost everyone jumped up. Michael ran to his car to get some CDs, and we confirmed with DJ Dennis that he indeed had no way of playing them on his DJ equipment, because I told Lou to tell him not to bother bringing any. So to get people dancing I did some of my world famous beatboxing, with others (Frank, Mark, Michael) joining in to create what was probably the worst song ever created. But for five minutes straight we got some of the best dancing footage you've ever seen. Everyone had a blast, and it was such a boost to see such fun being had by all. I can't wait to see that footage.
Then we moved onto the first part of the first scene, with Stacey as Suzanne haphazardly taking photos at every table. This was hilarious and had us all cracking up--a great sight gag that I had no idea would work so well, but she really plays the disinterested photographer to a tee. After that she sat at the table with Jim as Mitch, and asked which of the little bitches stole her drink. As with all jokes, I made her do it a thousand times, because I'm an awesome joke-writer and a hack joke-director. This would be a great time to apologize to Stacey, Amy, Tony, and Jim, all of whom have done long scenes perfectly and I don't have a single direction, but when it comes to the one-liners, I make them overperform it until it doesn't make any sense at all. What do I know--I'm just the eye candy on the set really. Pharel and Julia think I look like Hugh Grant, so they're my favorite people ever. I probably look more like Lou Grant, but it was nice of them anyway.
Meanwhile, back at the table (before my narcissistic seque), the scene played out wonderfully with Amy and Kevin joining the story. Kevin had a very funny bit that was very well received, as was Amy's struggle with the tripod. I was surprised by how many funny visual jokes there were in this scene, and my cast--every one of them--performed each EXCELLENTLY! Then the scene had to end with Amy's botched kiss with Jim, which if you've ever tried to kiss Jim (as many of us have), you know they're pretty much botched by nature. Jim Jim Jim. Now he's paying attention to the paragraph. Moving on... (now he's not paying attention).
Also there was a hilarious behind-the-scenes moment when we went to shoot Stacey's close-up. We asked for complete silence and as soon as we started the take, all 40 of us in the room were dead quiet, but there was a pronounced and rhythmic moaning coming from the function room next door. It was really loud and really funny. When I called "cut" everyone broke out in laughter. It turns out there was an EMT training going on next door.
Our next sequence found Ally with her cockeyed tripod being rescued by Mitch, while Suzanne tells the Rabbi and Judy that they're going to have to take the formal pictures for the parents. The way Julia & Pharrel were sitting facing each other looked like an intervention, and it was very funny. But it was nothing compared to how well these two did in the second part of the scene which was the photographs of Judy & the Rabbi cutting the cake, feeding each other a slice, and smooshing the cake in the Rabbi's face. Julia and Pharrel had us dying laughing, and it came out absolutely perfect. I can't wait to see the final edit of this.
We cut the cake and everybody got to enjoy some, or shove it in each other's faces. A select few of us remained for the last scene. Lou showed up in time to nap in a chair. Also I forgot to mention that Tony and Craig stopped by and it was great seeing them.
We prepared for the last scene by having all the presents opened and askew, the sagging balloons all over, and a super-dramatic lighting set-up that recalled (as Lou pointed out) the intimate scene between Mitch & Suzanne that we had shot weeks before. We had Ally passed out in the foreground, Mitch & Suzanne very close at a table in back, and Rajah playing around with balloons for quite a very long time. The scene was moody, dark, and so great. So much stronger than it is in the script, and it's one of those times where the terrific acting and lighting/framing really makes a scene play out ten times better than it does on the page. Kudos to all.
And with that, I'll conclude by once again thanking everybody--be they the stellar cast and crew that I'm always lucky to work with, or the newcomers like Kimmie, Julia, Pharrel, Dennis, and all of the great extras we were thankful to get a chance to talk with and have as part of our labor of love. It was a great, long, (OK, very long) day and I am very pleased with the work we did.
Then Stacey, Mark, Maura, Michael and I went out for margaritas and Rajah got lost because that's what he does.
