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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 3 ACT 2: Welcome to Ferndale! The structure of movie screenplays resembles some stage plays -- you create a story in three acts. However, unlike plays, there are no script notes or narrative exposition to indicate when the first act concludes and the second or third begins, nor are their indications of an intermission like in the theatre.  The shooting schedule on "The Majestic," you could say, was also divided into three acts, with the first concluding when filming wrapped up in Los Angeles after the first seven days and the company moved to northern California. For the purposes of clarity, we'll consider the production's second act to be its location shoot away from Hollywood (seven scheduled weeks in Humboldt and Mendocino Counties combined). Act three would be the final portion of the production back in Los Angeles beginning immediately after our return from Ferndale, Ft. Bragg and Mendocino. Darabont's first act (like Sloane's script) established writer Peter Appleton's initial success, then sudden and desperate downfall as he comes under the suspicions of the House Unamerican Activities Committee. The Hollywood blacklist and government witchhunt (dubbed as the "Red Scare") is still remembered as the industry's darkest hour. The stigma ruined lives and careers before its gloomy veil was lifted in 1960 when Kirk Douglas publicly hired blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo to pen the screenplay for his 1960 epic, "Spartacus." The blacklisted "Hollywood Ten" (those jailed for their refusal to cooperate with government authorities) were effectively exiled from Hollywood in September, 1947.  Our second act, on location in northern California (doubling for the fictional hamlet of Lawson), began on the eighth day of filming, as the company reported for work on the beaches of a town 36 miles north of Ferndale called Trinidad. Trinidad State Park has breathtaking vistas overlooking the Pacific Ocean. California's North Coast attracts more surfers than swimmers, as water temperatures (not to mention the air temps) rarely rise above 50-55 degrees F. According to park district sheriff R.E. Anderson, you also see the occasional shark fin rising above the pounding waves (and we're talking Great Whites)! This picturesque shoreline doubled for an unspecified Santa Barbara beach in Sc. 89-90: Little boy finds Pete's overcoat; Engineer tells FBI Pete's car washed out to sea. On this day, none of the principal cast was scheduled to work, including star Carrey. This would be one of only a few days he would not appear before the cameras. During our location shoot away from Hollywood beginning today, his character is now known as Luke Trimble, the long-lost WWII soldier for whom he is mistaken. Or is he?  It turned out to be an exhausting first day on the North Coast for most of the crew, who lugged their equipment some 500 yards across the sandy shores to a rock-strewn cove where "special effects supervisor" Darrell Pritchett had positioned a mock-up of the 1951 Mercedes Benz that serves as Appleton's car. Earlier in our story, Carrey's character crashes his vehicle into a river and escapes, though injured, from the sinking auto before washing safely up on shore. These crucial scenes (89-90), about 2/3 of the way into the film, also show the F.B.I. hot on Appleton's trail. They get a tip from this engineer that the car must have washed up on this beach after falling into a river north of where the Mercedes washes ashore. The original plan was to float the car into its intended position in a cove. However, today’s raging surf impeded Prichett’s efforts so his crew ended up flipping the car end over end along the beach, until it reached the cove.  Working with Steadicam operator Emmerichs (imagine balancing that 70 lb. camera rig in the sand!), Frank finishes the sequence at 6:00 p.m., just as the tide begins crashing ashore, but not before many of the crew (and some of their equipment) becomes waterlogged. To hear location scout Enke eloquently state it, "I can get us the beach to film, but I cannot control the waves." To keep the shoreline as pristine as possible (translation -- no footprints), the company placed poles with flags on them to alert the crew not to walk too far out onto the sand. After every take, Prichett's team would then wash away the footprints (so each take looked like no one had set foot on the beach) in a process we call a "wetdown". Normally, wetdowns are employed on streets, sidewalks and asphalt to simulate the appearance of rain. How comically ironic to watch Pritchett hosing down a soggy, sandy Pacific beach! Tomorrow -- finally, Ferndale! |
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