Got everyone to arrive a little earlier. John Horrigan had a hockey game to announce by 1 pm, so we blew through scene 126, Irene has her surprise Mr. Williamson gift blow up in her face. We finished on time and I dragged everyone down to the deli. I keep taunting the cast and crew that the generous portions that are served at the Brothers Deli Restaurant & Pub, 446 Rantoul Street, Beverly, MA (my plug) will be replaced by sandwiches and stale coffee on the set. (Ya gotta get yer "digs" in whenever possible.) :-)

We finished off the rest of Martin Hanley (Mr. Williamson) by shooting scene 127, Dan notices the smut on John's computer and implies that he's fired after the big meeting. I wasn't sure what I was going to show on Johns computers for this sequence. I wanted something perverse that would certainly offend, but not something that would give me an "X" rating. (If I ever even GOT to the point of getting a rating.) Johnny suggested his good ol' "pressed boobs.mov" quicktime. The original video was of a woman pressing her naked breasts against a sheet of glass and dragging them around, forming "interesting" designs against this transparent wall. It was also shot in 3D with a lens prism splitter. (Obviously needed to get the FULL effect.) John had created a "mono" version for regular viewing pleasure. This footage was almost 10 years old, and had made the rounds on the Internet as a small quicktime movie, so who knew that it would be coming in handy at this point in time!

Then we did Sparky.

I can only hope that he comes off as funny as he appeared to be on the set. I can't believe I have such a find. He is EXACTLY what I envisioned when I wrote the part. He actually seemed PROUD to show off his enormous belly, which just friggin' cracked everyone up. Near the end of the scene, Mr. Disgusting (Sparky) asks for a bathroom and Amanda tries to give him a strong hint that HE SHOULD LEAVE. The scene was to end there as scripted, but there happened to BE a bathroom right behind him, so we added the extra turn and glance at the end. (A Sparky trademark.) Absolutely beautiful!

 

Cast in hallway	Low angle Dan	Sparky & Dan	Sparky Eats
Eric & Juliet	Flying Dan	John, Dan & screen	Twin sound guys
Eric w. camera	Sparky's T-shirt	Scene 27 LS

 

Sunday, March 12, 2000 - Dan's revenge

I wanted to shoot all of Dan's office sequences today. Did most of them with the exception of Chip's hiring sequence. (Phil was out sick.) Robin came by to help today, even though she wasn't in any scenes. I'm very touched by the effort and commitment that everyone is putting into this project, seeing that there is a very great possibility that one one will ever get paid. (You know how these indie films are.) I'm just amazed. Christ, I wouldn't want to work on anyone else's project, I've done too many where they have failed and nothing became of it. (AND it wasn't very pleasant on the set.) As I said before, I'm glad that everyone is enjoying themselves with this experience, because that was the only thing that I promised.

I used a large poster behind Dan titled "Don't copy that floppy!" It was put out by Apple probably 15 years ago to help thwart software piracy at the time. (Who uses floppies now fa' chrissakes!) I saw it on a wall at the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston and just HAD to have it. Why? I thought it was a big hoot seeing this thing on a wall, vainly hoping to instill GUILT in the students who could never AFFORD the software in the first place. I thought it was the perfect exclamation point behind Dan character. I also wanted something in the office which makes it easily recognizable in the Irene/Rob SIMULATED blow job sequence which appears in the big presentation at the end.

Dans office LS	Dan & Eric	Dan the boss	Eric lookin at script
Geoff, John & Robin	Kabuki Dan	Robin & Eric	Robin, Geoff & Karen
Robin in flight	Spank me Danny!	Scene 65

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