Click for photos!

"The Joneses" production Day 2, technically started the day before, when--while securing the funeral home and hearse--I was told that we wouldn't be able to shoot there. "Are you crazy?" I asked the crazy toothless man who answered the door. "You can't use it tomorrow. Somebody died," he replied. I nodded, pretended to look sad for a moment, and then said "do you think he/she would like to be in a movie?" The toothless man flashed me a toothless frown as he closed the door in my face, while I cried out, "but I have storyboooooaaaarrrds!" And so that was that.

Stacey and I quickly hatched a plan to shoot the car-interior funeral procession shots the following morning, and that was why we found ourselves outside of Casket Royale in New Hampshire at the beginning of Day 2. It marked the first day of shooting with Amy Ulrich as Ally, and our additions of Mike Ricci on sound and Justin Situ on bass. Or maybe it was gels. Also joining in on the fun were the usual gang of hoodlums--Stacey, Jim, Rajah, Lou, Mark, Adam, Frank and me.

And now, since bullet form is a lot more fun to read, here are some of the interesting moments from that shoot:

• The neighborhood we chose to freak out with our slow-moving, stop-and-start procession was very coincidentally well known to Mike, who proved to be an excellent tour guide. For some reason he called every driver that passed us, "Mom."
• Snag #1: Not enough light in the car to see Jim's & Amy's faces. They came out more as black blobs. (Memo to self: remember this effect if we ever write a movie called Black Blobs) We made an executive decision that we will shoot this movie with the actors' faces visible, and I still stand behind that choice.
• The trunk of Mark's car has a nice airy feel about it, yet the trunk of Amy's car comes complete with a makeshift recliner. If you're going to be stuffed in the back of somebody's car, I have to give Amy's the edge over the DiSanzomobile.
• Snag #2: Lavaliers weren't ready to go. I don't remember why. But I accepted the reason.
• Through a series of confusing and complicating events, eventually Lou, Mark, Adam, Frank, and Josh (our extra), headed back to Casket Royale. Stacey took the wheel of the Saturn Vue, which played the part of "Other Car" to a tee. Way to go, Vue!
• Snag #3: Mark's car was too dark too. We decide to shoot in Amy's car, which has a sunroof and is the only car out of about 17 cars that I said we should not bring to park on a very unhappy neighbor's lawn where we were. While 1/2 the crew went back to get her car, Jim did some excellent rear-view acting, Mike did some phenomenal backseat miking, and Rajah did some backseat driving. Did I mention he had a steering wheel around his camera? Yep. Next time we should steal a Driver's Ed car so that Rajah can have his own gas and brakes as well. Meanwhile I rode shotgun and bled profusely from my cuticles for no apparent reason. This is what my wife lovingly refers to as "digusting"--kind of a pet name.
• Take after take, Jim could not remember to shush Amy. Everybody was stunned.
• Finally we were ready to proceed, with Jim driving, Amy riding shotgun, Mike and Rajah working sound and camera from the backseat and me in the trunk. Stacey led the procession of two cars. From then on, it was smooth sailing! The acting was terrific by Jim & Amy, and it was our first glimpse of the very funny Mitch/Ally argument where Mitch cuts out of a funeral procession in order to reposition himself further up in the line by cutting off Paul's grandmother. They did a great job, and I think the scene is going to come out really well. Of course, somewhere down the road we may want to shoot their black blobs from the front as well.

So Day 2, Part I had it's fair share of issues, but we rose to every occasion, and I really think made the best out of the morning. So what happened for the rest of the day? Stay tuned...