Iraqi
Even though I’d hauled over half of the stuff over the day before, I was still loaded down when I set out on Sunday morning for Peshawar, where we were shooting the Iraqi cafe scene with Dean, Gary, Eval and Fuad. I bought some danbing and doujiang for breakfast, knocked on the door to wake up the owner, who had slept there the night before, and then sat in the park along Shida Road eating while she got up and did whatever it is girls do after they get up.
Paul, Dean, and Darrell were along shortly after I finished up, so we went in and started setting up as the other actors arrived. We picked out a tablecloth for Eval to wrap herself up in, and then proceeded to the easier master shot photography. Then I got some other angles. Gary was having a hard time remembering his lines, possibly due to some miscommunication between us, so we put him in sunglasses and held the script just out of shot for him to read.
The poisoning went really well. Gary did a great choking noise, and Eval’s cool waitress/assassin act went without a hitch. I might have to get some more pickup shots later in case I find gaps, but I think it should be ok. Gary told me I have a very calming effect, while Dean said he felt the opposite was true. I guess it’s all about perspective.
We had to work fast as Dave and Robyn were coming to set up for the radio play at 3. I was a bit reluctant to break for lunch, but I can’t really ask people to go all day without food, especially if I’m not paying anyone.
We saved the most difficult shot, the Dead Monkey shot, for last. This involved Paul and Sandy, who had arrrived for the radio show by that point, up on ladders holding a mirror against the ceiling while I, also on a short ladder, filmed the reflection of the ceiling fan and the dead Eatherly underneath it. It took several tries, but I think we got it. Or at least we got something we might be able to use. We’ll see how much post work it needs.
By that time, however, the radio play crew were bustling about and getting in the way. Fair enough, as I’d said we’d be done by 3, but we were running out of time. I had to go into Rude Vile Pig Mode for a moment to get everyone out of the way for the last shot of Dean running to the kitchen door with his gun. We didn’t get the shot of Fuad dead in the kitchen, but we can do that elsewhere just fine. Just to make sure I could cut the two together, I changed it so that the door to the kitchen was locked, so Dean could effectively burst through into another room more easiler if the environments were too different.
In other news, Darrell spotted a good place to film our Washington scene, possibly even better than the church. I will have to check it out tomorrow night. I’m eager to get more of our main actors in front of the camera, and next weekend’s looking good.
