June 2007Sorry for the lack of updates but I've been filming every day, usually for long hours. The days all blend into one another and I've lost all concept of day of the week or time of day. I am, however, still having the time of my life.
I feel incredibly sad that it will all draw to a close this week. The entire cast and crew are like family to me now and the thought of not seeing them every day hurts. though it's all kind of a big blur, I'll try to remember a few highlights:
After helping Zoë with a taped audition that will hopefully get her a role in a short film back in the UK, we ended up having an impromptu party at the guest house on the ranch where we're staying. It started out with a lot of Guitar Hero, which we've now got several people addicted to, but ended up in a huge sing along jam session where Iskra and I were playing guitar and everyone else was playing whatever was handy including bongos, cardboard boxes, trash cans, empty water bottles, harmonica, and plastic bags among other things. We got most of it on tape. Maybe it will make it into the "behind the scenes" features on the DVD.
I had my climactic fight scene which took all day but was a blast. Me and Delno both ended up bruised and battered but it was well worth it. At one point I swung a real ax at his head and planted it in a huge chopping block as he moved out of the way.
I've also had to handle pig guts, get blood spat in my face and had another great scene where I kill my wife in an airport bathroom. Ace, the actress playing my wife, really threw herself into it and we ended up with an awesome physical struggle.
I also got to drown an actress under a rain gutter in the simulated pouring rain. She was also such a tremendous sport, laying on the ground in the mud under a pouring rain gutter while I sat on her holding her under as we were getting drenched by rain hoses.
Zoë also continues to amaze me with her performance and talent. My scenes with her are so much fun as I get to play an entirely different side of the character that's much more sincere and human. Of course I also get to do all kinds of interesting and disturbing things to her character, too.
I'm sure there's much more but as I said I've been working day and night, many times on very little sleep and very little food (and that mostly being junk food snacks on set). This movie has been a microcosm of the dream I've been chasing for as long as I can remember. Let's hope it's only the beginning.
Then there's this morning when I stumbled in at 6:45 a.m. after a party...
"Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's is one of the most absolutely perfect songs I've ever heard. Simple, sparse yet full of as much pure emotion and soul as a song can be. I can't stop listening to it even though it makes me want to cry every listen.
Larry and I were talking to Zoe, our co-star in the movie about doing some project together before she moves to New York to become rich and famous and forget us little people. We didn't really have anything written that we could fit her in to, so we started talking about another idea we'd had for a while but not done anything with. We immediately thought it would be a great project to do with her before she goes. This was at around 7:00 p.m. last night. In 24 hours, we'd written all three segments and recorded the jingles to go along with them. Zoe even contributed the female vocals to the jingle.
For your (hopeful) enjoyment:
Sal Monella jingle #1
Sal Monella skit #1
Doing this movie has been one of the coolest experiences of my life so far. It's the closest I've ever come to living the life that's been in my head for as long as I can remember. It feels right. Living at the Ranch Studios while filming has also added a strange summer-camp-like feel to it all. Being away from home, going through this experience, meeting all these incredible people, and playing a very intense and twisted person has somehow turned up my emotional sensitivity. I find that everything I feel at the moment, I feel very deeply.
I've been very introspective and pensive. Sometimes alone and yet somehow reveling in it. I've written before about how, often in my life, I've felt a general disconnect with the world at large, like I'm some kind of alien and just not quite the same as the rest of the world. There's been some of that and yet also some very wonderful moments of connection. Sometimes this heightened sensitivity is invigorating and other times it brings a certain melancholy.
When I was much younger I always thought that if I got a "real job" besides acting or music that it would be either as a psychologist or a psychiatrist. I have a very analytical brain and I'm always analyzing motivations, actions and emotions trying to decipher the hidden code. I'm usually pretty damn good at it too. I think I have a pretty good understanding of of it all but sometimes there is still "magic" that I can't quite reverse engineer. Part of me is endlessly frustrated by things I can't figure out but I guess it's always fun to have more mysteries to investigate too. I'm just bursting with a million things inside me right now. Interesting times.
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I finally have a moment to breathe and update here. I've been working pretty solidly since Friday on the new feature film that Larry and I are in, "Deadly Obsession". I rode out with Larry Friday night thinking that I would be going back home since I had to film on "Henchmen" on Saturday. Then I got a call from the "Henchmen" director telling me that he was doing some rescheduling so I was free Saturday. "Deadly Obsession" used this to their advantage to schedule some of my scenes on Saturday. So far it's just been me and Larry staying in the guest house. Since I had planned to go home, I didn't really come prepared but luckily the Grr came and visited me on set and brought me some essential supplies. She happened to be there at the right time to watch me have my kissing scene in bed with my on screen wife.
Continue reading ""Deadly Obsession" update"