DAY 1: PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY
by Russell Johnson
We arrive on set at 8:30 a.m. Shooting begins at around 9:30. The set is a rundown apartment building in an old house and except for a few minor set-up differences between our set and the Pulp Fiction scene we are spoofing, the first master shot gets off with out much difficulty. We've got prop burgers that had been purchased from Wendy's approximately 12 to 14 hours earlier and amazingly they are holding up fairly well. (Rent the documentary Super Size Me and you'll understand why.) We shoot the master in about 4 to 5 takes and one of the most masterful acting jobs comes from Jared Durban who mimics the death of Roger (aka Flock of Seagulls) flawlessly. Although I can't say enough about the overall acting performances from all of our actors. The Stormtroopers have the toughest task at hand being that they must mimic the Jules and Vincent characters without ever seeing their faces or hearing their voices. Marvin became the hardest to cast. I called and actor in Louisville at 7 am that morning to see if he would come down (about a hour drive) and do the part. He was up for it but I ended up taking him out of it. It was not my intention to do so but I felt guilty for him about to make a huge effort for such a small part. Got to work on that part of my conscious or I have no future in Hollywood, but I might make a good Project Greenlight director. They have proven in the past, no spine required. So, by the time we start shooting a kid who shows up to watch who is a mutual friend of a production manager we've worked with in the past gets the role. Marvin is now a Catholic school white kid. We figure we can fix it in post but we have to give him credit, the kid stepped up and pulled it off so we'll keep him as is.
The first series of shots gets wrapped up around 1:30. Lunch arrives. 6 pizzas, 3 pepperoni, 3 cheese. No meat Friday for the Catholics and lent observers on set plus it's easy on the production budget. We hit the reverses about an hour later. We had already used 3 of the six now nearly 20 hour old hamburgers with the table throw. Two complete burgers left. One for a close-up insert, one that needs a bite taken out. I volunteer and pray that I wouldn't regret it. Thankfully no major bathroom brakes needed at least as of this writing. Now you're probably pondering how a Stormtrooper eats a burger without removing his helmet. All I can say about that is pure comedy!
The rest of the shoot goes off without any major problems. Harold Littrell plays the Brett character and he pulled it off as only a pro could do. Hard to do considering a Stormtrooper is in his face saying he tried to fuck Darth Vader not easy to do without losing it. Finally we get to Justin Durban who plays the guy who busts out of the bathroom screaming "Die motherfuckers!" We all nearly pissed ourselves with laughter. The he takes the ultimate bump by pulling off the same blow back from getting blasted by the Stormtroopers as in the original Pulp Fiction scene. Watch that shot in Pulp Fiction in slow motion and you can see how funny that shit really is. Once again taking one for the team.
We wrap around 5:30 and have shot 12 pages of a script. Once again the motto rings true, "we don't fuck around." We head back to the offices to watch the tapes and everyone agrees that we got what we needed. I personally felt we got all that and got even better performances, coverage and footage than I had even been hoping for. Great day of filming! So, I drag myself home around 7:30 just in time to watch Duke go down to Michigan State. Not a bad day, not a bad day at all!
We arrive on set at 8:30 a.m. Shooting begins at around 9:30. The set is a rundown apartment building in an old house and except for a few minor set-up differences between our set and the Pulp Fiction scene we are spoofing, the first master shot gets off with out much difficulty. We've got prop burgers that had been purchased from Wendy's approximately 12 to 14 hours earlier and amazingly they are holding up fairly well. (Rent the documentary Super Size Me and you'll understand why.) We shoot the master in about 4 to 5 takes and one of the most masterful acting jobs comes from Jared Durban who mimics the death of Roger (aka Flock of Seagulls) flawlessly. Although I can't say enough about the overall acting performances from all of our actors. The Stormtroopers have the toughest task at hand being that they must mimic the Jules and Vincent characters without ever seeing their faces or hearing their voices. Marvin became the hardest to cast. I called and actor in Louisville at 7 am that morning to see if he would come down (about a hour drive) and do the part. He was up for it but I ended up taking him out of it. It was not my intention to do so but I felt guilty for him about to make a huge effort for such a small part. Got to work on that part of my conscious or I have no future in Hollywood, but I might make a good Project Greenlight director. They have proven in the past, no spine required. So, by the time we start shooting a kid who shows up to watch who is a mutual friend of a production manager we've worked with in the past gets the role. Marvin is now a Catholic school white kid. We figure we can fix it in post but we have to give him credit, the kid stepped up and pulled it off so we'll keep him as is.
The first series of shots gets wrapped up around 1:30. Lunch arrives. 6 pizzas, 3 pepperoni, 3 cheese. No meat Friday for the Catholics and lent observers on set plus it's easy on the production budget. We hit the reverses about an hour later. We had already used 3 of the six now nearly 20 hour old hamburgers with the table throw. Two complete burgers left. One for a close-up insert, one that needs a bite taken out. I volunteer and pray that I wouldn't regret it. Thankfully no major bathroom brakes needed at least as of this writing. Now you're probably pondering how a Stormtrooper eats a burger without removing his helmet. All I can say about that is pure comedy!
The rest of the shoot goes off without any major problems. Harold Littrell plays the Brett character and he pulled it off as only a pro could do. Hard to do considering a Stormtrooper is in his face saying he tried to fuck Darth Vader not easy to do without losing it. Finally we get to Justin Durban who plays the guy who busts out of the bathroom screaming "Die motherfuckers!" We all nearly pissed ourselves with laughter. The he takes the ultimate bump by pulling off the same blow back from getting blasted by the Stormtroopers as in the original Pulp Fiction scene. Watch that shot in Pulp Fiction in slow motion and you can see how funny that shit really is. Once again taking one for the team.
We wrap around 5:30 and have shot 12 pages of a script. Once again the motto rings true, "we don't fuck around." We head back to the offices to watch the tapes and everyone agrees that we got what we needed. I personally felt we got all that and got even better performances, coverage and footage than I had even been hoping for. Great day of filming! So, I drag myself home around 7:30 just in time to watch Duke go down to Michigan State. Not a bad day, not a bad day at all!
posted by Twenty One Productions at 5:39 AM
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