"Is this a-- what day is this?"

--The Big Lebowski

Movie Production Update #4

Wow, today's friday? Really? I coulda sworn it was still, I don't know, wednesday or something. These long work weeks really mess up your biologically-social clock. It just doesn't feel like the weekend anymore.

Two nights ago the crew, all ten of us who were in town, was invited to have dinner with Scottie and his wife. Scottie is the owner of the air-conditionless warehouse at the Marina which we are using to build our sets in.

Anyway, the girls in the office were tied up in legal woes, so they couldn't make it, and Justin the Assistant Director had the droll task of giving the newly arrived PAs (production assistants) an unneeded tour of the town, so he was also missing. And due to the previously mentioned legal woes, Mark our director didn't make it to Scottie's house until an hour after we did.

But the five of us didn't mind. Scottie's wife (I think her name is Mindi, and if not, that's just what I'll call her from now on. Good thing she doesn't read this) made the best salsa I've ever tasted. It had corn, black beans, and other salsa-ee stuff (I don't know, peppers maybe?), but then she put both red and green onions into it and then drenched it all with some Italian dressing.

Killer stuff. I could have munched on that all night, and in fact I had to stop myself from finishing off the entire bowl. She said it also goes great on salads. I might have to try that. Hear that, Mom? If you're paying attention- a new recipe to try. I'll be more than happy to eat whatever experiments you come up with, even the failures.

While we're waiting and munching on snacks, Mindi offers us a drink.

"What would you like, we have milk, juice, water, sodas, beer..."

Then there's that awkward silence where all of us are thinking the same thing: Who is going to be the first one to say yes to the beer.

After a moment, Andrew Capella, my boss, the Production Designer says "Well... I'll take a beer that'd be great."

Then the rest of us all in unison- "Yeah, I'll have one too!"

We then started touring Scottie's house. And it's amazing. He and his wife designed and built it three years ago, and it's now a model for how I want my house to be when I'm older. For one thing, the sound system is AWESOME. While we're standing inside making small talk, I hear music playing around me. I swear it's coming from the bookshelves to my right, but I can't find a speaker anywhere, so I assume it's behind one of the cabinet doors.

Then we move the conversation outside and I find the music has followed us. Scottie has built the speakers into his ceiling in every room on the first floor- the kitchen, dining room... outside. That's the way to do it. No big, blocky speakers coming out of the walls- just circular grates up above. When you're making your house, just wire in the speakers before they install the walls and ceiling panels. And just pray you never have a short.

The house was built on a patch of land that sort of points out into the water; it's on a corner. There are incredible views of the sound all around us. The great thing is, it's still pretty shallow, so in a few places you have this random tree jutting out of the water's surface. Makes for a great picture.

Before dinner Rob the DP, Mark, and I all went and jumped off the dock (we did bring out bathing suits- we were prepared).

And it almost wasn't refreshing. Almost. I swear, that was the hottest water I've ever been in that wasn't a bathtub or jacuzzi. It's unbelievable how hot the water in the sound was that evening. But it's such a shock when your body first hits that water, and you're expecting it to be frigid, but no. It's like the air around you when you're on land, permeating all your pores. Only instead of being drenched in sweat, it's... sound-water that's now dripping from your body.

So we swam around for a bit before it was time for dinner. Scottie fixed us mixed drinks as soon as we downed our beers (which was pretty fast). He made us some really good gin and tonics and then made a deal with us for the rest of the evening: He'd let us use his bar (which is built into its own little alcove) any way we wanted if he didn't have to make our drinks anymore.

Yeah, deal.

Mindi made us chicken and broccoli casserole, fresh tomatoes covered with crumbled cheese (perhaps feta), and small red potatoes for dinner. After we finished our plates, she noticed us sitting around and practically ordered us to have seconds, which we all graciously did.

Yeah, I was the only one to get up and help myself to thirds too.

"Is Chris getting MORE?" I heard someone ask as I walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah, Chris is our resident beefcake," someone told Mindi.

Hey, I've been only eating cereal and small sandwiches for breakfast and dinner all week at the house and then eating fast food hamburgers in between while at work. If someone is going to make a home-cooked meal for me, you better believe I'm going to stock up while I can. I gotta fatten that hump.

Besides, Mindi's three daughters are grown up; the youngest is in college, her middle child graduated from UNC the same year as me, but I didn't know her. Mindi doesn't get to cook for people anymore, so she said she loves doing this sort of stuff for us. Sort of like my mom seemed to enjoy doing my laundry whenever I came home from college. Hehe.

Well, I was very appreciative and used all the good manners my mother taught me tenfold. "Yes", "Please", "Thank you", "This is delicious", you know. And the atmostphere at dinner was excellent. All us film guys just sitting around, telling Scottie and Mindi what we planned to do for the next month and how filmmaking worked and then listening to the couple tell the story of how they met in high school, and how Scottie worked the elevator in the 2-story department store on Main Street for his first job.

Imagine that. An Elevator operator for a TWO story department store. An OPERATOR.

Then Mark's mother showed up, tired from her long drive from Florida, and we cleaned our plates, made some more drinks, and moved into the living room for the rest of the evening.

We spent about four hours at that house. Did I mention how much of a good time I had, being entertained and cooked for by good, local people? I think that may be a night I'll remember a long time from now.

Mindi told us anytime we want to during the next blazing, summer month, we can go over and jump off their dock to "cool" off, even if they aren't home.

Well thank you much for the hospitality, Mindi. I'd be much obliged to put that dock to good use.


In other, work-related updates:

We went 30 miles over to Elizabeth City the other day and visited many antique stores and thrift shops. I picked up all kinds of books, clothes, games, puzzles, and assorted knick-knacks for one of our first shooting locations, a kid's bedroom (Jackson's room as it's called).

I also started drawing many pictures of dinosaurs, pirates, rocket ships, etc in the style of an eleven year old. We'll put these up along the kid's bedroom walls. I don't know how visible they'll be in the movie, but I'll know they're there. So if you see a blurry drawing of the legendary Alligator Man in the background during these scenes, you'll know who to credit.

I also drew some pictures in the style of a six year old, and to achieve that effect I drew the pictures with my left hand. So it came out allll kinds of retarded. That means it looked GREAT- just like a six year old would do. I guess my left hand never really matured artistically.

Two PAs from Elon College moved up three days ago. I enjoyed ordering them around yesterday, having them build model houses of the town and doing whatever else we needed. It's great. They're so excited just to be here, they laugh at everything we say, even the intentionally bad jokes. That will wear off soon. I told Andrew Capella we should have them clean the house, but he thought that was pushing it a little too far.

But still, it's great to not be on the low end of the totem pole for once.

--Cbake