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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 8 May 3 (Day 40) The day begins at 5:00 a.m. -- not for the entire crew, but for brothers John and Michael Randolph, our dependable “craft service” guys. Craft service is the union trade that provides an all-day snack table for the company in which to indulge. Their responsibilities also dictate keeping the physical set clean. Because they are part of the union that governs the set’s “studio mechanics” (i.e. grips, among others), the brothers can be recruited into other duties on the set if necessary. Primarily, they supply snacks and goodies throughout the day, and the Randolph boys, ten year industry vets, are two of the industry’s best. Coffee (or gourmet cappuccino), soda (or pop for you purists), bottled water, donuts, sandwiches, fruit, candy, ice cream, bagels, cookies, even hot meals late in the day, come courtesy of the Randolphs. They also feed the crew a variety of vitamins, and actually press their own wheatgrass juice for those health-conscious technicians on the set. However, by the end of this shoot, you’ll most likely find several dozen crew folks having gained several dozen pounds courtesy of the Randolphs. But, the brothers translate those kinds of complaints into compliments. Here in Ft. Bragg, they visit the local Safeway supermarket at the ungodly hour of 5:00 a.m. every morning to shop for the day’s bounty. After an hour, they fill ten shopping carts, and count out upwards of $2500.00 for just one day’s menu!  The Randolph boys have to lug their snack table onto a beach as today’s location, on the banks of the Big River (a lengthy tributary that spills out into the Pacific about 500 yards down the beach) marks one of the prettiest sites we have visited during our trip away from home. The scenes scheduled for today begin with Sc. 23 -- Ext. Beach: Golden retriever and Stan find Pete. A ragged, bleeding Pete, lying face up after surviving the serious car crash (which we have not yet filmed), gets help from Lawson’s elderly pawnbroker, Stan Keller (James Whitmore), who is walking his dog on the beach just outside the town limits. This piece of the story will cut into that sequence we filmed our very first day in Ferndale, way back on our 9th day of production -- Sc. 25 (Ext. Lawson Main Street: Stan tells Pete/Luke about the war). Could there possibly be a continuity problem? Back then, Ferndale was overcast when we completed Sc. 25. Today, the weather just south of Mendocino is glorious. Sunny, warm, maybe even swimming weather as is evident when the crew strips off their cold-weather gear (the mornings are brisk here) and don shorts and aloha shirts (most prominently Frank, wearing a signature Tommy Bahama classic) for the remainder of the day’s shoot. All week here, Frank has been hoping for a cloudy day to complete Sc. 23 so it will match when he edits the two pieces of film together. Can anything be done when processing the negative, or color-correcting the final print before it hits theaters to insure the scenes match? Tattersall’s team breaks out all the fancy equipment for the shots planned on the beach -- Emmerichs’ Steadicam rig and that familiar Lenny Arm III crane which is operated by Emmerichs at the controls of a gizmo called a Hothead. Like he has done in earlier situations, he manipulates the movement of the camera with the standard pair of camera wheels (one controlling the camera’s vertical movement, the other the horizontal) connected to the camera through several remote cables. As explained in earlier entries, locations can dictate a film’s shooting schedule. If Frank preferred clouds for Sc. 23, why did he not move to the beachfront locale on Monday, our first day here in Ft. Bragg, when the sun struggled through cloud cover? Most likely because we were scheduled to film (and complete) our scenes at the Skunk Train on Monday and Tuesday. Except for our first day here in Ft. Bragg, the sun has shone brightly. Can Frank wait out the weather before completing Sc. 23? No, because of another dictate controlling film schedules -- actor availability. The veteran Whitmore has to be on a plane to Australia this weekend to work on a Disney feature called “Ring of Endless Light.” The producers of that project have cordially allowed Whitmore to arrive Down Under a week later than their schedule dictated. So now, producer Behnke must insure that Whitmore is on a plane to fulfill that obligation before returning to “The Majestic” in about a month for one last scene in our movie. By 4:30 p.m., Frank wraps Sc. 23 before moving to the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse (www.pointcabrillo.org), our first visit to this majestic site located some five miles north of the Big River on cliffs towering above the Pacific. Built in 1908 by the U.S. Lighthouse Service, it served schooners who shipped lumber along the coast between San Francisco and the north coast. The 47-foot tower contains a third order Fresnel lens (first operated in 1909, it is still the original lens installed almost a century ago). The lens turns by weighted, pendulum-style clockworks, from which light is created by a kerosene lamp shining through hundreds of concentric prisms. The powerful lens allows light to be seen fourteen miles from shore. Upon our arrival this evening, sun bathes the set and reflects off the sparkling blue ocean waters as we prepare to shoot just two pieces of film -- a Steadicam shot of Luke and Adele, now rekindling their relationship from almost a decade ago, as they debate their love of movies by discussing a scene from the 1936 classic, “The Life of Emile Zola.” Both performers have maintained the same perky, playful manner that was also evident the day before. Holden comments that yesterday’s 12-hour kissing marathon was “fun!” How could it not be -- she was smooching with one of the planet’s biggest stars in her very first motion picture starring role! This story point, Sc. 50 -- Ext. Old Point Lighthouse: Luke remembers Zola, is being staged on the cliffs overlooking the pounding waters of the Pacific Ocean. In the distance about 500 yards offshore, two gray whales play in the surf, much to the marvel of the crew gathered to witness one of nature's wonders. Seals bark in the distance while Carrey and Holden rehearse their walk-and-talk sequence. The call-sheet indicates sunset at 8:11 p.m., and Frank has scheduled three separate shots for the day’s fading daylight. The first is the Steadicam shot of the couple walking along the cliffs toward the lighthouse. The next shot will show them running across the grassy knoll toward the lighthouse just as the sun disappears over the blue horizon. Finally, Frank wants to place his actors atop the lighthouse for that “magic hour” sunset shot. Cameraman Emmerichs endures this workout as he balances the 70-lb. mechanism while jogging backwards over unsteady terrain. He explains that he works out to keep his legs in shape. And, after working as a Steadicam operator for several years, the muscles in his back have tightened to the point that he no longer feels any back pain when operating the heavy machine. For this particular shot, he adds some gyroscopes (thus adding more weight) to the Steadicam rig to maintain a smooth image. Since he is also filming the sequence on a bluff some 125 feet above the surf, he gets assistance from dolly grip Dave Pearlberg, who holds onto Emmerichs’ waist while guiding him along the shot’s path, insuring that the cameraman doesn’t stumble. In the meantime, they are now losing the light, as the sun continues its descent and is close to touching the Pacific’s horizon before giving way to night’s shades. Not only will this jeopardize the completion of all three set-ups, it now plays havoc with one of the grips, who has been bouncing sunlight onto the actors with a 4X4 white foamcore bounce board, one of the mainstays of the grip equipment available on the set. With maybe ten minutes of sunlight left, Frank cans the meadow shot in favor of Carrey and Holden holding hands atop the lighthouse. It becomes a mad scramble, as the company must move their camera 200 yards to film a long-lens shot of the pair on the lighthouse platform 35 feet up just as the sun hits the horizon. Frank manages three takes before calling a wrap. Here in Ft. Bragg/Mendocino, there is no Curley’s Grill, and we miss his spirit (and spirits) that served the company so well back in Ferndale (we hear a rumor that Curley also misses us, and was somewhat teary-eyed upon our departure from Ferndale last week). However, we repair this evening to the elegant, old-world charm of the Mendocino Hotel on Main Street in this beautiful little town on California’s coast. A glass of wine with stills photog Nelson and costumer Wagner brings the day to a relaxed conclusion. Tomorrow, we have a split day, with work scheduled from 1:30 p.m. until the wee hours of the morning. Coming up – the magic hour! |
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