After a hiatus of about a month, The Joneses cast and crew reassembled for our final major shoot at the River Merrimac Bar & Grille in Newburyport.  The end for us was truly bittersweet, and I can honestly say making this movie has been the most challenging and rewarding experience of my life.  I know Stacey would agree.  And I hope it has been meaningful to all our friends, old and new, who have been involved with the movie.  While this isn't my final movie blog (far from it!), saying goodbye to this phase of the movie, to seeing Mitch & Suzanne one final time in a scene playing out in front of me...these characters that Stacey & I invented four years ago...well, it's all very emotional.  Or, as Jim would say so eloquently, "boobies on my face."

The people at the River Merrimac were so great to us, even when we had to reschedule at the last minute, and we are so grateful to their generosity.  It is a beautiful restaurant, and out of all the ones we saw when scouting, it was absolutely the best choice for a romantic dinner setting.  What turned out to be a bonus was how nice the people were, and we really appreciate them for it!  We also had members of the press there to do a story on us, which was a lot of fun. 

Stacey and I (rewriting up until the last minute, as usual) came up with some killer changes before she and Jim rehearsed a final time on Sunday.  By Tuesday night, they were rarin' to go.  We had Stacey & Jim, and my friend Rob taking over the role of (Buddy the) Waiter as cast, and Mark, Rajah, Maura, Michael, Lou, and me on crew--all showing up on a late Tuesday night, because they knew how important both the scene and the shoot were.  And I couldn't have asked for a better night to end on.

No extras showed up, but we worked it to our advantage--setting the stage right by the fireplace which looked beautiful.  I had a lot of fun convincing Rob he had to wear the cupid hat as the waiter, and I brought everyone else in on the joke, so he was quite perplexed that we all thought it would work for the scene.  Just some light hazing.  As it was he did a great job in the scene, and it was good having him there.

Rajah got some really great shots throughout the night, and he even learned to love the one that showed Suzanne in the window and Mitch in the foreground--a very arty, dynamic two-shot.  I was so lucky that night to have Lou, Michael, Maura & Mark on crew with me, because we've worked together so much, we've got a great shorthand and it was great to be able to share our final night of production with them.

And then there were Jim & Stacey.  The dinner scene is all about performance, a culmination of their characters' entire journey, everything that is wicked and human about Mitch & Suzanne coming to a head in a date that goes very wrong.  I love watching these two work and during this scene, they were as brilliant as ever.  I'd say even more so.  It's been so great watching the characters evolve over time, and I'm so glad we saved this scene for last because it has every ounce of oomph it needs to sell the final chapter of the story.

I had so little direction for both Jim & Stacey that night, because they just didn't need it, which is amazing considering they did the full five page scene, from start to finish, over and over again (from many different angles).  It was just one of those scenes where you set up great shots, and then sit back and watch the characters burst to life, feeding off each other's energy, and playing out this verbal tennis match with crazy intensity.  I just smiled from ear to ear in front of the monitor.  Though I desperately did not want to wrap Mitch & Suzanne, if we were going to wrap The Joneses, I couldn't have asked for a better scene to go out on--not with a whimper but a bang.  Well, actually we shot that scene on the Cape.

So, Jim & Stacey, I am so proud of the excellent work you did on this movie and you deserve to be too.  Goodbye, Mitch and Suzanne.  But to me, the two of you will always be a little bitchy and dicky.

This movie will be amazing because of so many elements, and because of the efforts of so many talented people giving their best work to make it great.  Again, our final shoot was made so terrific because of the wonderful River Merrimac, the outstanding performances, the beautiful shots, and an awesome director, who is me.