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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 7 April 23 (Day 33) At the risk of sounding repetitious, there’s an old joke that goes, “Why do cemeteries have fences around them? Because people are dying to get in.” Well, Frank took his cast-and-crew back to the Ferndale Cemetery yet again to complete Sc. 132, and now the company was dying to get out! With a call time of 7:00 a.m. to start of our final week in Ferndale (yes, if you’ve been keeping score, we have three more days of work here), the sun shines brightly this spring day, just what the doctor ordered (and Frank desired) for this three-page dramatic sequence. Frank had completed half the scene last week during breaks in the awful weather pattern that hung over Ferndale like a shroud. Today, he turns his cameras around on actress Holden. The last take on Sc. 132 was completed around 6:00 p.m. As that moment arrived, actress Holden grabbed the bullhorn from Frank and announced to the world (well, Ferndale anyway) that we had finally wrapped all the main cast work at the cemetery. The crew joined in the light-hearted moment with a “Whoop” and a holler.  Although the sun has another two hours before nightfall, we move over to The Majestic, whose marquee has now been adorned with the following greeting -- Grand Opening Tonight, Jim Carrey in “The Majestic.” Huh? Castle Rock had earlier produced a “product reel” to unspool at this year’s ShoWest convention in Las Vegas. ShoWest, hosted each March by NATO (National Association of Theater Owners), is one of the industry’s biggest annual bashes, where not only the exhibitors (or theater owners) but studio personnel (both distribution execs as well as advertising and publicity coordinators) gather for four days of screenings and assorted promotions calling attention to the year’s most anticipated releases. That product reel contained a “teaser trailer” (or coming attractions) for “The Majestic,” a very early version that contained no film footage. At the time the spot was assembled by the company’s marketeers, the set erected in Ferndale had not yet been completed, and the trailer concluded with only a sketch of Melton’s majestic creation. Now that Melton’s design was complete, Frank instructed the set dressing department to post the letters on the marquee specifically for the trailer. Cinematographer Tattersall had finished lighting the set, and now waited, along with Frank, for dusk to bathe the marquee in that special azure gleam. In the business, we call this exact moment at which to film the “magic hour.” As the company sat about waiting for the sun to disappear on Ferndale’s horizon, Frank and writer Sloane spun some of their own brand of magic by inviting a local scout troop (boys and girls alike) to come onto the set for autographs. In addition to the movie shrine erected on Ferndale’s Main Street, I hear about another sacred altar assembled in Eureka in honor of the production. The locals who frequent the Suncoast Video store in the Bayshore Mall will have seen the sanctuary of autographed memorabilia surrounding racks of video titles representing many of the film’s key cast. This temporal sanctum was scheduled to be removed in early May to make way for a different in-store promotion. However, the store’s employees are planning to resurrect it when the movie hits theaters in December, and will again put up this unique, endearing display whenever the video and DVD releases hit retail outlets, sometime in 2002. |
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