The HPJ Trilogy Production Blog, “Have Faith, Will Travel” Day II: Stairway to Heaven, Funnybook Fun Time, and Roadside Rabblerousing

PREVIOUSLY ON THE MAD ONES FILMS “EVERYTHING BUT A BLOG”…
“For a first day, it went fantastically and phenomenally well. Two scenes down, 23 more to go… hallelujah! But rather than let the man and his stupid math get me down (where’s your metrics system now you Orwellian wanker? Oh yeah, everywhere else in the world but here…), instead I re-convened my Cinderella cast and my motley crew at El Mariachi later that evening for levity, libations, and of course, live mariachi music!”

AND NOW… THE HAIR-PULLING, NAME-CALLING, PANTY-DROPPING, NIP-SLIPPING, SINFULLY STUNNING CONCLUSION TO THE LATEST “CHOOSE YOUR OWN” MAD ONES FILMS ADVENTURE!!!

If the early bird gets the worm then the late bird gets to sleep off the katzenjammer cloud of a Mariachi hangover, then fly over to Area 51, which was also serving as our 2nd floor underground lair for the next two days due to its immediate proximity to our locations.

So while we got started filming the last scene of the film first, a lovely little exchange between star-crossed lovers in a stairway to heaven, or at the very least Faith, the rest of the MOF inmates relaxed in our state-of-the-commedia dell’arte green room – which was technically the front yard, the sidewalk and the #4 flat inside. We wrapped the stairwell scene, graciously filmed at Re:Cycles, and proceed to make the long trek to the next location – all the way up the stairs and next door. Christy Johnson, the sultry sexy siren playing Faith then proceeds to razzle and dazzle the fanboys at Parts Unknown into a near nerdgasm with her real live girl parts, before absconding with “El Jefe” and running away like a steel-toed girl on a Saturday night looking for the taco of her life.

After a brief break for the shoveling of food into gobs and the washing of libations down gullets, I gathered the second wave of HPJ crusaders for the roadside rabblerousing portion of the evening’s filming. Personally and professionally I was tits-excited as all get out because it meant the chance to once again work with Todd Fisher (a talent of unlimited depth and the only ancestral actor left from the primordial 48 Hour HPJ). It also gave me the opportunity to direct the lovely and luxurious lass Lea Beighley, who had never acted for me before, and the dashing devil Gavin Glass, who had never acted for anyone before!

So there we are, shooting street-side at one of the busier intersections, and outside of one of the rowdier bars, in all of Greensborodom. Now one of the bombshell beauties of making indie films is that it often sometimes means doing things slightly less than completely official, and perchance, legal. Therefore we can’t afford to block off city streets, clear out public areas, or pay police to police – our only real security being an Assistant Director with an impressively intimidating physical stature and a manic Director with a chip on his tattooed shoulder the size of Pangea. Needless to say, such mercy at so many different public x factors means that damn near every juiced-up jackass, drunken delinquent, or passed-over prom queen will invariably want to stagger into the scene for their close-up… or offer moral support in their best outdoor bellow/scream/wail/shriek.

However, the gods of film were indeed smiling upon us, for we were able to get the long laundry list of shots that I wanted, lit almost the way that Senor Chao wanted, shot the way that Jesse and Mikey wanted. Todd, Lea & Gavin performed far beyond my expectations and continued to do so all weekend. With filming wrapping just after midnight, and just before the heavens opened up and washed away all the day’s sins, a cheers and a toast danced in the weary cast & crew heads, all snug as bugs in rugs, asleep in their beds.

TUNE IN TOMORROW TRUE BELIEVERS FOR PART III OF THE HPJ III PRODUCTION BLOG… now filmed live in front of a studio audience.

Holy Hells & Hallelujah!

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