One of my favorite shoots so far, and our most ambitious on either film to date, the Halloween party shoot was at times way too much fun, way too much stress, and took me the last 3 days to recover! Now that's a (fake) party!
Stacey & I spent the entire day before creating the dinner table costume, which when finished was even more ridiculously awesome than we had described in the script. It is absolutely hilarious to see, and I can't wait to see how it came out on film, but please do check it out in the pictures. A big thank you to Amy for donning the hockey shoulder gear and the five foot long table for the evening, despite a cold that made her utterly miserable--although her misery was entirely appropriate for the scenes. And Lou and Frank--thank you guys for helping Amy get in and out of the table numerous times; it was a huge success. I also have to mention that my wife, who wowed us on Naughty or Nice with her all-too-real counterfeit checks and plane tickets was ever the perfectionist on creating this table, down to the red-jello as wine and the salmon pieces she carved out of that weird green foam used for flowers, broiled it slightly, cut into them to make salmon texture, and then sprinkled green Sculpey on top for dill. Dill! Amazing.
I've got to mention too that it was a night of great reunions (Naughty or Nice in full force with Stacey, Mark, Kevin, Scott, Bobby, me, and Lou representing), the Low Expectations trivia group (Chris, Connor, Stacey, Lou & me), and the gang from Spotlight (OK, that's just Michael and Stacey, but still). And I appreciate everyone who brought friends as extras (Jim, Adam, Lou), and those Joneses cast members who did double duty as Halloween characters, including Jane "Danielle" Reardon, R.N. as Amy Winehouse, Frank "Ben" Tarara as Leatherface, Michael "Andy the Pizza Guy" Culp as Yoshi, Adam "Parker" Lopez as Punk Guy, and Lou & Rajah making their umpteenth background performances. I played the little Dutch Boy/Lost Monkee, but never appeared on camera which just makes me a weirdo.
As promised, one of the early highlights of the shoot was when Tony got handcuffed and THEN we decided to make sure the key worked. Which it did not. There was some tension on many of our faces, although not Tony because he's a pro. And to be fair, Stacey had checked out the key earlier, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the very old handcuff key broke in the process of checking it out. Who would come to the rescue? Would it be Stacey & Jane picking the lock with hairpins? Nay. Would Lou make it to our local porn shop in time to get alternate keys? Nay as well. It was Shalkoski...James Shalkoski with his trusty tool kit that helped pry Tony loose from the handcuffs. And we were G2G!
I spent about 5 or 6 hours setting up the location, which was VERY generously donated to us by O'Brien's Pub on the Saugus/Lynn line (formely the Boston St. Cafe). They told me they have a web site, but I cannot for the life of me find it, otherwise I would be linking to it here and everywhere I could. We used the place for a scene in Naughty or Nice, and they have been so absolutely helpful to us (opening their doors to our ragtag crew on the one day they're closed a week) and giving us free reign to remove all Christmas decorations and completely take over for the shoot. I am so indebted to them, and we will absolutely be having our cast party there, because they deserve to have money thrown their way. Also, it's a pretty sweet commute for Stacey & me.
OK, last paragraph about the preproduction, and then I swear I'll move on. I have to thank Mark, Stacey, and Adam for all coming quite early to help, and when we got that call from Rajah that he was going to opt out of his other shoot because he has more fun on The Joneses (and frankly, who wouldn't), well we all breathed a huge sigh of relief. Thank you guys (and Frank) so much for tirelessly working all night to keep the production going so smoothly. And Lou "Koko B. Ware" Ottaviani deserves his own paragraph for his work during the Halloween shoot, but I promised I'd stop after this one. Suffice to say, Mr. B. Ware was certainly the MVP for the evening, and if you didn't see him much that night it could be because he was buying last minute set decorations, directing extras, moving lights and bounceboards, keeping me on schedule, moving the camera, fixing problems, helping with the table costume, getting actors in place, and so on and so on. Koko, I take back all those times I made fun of you for lounging around our house while we edited around your naps. Well, not all the times, because some were very accurate. But still, you made the night happen.
If you're still reading this blog, and looking for your name to appear, kudos for your stamina and I apologize for the epic length, but it really was an epic night and I did not want to do a disservice to anyone who was crucial that night, and really everyone was.
So we spent a LONG time lighting the first scene which put us behind schedule for only about 2 hours (yikes!), but my experience on this film has shown thus far that Rajah's instincts pay off in spades. Yes, it makes us work faster as the night progresses, but I trust that when we see the final edited version of these Halloween scenes, we are going to impress the hell out of everyone!
The first scene we shot was SO exciting to me because it was the very first time that our principal seven actors got to work together. We had Leila (the slutty witch Renee) and Mark (the slutty biker Todd) making their first performances that night, and they did such a great job; Kevin (Victor as "Austin Powers from Goldmember"), Stacey and Tony (Suzanne the hot cop and Paul the naughty prisoner), and Jim and Amy (Mitch the Waiter and Ally the Table). I absolutely loved seeing these guys work together and this is going to be an awesome, awesome scene.
Then we moved to Setup #2 (I'm not sure but it may been around 4 in the morning at this point, but actually it was probably more like 9PM) by the Boxing Game. That's where we were joined by old friends Scott Carney (Military Man) and Bobby Baldassari (Masked Man) who did a bang-up job playing lascivious Halloween weirdos who were hitting on Suzanne while she basked in the attention. Though we'll never give a writing credit to Scott for his "you say potatoes, I say po-ta-tas" line, I thought I'd mention it here. While the blocking of this scene left something to be desired (i.e. good blocking), I was smartly advised to go back to my plan of shooting close-ups, so this will be an easy fix in the editing. Stacey did a really wonderful job as Suzanne having a blast with all the male attention, and it was a really fun merging of our last film and this one as Tony, Jim, and Amy came in during the second half of the scene for some very excellent work as well. I am really pleased with how this turned out, and am glad that: a) nobody asked where I got all those singles; b) when posing for a shot as one of Stacey's 3 husbands (me, Scott, Tony) that there weren't many more who came out of the woodwork that I didn't know about. Also, the comic timing of Scott placing the beer next to Amy's platter face was so good.
We then moved on to Setup #3, with some terrific scenes performed by Kevin, Jim, Tony, Mark and Amy. These were really funny and we were able to get through them really quickly because the performances were so good and our crew worked so quickly to get them done. The same was true for Setup #4, where Leila and Stacey took center stage and did their scene very well and in record time. Also Yoshi made many, many appearances, because he's Yoshi.
Now that I think about it, I'm probably leaving tons of things out, including some joke Michael made about a light falling down that had everyone hysterical, but I never heard it completely, so now it just becomes a thing of legend. I really hope the whole night was as memorable and fun for everyone as it was for me, and I am excited to see how the footage turned out. We finished up around 1, and as mentioned before, some of us are only recovering days later.
If I didn't make it clear earlier, I have to say again that every single person involved--cast, crew, extras...hookers, made this scene more than possible, they made it even better than it was on the page, and I know that especially Stacey, Lou, Mark and I have been stressed about how well it would turn out for months. So this is one of those times when "thank you" isn't enough, so I'll just say to all of you that you deserve to be proud of your work that cold, December night, and your talents and patience (in that order) meant the world.
And on the 7th day....we rested. Happy Holidays!!!!
Our Saturday shoot at the office was a rousing success, and the first (and probably only) time we finished ahead of schedule. Many thanks to all who were involved that day and the roles they played to make it so successful--Stacey, Lou, Rajah, Mark, Mike, Frank and I were the crew; Stacey, Amy, Alex, and Johanna were the cast for the day; Maura came by to photograph the whole event, and we had a great group of extras that Lou wrangled and managed for the shoot.
We started very bright (except Rajah, who was coming off an overnight shoot) and early scouting locations around two office buildings which will remain nameless, but were very generous in letting us use the space. The first scene was good to go (G2G, as Lou and I call it) in a beautiful office with Stacey as Suzanne and our first two extras as her clients. With a little set design, we were ready. Oh, and Mike thought he could tell me what was best, sound-wise, but you know I don't roll that way. The scene looked good and Stacey gave a great performance of Suzanne trying to maintain composure as she receives a booty call from Mitch.
Then we moved downstairs to the lobby for a gorgeous shot designed by Stacey (taking over as director for the rest of the day) and Rajah, in which our extras were very well choreographed to do "office lobby" type business. The only one that needed a little direction was Koko B. Ware in his Joneses' debut who saw his character (guy being interviewed) as somebody who nods emphatically. We saw him as someone who nods sweetly, like Koko does in real life, and from there it was genius. I really hope he gets the job--whatever it is--he was certainly smartly dressed with a can-do attitude. That guy is going places!
We then moved back upstairs for a series of scenes at Ally's cubicle that featured the Joneses' premieres of Mr. Garrity (Alex) and Jennifer (Johanna). The scenes went extremely well, and look great. Rajah took off (probably to "get his drink on") and Stacey did an excellent job at the helm. I was an awesome assistant director (or assistant to the regional director), because I'm kind of awesome at whatever I do. Awesome is not my middle name, however. It's Todd. And Stacey's is Renee. Just a little Joneses trivia bit for everybody playing at home.
We had a terrific scene with Amy playing Ally with just the right amount of intimidation (as we all were) by Alex's boss; and then a very funny alternate version where Mr. Garrity was very slimily condescending throughout. I know Stacey was very pleased with the performances, and it was really hard to keep a straight face everytime Alex ended the whole scene with his "OK." Top notch stuff! Also, Johanna and the extras (not the Motown group you're thinking of) gave the Ally/Garrity scene a perfect amount of realism. We then shot the other half of the Ally/Mitch (in the bathroom) phone conversation, that came off really well, and I'm excited to cut those scenes together!
It was a VERY smooth shoot, and we got a lot of good stuff in a relatively short amount of time. I was proud of my co-director's work, excited about the acting by Amy, Stacey, Alex, and Johanna, really happy that Rajah was able to give us a few hours (and our equipment back), very thankful for some tireless work by Frank, Mike, and Mark, excited to see the pictures Maura took, and as always indebted to Lou "Koko B. Ware" Ottaviani, who is turning managing extras and looking pretty while he does it into an art form. Also I am thankful to me for being me.
We had a phenomenal day 4 at Victor's House, brought to us by the generosity of Maura Butler & Dan Gasse. Check out their photo design company here. We stole their beers and their Saturday, rearranged their apartment, quarantined their cats (and almost lost one), but they were nothing but hospitable and we really appreciated it.
It was an absolutely perfect shoot, and I've got to give out kudos to everyone involved. Literally we plan to pay the cast and crew in chocolatey granola snacks from the 90s--so they can look forward to that. I'm glad the budget for this film is such that we can afford that, as the cast & Lou from "Naughty or Nice" really didn't appreciate the fruit-roll-up payscale.
Everything went like clockwork at Victor's House. Koko B. Ware, Frank, Stacey & I assembled the futon like it was going out of style (which I believe they also did in the 90s), and the set was very ably dressed with a various assortment of Atari 2600 and NES games, a DDR dance pad, an Uncle Jesse doll (from Full House, not Dukes of Hazzard, that would be just plain weird), and our pessimistic Magic 8 Ball. We asked how well the shoot would go and it repeatedly said "Outlook Not Good." Ha, in your face, Magic 8 Ball! You were way off and I don't believe in your powers anymore. Oh, I'm sorry--I shouldn't have said that. I can't stay mad at you, Magic 8 Ball. Let's cuddle. "Ask Again Later"? You got it. Wink.
When I could pull people away from the graphically enchanting Atari 2600 games--and we ALL loved watching Frank play Plaque Attack, where you are a tube of toothpaste shooting at hot dogs and candy canes while they attack molars; yes, a game that makes you think far more than Yars Revenge ever could--we made some very real movie magic. Also, by the way, Pitfall is pretty much everybody's favorite Atari game ever. For the scene, however, we opted for the stunning Boxing game which will explode on big screens when The Joneses drops.
As I said before, the crew (Koko, Rajah, Frank, and Mark) were awesome that night, and I am VERY excited to see some of the shots we got. Maura suggested a shot with the Atari game playing in the window reflection that I hope came out as great as it looked there. Frank made a suggestion about Kevin entering the "morning after" scene while brushing his teeth, and it was so perfect. Between that and a subsequent Victor moment asking which of his pink Life pieces was hotter, Frank, Stacey & I had a hard time not laughing through the takes. Top notch stuff! Then everyone started suggesting too much stuff so I (in the words of 30 Rock), shut it down.
We had a magical 3 minutes where the setting sun looked an awful lot like the rising sun, so we banged out the Mitch & Suzanne waking up in futon shots. We shot the scenes with Suzanne, Victor, and Mitch in the kitchen, which went very well, and then moved on to the living room. Where we proceeded to wait for pizza, Doritos and beer (did we learn nothing from Plaque Attack?!). After about twenty minutes of killing time waiting for food (and taking lots and lots of still pictures for fun), I had the bright idea that we could have actually been shooting the beginning of the scene. So we jumped into action. And of course that's when the pizza arrived, so we jumped into eating instead.
The last few hours of the shoot were occupied by the most important chunks of the scene with Victor (Kevin aka 70%, Wry Cirone and SFT), Mitch (Jim aka Dicky, Huggybear, and Big Texas) and Suzanne (Stacey aka Bitchy, Kissyface, and Stacy Keach) performing at the very top of their game. I was SO impressed with the scene as they played it, and I have to give credit to them for performances that I (and others) found completely enthralling. It strikes me that when the crew and I have heard the lines countless times but are still very entertained with each successive take, then the actors are really delivering. I won't mention the alcohol because, as fundamental as it was to both the previous night's rehearsal and the shoot itself, it cheapens how great I think the acting is in this scene. Suffice to say that my instincts about having the actors be a bit buzzed and try to act sober in order to give a more honest impression of drunkenness was dead-on and so I am a genius and the lifeforce through which everything else ignites.
A quick word too about the delicate balance these actors had to play for this scene: Mitch & Suzanne had to be having fun, be a little drunk, also become a little antagonistic and competitive, show a connection, be mournful of their recently dead spouses, and play the post-competition versions of themselves before they even have had a chance to play them the other way. That is no small feat and the subtleties they imbued their characters with were really better than I even imagined. Also, Kevin in his first day as Victor, has made him a funny and intriguing character, that audiences will love even more than Kevin does. Which is saying something.
Anyway, this was such a memorable shoot for me and, as everybody agreed afterwards, it was a total success. A seamless shoot with no hurdles we couldn't overcome. Shots that I'm so excited to see because they're better than even our awesome storyboards. And acting so great by Jim, Stacey, and Kevin that I believe it reinvigorated the production and raised the bar. On behalf of my other co-director, Stacey Keach, I really want to thank everyone for the most fantastic night! And just wait until you see the scene!
Our exhausting first full weekend of shooting was drawing to a close, as we all met at the Naked Fish restaurant on Route 1 to shoot the very important dinner scene that comes at the beginning of The Joneses. The people from Naked Fish, especially Frank--who has been a huge help in organizing the shoot--and Tina, who was very excited to help out--were really great, and I think we needed that boost late on a Sunday night.
We had less crew than I would have liked: it was me, Mike, Adam, Lou & Mark, so we struggled for awhile with lighting the booth appropriately for the camera. Rajah's suggestion to put in a 200-watt bulb above the table helped a lot. And the shots that Stacey, Rajah, and I planned the previous night came in very handy, as I believe we shot every one of them. Either my dolly work or my mediocre tripod wasn't up to snuff, in my opinion, so we moved quickly through the first shots, and got in tighter on the action.
Meanwhile, Jim, Amy, Tony, and Stacey were given enough wine and beer to not care how many takes we had to do; thereby ensuring we'd have to do more takes. Actually, the acting was really terrific that night--I'm just praying that the look of the scene is good enough to showcase what I thought were excellent performances by the four leads. As I moved the camera in closer and closer, Mitch, Ally, Paul, and Suzanne really took shape in a wonderful way. Mitch was perfectly cocky; Ally came across as genuinely concerned; Paul was boastful, with humility; and Suzanne was frustrated and slyly determined. It was a perfect mix, and I am so happy to have these actors in their parts.
Also, the Naked Fish provided free food for 3/4 of the talent (poor Tony and his character's shellfish allergies), all the water we could drink, and absolutely no interruptions. A very nice couple filled in as extras for our 2nd attempt at a dolly shot. And the crew, while smaller in numbers than most of our shoots, pulled together to make the night go effortlessly.
I had a few epiphanies too. One was that it's better to keep moving in tighter with the camera (and not spend too much time in the wide shots), as good actors like these naturally adjust their performances to be more nuanced as we go. Also, if I keep moving like a military operation, nobody has much fun--and that really is an essential ingredient to the crew working harder and the actors feeling allowed to be creative. I adjusted my own attitude halfway into the shoot, and I think it had a very good effect.
I am very excited to see the footage from our Naked Fish scene and hope it comes out looking as good as it did through the camera. I want to thank everyone for their very fine work that night and hope that much rest followed.
Me and my peeps arrived at the temple at noon on Sunday, which would have been the ideal time to shoot had there not been a bat mitzvah going on at the time. The good people at the Beth Israel in Malden were very accomodating and we appreciate them opening their doors to us for our day's shoot. The timing turned out to be a bit of a wrinkle, however, as we had to stop and start every time somebody entered or exited the temple. Which was approximately every two minutes.
The Bjort Babysitting Club again was doing great business and we had another child onlooker all day (I never did find out where his parents were) who was entranced with the moviemaking process. Experience is showing us that The Joneses will be a perfect film for kids to enjoy, except for all of the adult themes, violence, bad language, macabre jokes, sexuality, dialogue, and story. But we do have a camera that rolls along a track, and who could blame anyone for enjoying that?
Our shoot on the temple steps, though very cold and interrupted, went very smoothly, and from what I could see through the viewfinder, Rajah got some AMAZING shots. We've got everything in this scene, people! We've got your dynamic establishing dolly shot. We've got a rack focus from Suzanne (Princess Leia #1) to Ally (Princess Leia #2). And we've got one shot of Mitch with the New England autumn foliage in the background, and members of the congregation conversing on the corner in the distance that looks so good, it ought to be in a movie. And it will be.
Yet again, the performances were terrific, and I have to give big props to Jim, Amy, and Stacey (in Suzanne's first appearance!), for making these characters really come to life. They all did such a good job, and I am proud to have them in our film.
Extra credit needs to go to our crew who are becoming a fine-tuned machine: Rajah, as mentioned, set up some beautiful shots; Mike got excellent sound (and we got to use the fuzzy wind hat!); Justin captured the sun wherever it went, and it went many, many places; Lou made friends and enemies by keeping people from walking into the shot; and Mark documented it all. And he brought cookies.
We all headed out: to get warm, catch a plane, nab a few hours rest, and/or eat french fries covered in cheese and bacon. But our marathon weekend of shooting was not done yet...
Casket Royale was the site of our afternoon shoot on Day 2, and I have to thank Alex and all the great people there for being not only hospitable and flexible, but also offering a great many creative suggestions along the way. FYI they are called "caskets," not "coffins." I will re-watch "Six Feet Under" with a whole new appreciation.
So while our skeleton crew (not real skeletons, as Lou likes to imagine) drove around New Hampshire suburbia, the rest of the group (Stacey, Mark, Frank, Adam, and Justin) set up the lights and dolly tracks amid the rows of coff--caskets. Christine MacFadyen waited patiently to play her part as Janelle, while Josh (our extra for the day) familiarized himself with his surroundings. Rajah, Amy, Jim, Mike and I joined them just in time for pizza, and then we were off and running.
Stacey suggested we start the scene with the characters already at the caskets, and I agreed. We set up the dolly tracks to get some great establishing shots, and Christine, Jim, and Amy jumped right into the scene terrifically. After a bit of time, Rajah came up with a great idea for an additional dolly shot that I, as I like to do, lied and told him we'd shoot at the end "time permitting." Which is synonymous with "never going to happen." Mike boomed the whole affair, and because child labor is a wonderfully cheap option we employed Alex's kids to change the slate, strike things from the set, and otherwise help us out. In exchange they became The Joneses first audience, eating candy and watching scenes from beneath the caskets. They were really great to have around, and I'm very glad they were there for one of our non R-rated scenes.
We all took a brief break when two customers arrived to pick out a casket. That was very surreal, and I think we all did an excellent job quickly and respectfully leaving the room so that they could have a quiet moment. We've been surrounded by a lot more death early on in this shoot than I would have hoped, but it's a dark comedy so I suppose it's appropriate.
The second section of the scene took place by the Paragon Jewel, which was lit glowingly by Justin and Adam, and set dressed by Stacey and Lou. The scene was really wonderful--all three actors did a wonderful job--and Amy & I watched the end of each take for Stacey's giddiness at Christine's delivery of the last line, "Very special." Mitch, Ally, and Janelle were spot on, and I think this is going to be a great scene, not just because of the total commitment that Josh made in the background, dusting off those caskets.
It proved to be a great shoot and, exhausted, we all headed home for some very needed rest before the next full day. My thanks to all for their work that day, and I just hope that nobody else has to die, except when we need them to.
