BEHIND THE SCENES: THE A-TEAM

This entry was posted on 12/19/2006 5:56 PM and is filed under production.

Over the weekend at the Scottish Rite Temple, we went all out, pushing the production value through the roof with a beautifully huge location, fully automatic gunfire, over a thousand blanks fired, dust and blood hit FX and stunts - and if that wasn't enough, Lionel drives a Dodge Charger R/T Daytona Hemi for a get-away car (one of only 1000 "Top Banana" editions ever built).

The Hemi is owned and driven by Stunt Driver Scott Olsen, who we just met in traffic on Broadway only hours before this night's filming. I was complaining to my Producer Gabriele Andres that we really needed a Dodge Charger for this film when Scott drove right past us. "That's it! Right there! That's the car!", I shouted at Gabi so we pulled up next to him and waved like maniacs. Scott and Gabi exchanged cell phone numbers, explaining we wanted to put the car in the movie. Scott showed up at call time for some breathtaking scenes where he stands-in as Lionel when he arrives and makes his escape from Victor's stronghold in the Hemi, which we filmed at the Masonic Temple Grand Hall. That car is everything it's cracked up to be - you can pull a few G's in acceleration. Scott did all of the stunt driving, racing through downtown like a cruise missile.

Inside the Masonic Temple, it's fomally called the Scottish Rite Temple, we filmed some of our most exciting scenes yet with Stunt Coordinator Robert Linden's stunt crew of Gerren Ard, Tyler Steffenson, Dominque Borrego, Sam Doane and Armando Franco.

Kris Blume and Adam Oller, the owners and operators of American Defense Industries brought in the automatic firepower for this evening's filming and supervised its safe operation as well as operating the blood and dust hit FX. They don't normally do gun work on movies because American Defense Industries is in the business of manufacturing specialized weapons for elite units of the U.S. Armed Forces and other government acronym entities that civilians can't even dream of buying. It was just a very lucky break for us that we got to enjoy top level weapon experts to bring in and handle the kind of firepower you only see in the most expensive movies made in Hollywood. On a personal note, I learned that Kris Blume served with the United States Marine Corps in Kosova, sacrificing some of his own blood there to get an important job done. Because I'm the son of a Kosovar myself, I count myself especially fortunate to get to work with them. They're family, just like the rest of the cast and crew who consistently meet the challenges of guerrilla filmmaking on an unprecedented scale. I've gotten to know and work with so many great people on this movie, it's just staggering.

Visiting Director Dan Smith and his business partner and wife, Heather Smith were on set this night to back us up and help expedite this complex production night. Dan loaned us the use of his Canon XL-2 as a "B" camera for the night which was an unexpected luxury that helped double up our scene coverage, helping us record some of the biggest and most ambitious scenes ever filmed in Tucson by anyone - ever.

My Cast and Crew rose to this challenge with amazing professionalism and were always geared up to move as we banged our way through a shot list that few in Hollywood could ever dream of keeping up with. In just six hours, we recorded six major scenes that involved extremely close-quarter automatic gunfire, multiple stunts and multiple effects with several angles of coverage for each shot using two cameras. By the end of the evening, we had fired over 1200 blanks without a stoppage, launched over 50 dust and blood hits with over a dozen stunts involving more than a dozen Actors and half a dozen stunt people, each wearing FX makeup and prosthetics applied by Makeup FX Supervisor Frank Guerra and FX Makeup Artist Danny Hernandez in the makeup room. How many locations come with their own makeup room with makeup chairs and stations? That's part of what made filming at the Scottish Rite Temple such a great experience.

It's true, if you want to be the best, you have to work with the best - and my people are some of the best in the business. I worked on many B-films in Los Angeles and I know firsthand that what my people accomplished this night was truly a feat of fantastic coordination and keen decisiveness displayed by everyone from the top down. The makeup work, the gun work, the effects work, the stunt work was all on the mark, ready exactly on time and good to go on a moment's notice.

My Assistant Director Paul Adkins not only supervised the weapons safety tonight, he also supervised the movement of the production from one shot to the next, keeping the camera coordinated with the gun work, with the stunts while making sure the layers of safety worked to protect all of our people, so there was no standing around time for anyone involved in the shots being filmed. We might have blown through shot after shot but at no time did Paul allow the safety of our people to ever be compromised. And that ethic flowed from the top down from Paul.

My Producer, Gabriele Andres didn't just sit back and enjoy the spectacle either, Gabi was flying as a producer, pitching in as everything from production assistant, to costuming, to gun moll, loading 1700 rounds of blank ammunition onto ten round stripper clips so all of the Armorers could inspect the ammunition ten rounds at a time before efficiently loading the clips into the magazines. Whatever it took to get through this marathon night, she got it done - Gabi rocked!

I have no doubt that the main reason why our production has been so successful is the caliber of people I'm so fortunate to work with on this show. No one working on Mary Shelley's THE LAST MAN has any other attitude except "just tell me when and where" and "how big do you want to go". Everyone, especially me, highly respects everyone on the team because they have all earned their respect, including the Actors who put their complete confidence and trust for their personal safety into the members of our Crew. I've never seen this degree of collaboration between Cast and Crew on any picture before so I realize how lucky I am to be working with them all. They're the A-Team you call when you need it done right the first time. What we all seem to have in common is that we're all determined to do our best because they're hungry and ambitious young people with something to prove to the world. And they have dozens of times over.

This isn't just empty bragging about my people, in just one weekend, they set new records in independent film. My Cast and Crew have already outdone pictures that cost millions, working with nothing but ingenuity, guts and coffee. That's why I might be the Director but I have to respond to them all very respectfully with "Yes sir" when they ask me anything because my people command respect. Here are some behind the scenes photos:

 

Actress Vernice Robles-Barker taking direction from James Arnett.

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