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| Introduction: Opening the Doors Cast and Crew Prelude Journal 2: ACT 1: Blacklisted! March 6 (Day 2) March 9 (Day 3) March 10-11 (Days 4-5) March 12-13 (Days 6-7) Journal 3: ACT 2: Welcome to Ferndale! March 20 (Day 9) March 21 (Day 10) March 22 (Day 11) March 23 (Day 12) Journal 4: March 26 (Day 13) March 27 (Day 14) March 28 (Day 15) March 29 (Day 16) March 30 (Day 17) Journal 5: April 2 (Day 18) April 3 (Day 19) April 4 (Day 20) April 5 (Day 21) April 6 (Day 22) Journal 6: April 8 (Day 23) April 9 (Day 24) April 10 (Day 25) April 11 (Day 26) April 12 (Day 27) Journal 7: April 16 (Day 28) April 17 (Day 29) April 18 (Day 30) April 19 (Day 31) April 20 (Day 32) April 23 (Day 33) April 24 (Day 34) April 25 (Day 35) April 26 (Day 36) Journal 8: April 30 (Day 37) May 1 (Day 38) May 2 (Day 39) May 3 (Day 40) May 4 (Day 41) May 7 (Day 42) May 8 (Day 43) Journal 9: May 10-11 (Days 44-45) May 14 (Day 46) May 15 (Day 47) May 16 (Day 48) May17 (Day 49) May 18 (Day 50) Journal 10: May 21 (Day 51) May 22 (Day 52) May 23 (Day 53) May 24 (Day 54) May 25 (Day 55) Journal 11: May 29 (Day 56) May 30 (Day 57) May 31 (Day 58) June 1 (Day 59) |
Journal 2 March 6 (Day 2) For the second day of filming, the company reported to a hot Hollywood nightspot called The Formosa Cafe on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. Built in 1925, it has welcomed some of the industry’s greatest stars over the years, many of whose pictures still adorn the club’s walls (for more, click on to www.seeing-stars.com/Dine2/Formosa.shtml). In parking spaces out back, you can still read their names etched on the concrete blocks in the parking stalls (Spencer Tracy, Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Gleason, to name just a few). And, you’ve seen this place in other motion pictures, most notably, Curtis Hanson’s Oscar-winning “L.A. Confidential” (the scene where actor Guy Pearce’s detective gets a drink thrown in his face by Lana Turner).  Attempting to keep to his schedule of sequentially filming the opening scenes of the story, Frank works with Jim on Sc. 14 -- Int. Coco Bongo Bar & Grill: Pete gets drunk, and everyone is someone else. Before moving to the fictional town of Lawson (which will be filmed in Ferndale, California, near Eureka), the director has consciously set out to complete all the film’s early scenes where we see Jim’s screenwriter getting blacklisted. This action comprises much of the film’s first act in the screenplay’s dramatic structure. Before settling on the Formosa, Frank and location manager Grant visited over two dozen historic Hollywood watering holes. Some of the sites scouted were the legendary steak house, Musso & Frank’s (where Tim Burton filmed the meeting between fledgling filmmaker Ed Wood and legendary director Orson Welles for the movie “Ed Wood”), the Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard (a refurbished gem which houses one of the city’s best cabarets, the Cinegrill, and hosted the first Academy Awards presentation in 1928), and a few Polynesian-themed joints -- the Tiki Lounge in Hollywood, the Tiki Bar in Costa Mesa and the Royal Hawaiian in Laguna Beach, the latter two places well south of Los Angeles. Their final choice, The Formosa Cafe, is a dim, inky, tiny bar, painted in shades of red and black, that is extremely popular with young folks (who rub shoulders with celebs like Bono of U2) during the weekend. While the original script referred to the fictional bar as the “Ocean Breeze” in Santa Monica (the majestic city-by-the-sea on the western reaches of L.A.), they changed it to the Coco Bongo Bar when production designer Melton suggested to Darabont that they refurbish the locale to resemble a Tiki bar. So, Melton and his “art department” (those crew members responsible for creating the physical looks of a film) redressed the interiors of the Formosa with bamboo and voodoo masks to give it an exotic, Polynesian flavor. Rumor had it that the club’s owners were considering keeping Melton’s contributions after the one-day shoot wrapped, and celebrating the new design with a Tiki party days after we departed the facility.  With the necessary crew cramped together in these tight quarters, Darabont spent the next twelve hours huddling with star Carrey for a scene where screenwriter Appleton realizes he has been banished from his job, and blacklisted from the industry. Devastated, he proceeds to get drunk, confessing his tragic turn to the bartender (played by recognizable character actor Mario Roccuzzo). Carrey can get emotional, depending on the sequence, and he reached deep into his psyche and soul to portray Appleton’s gloom and despair in the quiet scene. What intrigued screenwriter Sloane about Carrey’s performance this day was his dedication and generosity. Sloane began his own career as an actor, and salutes Carrey for giving a complete, gripping performance even when “off-camera,” when he fed his lines to colleague Roccuzzo for his camera “close-ups” (actors normally save their best takes for their own close-ups, but do perform off-camera for the benefit of co-stars in a scene). Someone once said that the best part of acting is reacting. In sticking around for Roccuzzo’s “coverage” in Sc. 14, Carrey insured that his fellow actor was every bit as good in the scene as was the top-billed star. Also joining these two actors at the Formosa was Appleton’s pet monkey, casually propped up on the bar while Appleton confesses his frustration about how his career has prematurely expired. During the entire day, the furry creature never even moved during take after take. It turns out that the monkey is just a stuffed animal. If you thought a real monkey would bring out the Ace Ventura in actor Carrey, sorry to disappoint you. Filming wrapped at about 10:00 p.m. (a normal 12 hour day). The caterer served up some southern-style BBQ ribs (as well as grilled chickenbreasts, grilled tuna filets and deep-fried shrimp) for our second day. Day 3 of filming is scheduled for Friday, with Wednesday and Thursday being off-days so the company can “turn around” or revert to a change in our work week, to access locations not available during the usual Monday-Friday week. Tomorrow - Vintage Cars and Famous Directors |
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