Kevin Article:)

http://www.latinheat.com/spotlight-news/kevin-alejandro-on-his-role-in-lucifer-and-directing/

Day 6, Hot on the Mat and a Jib Shot!

We were in the crawlspace again this morning - this time for an actual scene, not only voice-over recording. The crawlspace in our 1993-era house is a well-insulated 4’ by 10’ room, beautifully dressed by the Art Department to contain the detritus of our lead character, Charles’, entire lifetime. We dive deep into the Jungian mysteries of Charles' subconcious with this visual metaphor of the memories and feelings that he has squirreled away in the closet of his mind. In the scene, the utterly astonishing Ashley Zukerman, our Charles, does a deep soulful dive into the character’s past. AND, he manages to do it crammed into a small hot box with a big camera, a boom mic, our D.P., and our boom operator, Taylor Delph. Talk about talent! The glorious Kevin Alejandro arrived on set today for his ONE scene. I always love working with Kevin, whom discerning Geeks and Neil Gaiman fans know as Detective Dan Espinoza on "Lucifer". Kevin stars in our movie, "West of Redemption", which, to Larry's and my joy, will be coming out very soon! Kevin is a wonderful actor, which I why I was over the moon that he was willing to come up from LA for just ONE DAY to be in this movie. In "West of Redemption" he plays a tortured, soulful, returning veteran. But, today, he played a hunky Aikido master who delivers one of the key messages our lead characters need to hear. And we all had much fun! A Sound Moment: at 5pm today, the sound gremlins attacked. In the space of one two-minute shot, the intense summer heat fried a crew member's cell phone, and it called one of her contacts, on speaker, during a take. How often does that happen? As soon as she managed to turn it off, a neighborhood dog began howling. (A very large neighborhood dog, by the sound of it.) Not to be out-done, ALL the other neighborhood dogs began howling in response. There was a plane, a helicopter, and briefly, a garbage truck, as well, adding to the symphony. Thankfully, the shot was an insert of hands. No lines, just hands writing. Someone was watching out for us today for sure. And...we shot the end of the movie today. We still have four weeks of filming, but, today, we got to the end. It’s unusual to shoot the end first, but it’s really great for us. We are editing as we go on this one, and having shot the end, we know where we are headed. It will help guide all our choices. Today we also got to do our one, glorious, jib shot. If you ever watch the movie, you will know which one it is *grin* Hotness!! Our brilliant, stunning, and huge-hearted female lead Sarah Shahi rehearsing a stunt on the mat with Alex Terzieff, our Stunt Coordinator. (Everyone loves Alex, he is the best of the best, and we feel very very grateful to have him with us:) And a shot of me directing Kieran Walton, our "Cody" and Ashley Zukerman, our astonishing male lead, and Randy Suhr, our First A.D. Alex Terzieff, and Yours Truly, and Kevin Alejandro, in a gi, learning his stunt on the mat. And Shawn Shelton, Special Effects Makeup Supervisor, and Carol Roscoe, the star of our movie "The Dark Horse", and, unbelievably, my assistant on this one. I am so very lucky. And Carlos...what can I say, it was hot...

Day 5...A VERY Long, Good Day

Day 5: We had a beautiful, very long day, culminating in the Burning of Papers...I shall not tell you which papers for fear of SPOILERS :) Our male lead worked...and worked ...and worked in every scene. It must have been quite exhausting, but he never ever showed it, or complained. He is not only absolutely brilliant, a thinker, and a very hard and uncomplaining worker, he is also a mensch. Our lovely, smart, warm-hearted, and funny female lead absolutely shone in her scenes. I may need to just write that every day, because she is such a godsend to this movie... Some of the pictured crew are Camera Department folk. The grinning woman is Alisa Tyrrill, our D.P. The guy with the lens cap in his mouth is Ryan Brown, 1st A.C. - he who designed our monitor Mints Display. The Bearded Wonder is Mike Astle, our Gaffer. And in the back is Niall James, the Tall and Mighty Key Grip. The MoVi operator had to chase after our male lead up and down stairs at the end of the day...and did it brilliantly. The pretty lady with the lovely Astle child in her lap is Nancy Leonardi, our Lead Hair of Awesomeness. Our little indie feature, like every indie feature, lives and dies on the creative abilities of the entire cast and crew. Every day, we have hundreds of small questions, problems, and processes to be answered, solved and created. We put in months (and in Larry's and my case, 5 years or so...) of planning. But, sometimes, when humans plan, the angels laugh. A day you are supposed to shoot a garden party, the sky opens up with rain. Or, weather strands an actor in Boston due to flooding and flight delays and you must recast on the night before the scene will be filmed (thank God we got a great actor due to quick thinking by our incredible casting directors!)! We all have to stay on our toes. We have to be opportunistic problem-solvers, always on the look-out for solutions. Additionally, we all have to look out for ways to be efficient, economical, and elegant with our resources - cause we’re a little indie film. This morning, our excellent sound guy, Bob Marts, came to me with a great suggestion. Let me give you some context: we have some voice-overs that we need to record while our fabulous stars are in Seattle filming. But, every day we are on set filming, so of course there’s no time to go into a recording studio. A problem in need of a solution. Well, Bob solved it. Turns out, the crawlspace of the house that we are using for a scene also has marvelous acoustics. (Thank you insulation!) So, four of us, Carli Plute, our Boom Operator, Script Supervisor Andy Spletzer, our female lead, and I, trooped down to the crawlspace and jammed into our impromptu recording studio, and knocking out several crucial different voice-overs in a very few minutes. Efficient, economical, and elegant. Go Bob! And then there is Vicky Berglund-Davenport, our utterly brilliant Locations Manager. A genius at this incredibly-hard job. When you don’t have a big studio budget to build a sound stage to order, production relies on Locations to discover and secure just the right space to place the story. It was a special challenge to find all of our locations within a few miles of each other. The location that proved the toughest nut to crack was the home that would be the setting for the Marlow family in 1962. After many many....mannnnyyy weeks of scouting, and after trying out over ten different houses, Vicky found just the right spot. How does she do it? “I look at the outsides of houses and try to imagine the inside based on the outside. Then, I get some help from the Office of Film and Music, contact the resident, and ask.” Finding one house that fulfilled all the needs of our story was an epic search. But, our 1962 house has been found! I love the floors, the colors, the little bedroom that will house our young lead. The kitchen retains exactly the period look we need. The garden, ragged and overgrown, helps to tell the story of this family beset with larger concerns that pruning and weeding. We had been sweating bullets on this one, so today we are all filled with relief! And when we feel joy on set, we do have a 30-second Dance Party. 1962 has been saved, people! Get your groove on!

Day 4; Verrrrry loooong wonderful day!

Nuns! Bread! Corrie tears flowing joyously! SO many tears, because I was so very moved by the beauty of what our leads did, that I was kind of a mush-puddle at wrap (also, we JUST made the day:) and so I forgot to do the usual "Picture Wrap" ceremony for a very favorite human being that I have been privileged to work with for four precious days...serious DOH!!! God bless her, she said she forgave me, but it was very not cool of me. My only excuse is that I was quite emotional from the beauty of what she had majorly helped create. A very good day. Here are Alisa Tyrrill; my DP, and Mike Astle; my Gaffer, being amazing.

Day Three was Warm..Very Warm...

And yet we all drank enough water to not just survive, but thrive, through garage sales, and nuns in vans, and glorious benedictions. So very very grateful for all my friends, old and new, on this show. Halleluia indeed! Pictured: Gerard Parr and Ron Leamon, Our Set Tree, John Lowrie and Lisa B. Hammond, Shawn Shelton and Andy Spletzer, and Leslie Law, the Rockin' Nun.

Day Two was absolutely glorious!

Day Two was absolutely glorious. Our brilliant, talented, and very genial crew filmed many wondrous actors, in several large group scenes, many of whom I have worked with before, and ALL of whom I respect and adore. Especially the two that were my offspring. Here are a beloved few:

Day One Rocked!

A few morning glitches and "first day delays" were easily overcome by this crackerjack crew, and we sailed through the afternoon, feeling very blessed and upheld. I really do have the "A Team" on this one, in every department, and certainly with the cast. Before we rolled, we heard from Kate Becker, from the Office of Film and Music, and from Chris Compte, our SAG rep, and at lunch we heard from Niall James and Lisa B. Hammond of IATSE. Before we rolled, we had a few moments of quiet gratitude. My heart was very full as we pulled off the first shot. It has been many years since Larry and I first had the idea to approach Stephanie Kallos for the rights to the astonishingly-lovely novel that I based the screenplay on. Many. Years. And many attempts to get the money, and the crew and cast, together. I rejoice in 29 more days of beauty ahead of us! And now I think I will fall over in exhaustion... ( Pics: Tallis' hands by the slate as he kindly played an extra for us today; Rachel Thomson, our Production Designer; Justin Vinall, our Key Set PA, with me; and the Bill Johns Orderly Hunk Squad :) So. Very. Grateful.