Sunday, Apr 27 – Day 11

Quote of the Day:

“Growl, ladies! Growl!”

 

We’re at the Portland Ballet Academy on Capitol Highway where we’re putting ‘Jane’ through a series of classes so she can figure out she’s not exactly 20 years old anymore.

 

First up – The Blazer Girls!  They’re playing members of a dance class ‘Jane’s trying to keep up with. Just to make sure Susan, who’s a trained dancer, can’t pick up the routine they prepared, Sam doesn’t let her watch them rehearse and he puts her in front of them as we roll camera.

 

Heather Nelson Robertson is playing their dance teacher. “Work it, own it…” She vogues an absolutely hilarious series of ‘encouragments.’

 

Susan has a serendipitous hot flash in the middle of the dance segment. Sweat on sweat.

 

Morgan, the boom operator, has to climb an 8-step ladder at the last minute to avoid boom shadows. “First costly sound delay – of one entire minute!”  That boom pole must be 12 feet long. How does he hold it up in the first place, not to mention keep it out of the shot?

 

Next up, the trapeze. Oh dear…

 

Finally, Jim Craig has brought in some of the students from his Aikido class. We put a ringer in the form of black belt Michael Foster, a barn door of a man who is supposed to throw ‘Jane’. Uh, huh.

 

Fun, short day.

 

 

Monday, April 28 – Day 12

Quote of the Day:

“It was so crowded in there, I had to leave to change my mind.”

 

Susan, not surprisingly, has a few more bruises after yesterday.

 

We start at Gino’s in Sellwood.  Gorgeous old wooden bar, wonderful people, drool-worthy aromas coming from the kitchen as the cooks begin prep for the evening service. We drape the windows in the bar and crowd in like sardines to get ‘Cindy’s’ night out. Gilberto Martin del Campo is playing the man who invites her to a campaign rally. He’s also drool-worthy.

 

Then it’s on to the Masonic Lodge in Milwaukie for ‘Michele’s’ play, complete with 60 or so extras. Among them are Ryan Findley’s family, and Sherilyn’s husband and son.

 

Again, we’re blessed with having some terrific local actors play small parts. The wonderful Michele Mariana – long time stage actress and theatre director – plays the director, and the delightful transplanted Brit, Richard Topping (who seems to be channeling a combination of a young Jimmy Stewart and Dagwood from the old Blondie cartoon strip) plays the Dad in the play. Richard says he’s thinking of adopting the bow tie he’s wearing for the part as his new ‘look.’ 

 

We’ve written the last few lines of a bad community theater play so we can see ‘Michele’ on stage, and along with Richard, we’ve cast Susan’s daughter Charlotte and son Oscar in it, as well as Sherilyn’s daughter Aryn. Happily, the bad play is a hit! The extras go wild.

 

Of course, having that many extras around, as well as the cast and crew, makes for close quarters even in someplace as big as the Lodge.

 

Dirk, our key grip who’s also pushing the dolly, starts singing, and we learn he’s not only had a band, he’s also been in an a capella group that he started, went to college on a music scholarship, and plays the trumpet. He grips “to support my music habit.”

 

After a lovely weather day, we move outside for the night shoot… in a monsoon.

 

Sherilyn’s wired for the scene on the street, and she gets so into character as she argues with her mother that we can hear her heart beating over our headsets.  That’s acting.

 

Long day, but fun stuff.

 

 

Tuesday, Apr. 29 – Day 13

Quote of the Day:

“Never set your sound cart up next to a trash compactor.”

 

We’re at ‘Cindy’s’ to watch the women wrestle with who they are, and to see how deeply troubled ‘Cindy’s’ marriage to Robert is.  Long-time artistic director of Portland Center Stage, Allen Nause, plays Robert, and he brings a poignancy to the role that shows us his confusion about his wife’s ‘coming of age for the second time.’ It’s a lovely, understated performance that’s all about the reality of the bumps that come with any long-term relationship. We’re all moved by their work.

 

However, we start the day with the women on the back porch, wrestling with periods of sunshine interspersed with periods of hail interspersed with rain-in-the-midst-of-sun.  Susan breaks into a chorus of “The sun’ll come out tomorrow…”

 

Sherilyn blows a line: “I was thinking what the raindrops on my face would look like in high-definition, and I forgot my lines.”

 

Tyler initially sets up his sound cart in the kitchen. A few minutes later, his nose is twitching and he goes on the hunt for the smell. Ah, the trash compactor. He moves into the laundry room.

 

The women, a bit tipsy on Kombucha, toss paper wads at the TV. For ‘Michele’s’ close-up, Sherilyn tosses her wad at Jerry who’s pulling focus so the eyeline is correct, and clocks him in the eye. Then she reaches over and pokes him in the stomach to ‘turn on the DVD player.’ He didn’t miss a beat - good thing our First Assistant Camera is easy-going. Brian, on the other hand, decided to duck the paper wads – the resulting camera angle looked a bit like the old German Expressionist film Dr. Caligari’s Cabinet. We rolled again.

 

Long day, the energy going from raucous to quietly intense. We’re tired.

 

 

Wednesday, Apr 30 – Day 14

Quote of the Day:

“You never flush when we’re rolling.”

 

Still at ‘Cindy’s’. Seymour Cassel arrives just to say hello the day before we start shooting his scenes as Francis, the shaman. We ask him about working with John Casavetes, and it’s like getting a film history class. Wonderful stories about how Cassavetes got Peter Falk to not be self-conscious about his eye, about hanging out with Ben Gazarra, and especially about how Cassavetes worked with his wife Gena Rowlands. He summed up Cassevetes in one particular anecdote about the making of Minnie & Moskowitz – Cassavetes started yelling at his wife at one point: “Don’t act! If you act, I can shut this down. It’s my money. Don’t act it! Live it!”

 

We’re running long, so we simplify how we shoot the final scene of the day, an impassioned argument between ‘Cindy’ and ‘Robert’.  It’s incredible – perhaps the most intensely angry scene in the film, and the only one shot with a steadicam, catching two wonderful actors doing what they do best – work together.

 

Another long day of rain and cold. We’re a tired but still game crew.

 

 

Thursday, May 1 – Day 15

Quote of the Day:

“Brian needs 10 Red Bulls.”

 

We’re at ‘Francis’’ house where the women meet the shaman for the first time. The weather is threatening at first, as we, of course, shoot outside.  But then it turns partly cloudy to partly sunny, and we’re able to take the pop-ups down.

 

Seymour Cassel brings an intensity to the shaman that gives his words real gravity. There’s some discussion about why women would listen to a man as a mentor rather than a woman. Susan points out that for women of this age, there really weren’t good, readily-available mentors or shamans or therapists when we were younger, and that her mentors have all been men who respected her boundaries and kept the relationship on a non-sexual basis. The other women on the shoot who are the same age agree, and talk about how we are now in a position to be mentors to younger women without feeling threatened by their youth or their ambition, unlike many women on the front edges of the feminist movement who were jealous of what little power the male establishment had given them. There was general agreement that we’ve all had a ‘Francis’ or two in our lives, and we’ve been the better for it.

 

We have a smooth, short day for once. The crew’s a lot happier, as we wrap at 6pm.

 

 

Friday, May 2 – Day 16

Quote of the Day:

“Don’t act. Be.”

 

It’s lovely working at Roland’s because the scenes are all confined to one room. The trick is to make each one look a little different from the others so we can keep them interesting. Sam decides to have the ladies start wedged together on the couch, and as they grow and change, they begin to move and occupy different spaces in the room. The camera also goes from static to moving.

 

The crew’s rested, relaxed, and happy. The sun’s out, and whoever’s not doing something critical is outside on the lawn, napping or chatting.  At one point, Sam’s ready to shoot and yells “Let’s go!” It echoes in an empty house – the whole crew’s gone on break.

 

Betty has somehow become Goddess of the Close-Up. It’s a Texas belle thing. As we move in for coverage in a scene, Sam says, “Punch in on Betty. It’s your close-up, girl.” Betty replies, “Thank god.”

 

At the end of the day, Seymour takes his last lines – “If you want to take control of your lives, then do it. You don’t need my permission. Give that to yourselves.” – and starts to riff, Cassavetes-like, delivering a passionate raison d’etre for acting and for living the passionate life. The three actresses go with him and begin to cry. The crew crowds around the French doors into the living room, mesmerized. A great way to end a 6-day week.

Jackie Blain – Associate Producer