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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."
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