I've been woking a lot of different jobs lately. I worked a few days on this movie called "Camp Hope", a kind-of horror/religious commentary film, where I met Andrew McCarthy (of 80's Brat Pack fame) and Emmy award winner Dana Delaney, who is a really great lady, and also the newest cast member of "Desperate Housewives". It was a long drive up to ..White Plains, NY and Connecticut, where we did all of our filming, so I learned a lot of the drama that's already started to happen on the "Housewives" set. After that,I worked a couple of days on a Verizon FIOS commercial in the art department, and then I worked the last two days on "Revolutionary Road", the new film from director Sam Mendes (American Beauty) that stars Leonardo DeCaprio and Kate Winslet. Right now I just started working for the next three days on some Dutch film called "Far From Family" with the people at Gigantic Pictures, whom I worked with before on "Toe Tac Tic" and other small shoots.
So, what's the gossip from "Desperate Housewives"? Well, I'm not one that likes to dish the dirt, but I drove the main cast car up to White Plains with Andrew McCarthy and Dana Delaney, which gave the two of them plenty of time to talk, and Andrew insisted that Dana give him all the good gossip. Before I make it sound like Dana is just another actress falling into the backstabbing silliness that you hear about all the time from "Housewives", I'd just like to say that she is really a great person. We had a nice conversation before we picked up Andrew, in which she actually listened and took interest in what I had to say, which doesn't normally happen when you're driving around talent. Normally, they're so into themselves, they don't even have time to make conversation. She even jumped out of the car at Starbucks to buy her own coffee AND bought me one as well, another unheard of gesture for the PA driving the car.
Anyway...the dirt. So, it seems the lack of substance in the writing often turns the competition from the acting to shallower waters. Apparently, Dana accidentally used Marcia Cross's hairdresser, which rubbed Marcia the wrong way. In talking to the producers, she learned that officially no one had a "personal" hairdresser. Although, after the producer she talked to went and checked up on the situation, she was told to not push the hairdresser issue. Apparently, Marcia Cross has been through ten of them already. Aside from that, there was some other typical drama. Dana was doing a scene with another actress (I don't remember who...sorry) and Dana went ahead and did her coverage first. The director said to do the scene real light and airy, so she did. When the other actress did her singles, suddenly there was crying and a whole other layer that wasn't there before. I guess with a new Emmy award winning actress on, everyone's feeling the pressure to up their game, even by sneaky means. But, hey, it's no "China Beach".
On that "Extra!" show last Thursday there was a bit of a mix-up. They claimed "Revolutionary Road" had wrapped up just as I was started to work on the last two days of shooting. They were probably confused by the fact that they had the wrap party Wednesday night so that everyone could go. Needless to say, I missed the wrap party. Leo had already finished his part, but Kate Winslet worked on that Thursday, so I got to see her a little bit. Then I was out in the wet and the cold (60 degrees in the middle of summer?!?) on Friday as we shot some scenes set in the 1930's that were a flashback of the young version of Kate's character. I guess I can't tell you too much since I signed one of those confidentiality agreements. I also signed one for the couple of days I worked on "You Don't Mess With the Zohan", a new Adam Sandler film. But that's all I can tell you...ok, fine. There was a stunt and a limo was involved. That's all you get.
So, that brings me to today. As I type this, I'm sitting with my laptop at Eastern Effects (a grip and lighting house), waiting for the G/E guys to load the truck I'm driving up to Rockland county tomorrow. I don't know much about the film: only that I'll be Key PA on it for the two day shoot. We shoot all day tomorrow, then we stay in a hotel for the night and shoot all night Friday night, coming back to the city early Saturday morning.
Other than that, I've been working on finishing up Episode 6 of Pothedz Couch, which I finally set a release date for - Friday August 24th!!! The only thing left to do is add some music under a couple of sections, which hopefully my friend, Sam George, will have ready for me soon. I'm really excited about this episode, which, while shorter, is a lot better paced and packed with fun and cool stuff. It's proabably the best one since episode 2.
Well, that's all I got for now. Until next time....
