This is how Houdini died...

...although apparently we don't have any photographic evidence. Sorry, Mike, I screwed this one up. And I think I just got your Tin Cup reference.

Patrick freed himself of his acting obligations today.
Shortest shoot ever in his bathroom.
The bounty hunter van wrapped its scenes.
Unfortunately, its brake light sticks sometimes and the battery died.
While simultaneously Mike's phone battery died in solidarity?
That really tied the evening together.
Did I mention the Celtics lost?

From the new summer collection


Alas, poor Yuri

From the publishing world

Noted political author Karen Miller gets a little bit of airtime in the movie. For those of you who aren't familiar with her work, here are a few samples.

We have helmets!

The Weekend

Chucky Lightyear

Imagine it's 12:30 at night and you need a title for your blog post. You're also thinking about how hard it is to invent character names on the spot, which we had to do twice this weekend. All of a sudden, you wish you had thought of "Chucky Lightyear" sooner. Not that we would have used it or anything.

This post is starting well.

Today we finished up at the Rendezvous, and they were again very helpful and friendly. We went through the various elements of the fight sequence and I think Connie went home in one piece, as did I. Here she is preparing. I'm anxious to see the footage, because once she got warmed up she brought out the mean look which was really quite impressive.



We also took care of General Branson's backstage forays, seen here in a less fruitful moment.


After finishing the club sequences, we got a break. Sort of anyway, since Susan and I crossed the great water to pick up the bounty hunter van. Then we picked up again for the external club sequences. These were Demone's last scenes on the film, so it will be weird that he's not coming around anymore. Most people come out for a weekend, but he has been there really since the beginning.




We ended up being slightly rushed since the security guy was locking up. We probably could have stayed, but the Parks folks have been so nice to us we didn't want to hassle them. We got what we needed but we had to just toss gear into cars and haul out of there. Mike stayed behind to blow up the bridge to make sure we got clear. Thanks, Mike.

Finally, I wanted to share something that Scot sent me in response to my last blog posting. It's another moment of candor from Captain Picard, and it's quite extraordinary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg_cwI1Xj4M&feature=related
It uses a bit of an old joke, but the details of the writing really make it into something worthwhile, along with the impeccable craftsmanship of Herr Stewart. The other guy plays it well too.

Last one for tonight

Just a quick update on today's proceedings.

We struggled working out details on this location, but the Jewelbox were able to come through big time and get us what we needed. We worked through all the club scenes that accompany the fight, which we're shooting tomorrow. I want to give a special thanks to everyone who came out today to be audience members. We could not have completed the scene without your help.

Here are a couple shots from today.

Talking shop


The VIP

There are four lights

You can say whatever you like about the original Star Trek versus The Next Generation, but the original does not have this scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_eSwq1ewsU

You can have a lot of things going for you, but without Picard's dedication to simple honesty, you're at a disadvantage.

Though we can't ever hope to top perfection, we nevertheless had our own torture scene to deal with last weekend.

It's interesting to work with Mike since he is the kind of actor who when we started this project forced me to sign a form that said we wouldn't go soft on him. As a result, I think everyone else on set had a bit of a party that day, what with the clubbing, the chemicals, the gigantic terrifying needles, the leaping from rooftop to rooftop etc. Whereas Mike had more of a suffering thing going on.

Who could tell by looking at him though?

Trouble in the electrically-shielded saferooms of unlicensed government oversight specialists

Last Saturday we shot Jim and Ted's visit to Mark's place. Mark does research.


This lady also made a visit.


Unfortunately, this wasn't a very good weekend for Mike. First the electrodes, then death, and finally the torture on Sunday.

Biggest thanx ever...
goes to Justin M for arranging our location for this shoot, encouraging his housemates to support the independent moviemaking revolution that happened in their home.

Behind again

On the blog. By more than a week. I forget who it was, probably Thomas Jefferson or John Adams or someone like that, but they once wrote a friend a letter and apologized saying "sorry to write such a long letter, but I didn't have time to write a short one". It's really that way with blog posts for me. If I've ever written a decent post then it took me forever. I'm sure there are bloggers who can just pop off whatever is in the head and come up with pithy little posts. If so, I hate them.

So I'll run back through what we've been up to fairly quickly. We started early this morning, so I'm anxious to go back to bed.

The Tuesday prior to last weekend we shot scenes with our resident tobacco expert. I prepped his secure compound on Monday evening, but despite my efforts, he was apparently not amused.


Lots of wonderful props mysteriously appeared at this shoot. I believe Cat may have had something to do with it, but I'm not asking too many questions.