2005 - Saturday, April 9th – Let’s Get Retarded:
I woke up at 5am to look over our outline and flesh it out a bit so I could send it to our cast/crew/composer by 7am. I had to be in the North End at 8am to meet Rosemary and Brandi. Lukas (imposter), Ben (cop/interviewer), and Amanda (Adult J. Withers) would be there at 9 so we wanted to have a plan of attack on these North End locations. Most opened early so we would hit them first. Our three early cast members were willing to crew as well, so they were an incredible asset to the team. Haul this, move that!
Brandi and I set out to get some establishing shots that could “double” as Italy. We ran into another team filming in the North End as we were getting an exterior café shot. That was pretty funny as they were on their way to pick up a dollie. We so couldn’t be bothered with a dollie shot. No time. Regardless, it was fun to see someone else in our predicament. A moment of recognition of what it takes to do this weekend.
We had Allesandro (J. Withers as a child) and Sharon (“Mother Withers”) scheduled for 3pm so it was go time. We went to a ton of cafes, stores, butchers, bakers, barbers and candlestick makers interviewing true Italians about the mythical J. Withers. Some were better than others, some needed intense coaching, some none. Café Graffit was my favorite. Luigi and this woman there were just incredible. As if they really knew and loved J. Withers. Completely amazing folks. They gave us some of our best footage.
We ended up behind (as usual on a shoot) so we eventually split into 2 teams. Rosemary, Brandi, and Jefferson went and continued the mock interviews while I met Lukas, Ben, Amanda, and Sharon down near an alley in the North End to film the imposter scenes. Amanda wrangled up about 10 high school kids from Rochester, NY to be an audience for Lukas’ arrest and it was go time. Ben bounced Lukas off trash cans, barrels, and eventually slammed him into an iron gate, smooshing his face through the bars as I shot hand-held. It was a blast. Lukas was screaming lines about how he was bigger than “The Corey’s” and how he gave a kidney to a fan. It was hysterical. Great footage!
But the best moment of the day came right after this shot as I hear Amanda laughing and yelling for help. I turn around and the only thing I see is COOCH! She is naked from the waist down trying to cover her girl parts with her hand but she’s laughing so hard nothing is happening. Lil Jenn is like “what the hell!” and I don’t know what’s going on. Lukas, Ben and Sharon are in tears as I reach down and pull up her pants. It was quite possibly the funniest thing I’ve seen in years. The residents of the North End got quite the treat that afternoon. How often does a woman flash her cooch and ass to the masses in that neighborhood? Genius!
I pushed Tallie and Lorraine (American Fan Club Presidents) to 7pm – meeting at my house which cleared us to get the money shot of the day… J. Withers arriving to throngs of fans in a cherry red Ferrari! Allesandro was in a suit looking sly. Mother Withers was in her best Joan Crawford gear and the sun was about to hide from the street. We gathered as many tourists as possible and sent Allesandro around the corner to hop into Guy’s Ferrari. Guy owns a shot in the North End, great guy. We amassed a crowd of at least 50 people. It was incredible! Roll! The Ferrari comes up the street and the crowd starts chanting “J… J… J… J… J…” we drew a bigger crowd with the Ferrari and the screaming. People must have thought it was a real celebrity because they just came running. Picture a 10 year old boy with people screaming for him, girls asking for autographs and giving him flowers. It was a surreal sight for everyone!
Everyone left besides Rosemary, Brandi, Sharon, Allesandro and myself because we had one more restaurateur to interview to get in the can before going back to my house for dinner and a couple shots.
By the time we were leaving Pino’s restaurant, I was nauseous. All I had eaten was an breakfast sandwich and a slice of tiramisu. I was not feeling so hot when we got in the car for the 3 mile ride to my house. Car sickness kicked in and by the time I walked up my steps and into my house I was done.
Jon had made baked ziti and bread for us. We ate and had about an hour before the Fan Club girls would descend on my house. Rest… Must Rest. Brandi went up and laid down. I put my head back and just sat there for a good twenty minutes, relaxing and concentrating on not throwing up. Eventually my tummy and head came back to earth, the doorbell rang and it was time for Round 2 or is it 12?
Again we split up. One team upstairs filming J. and Mother Withers flashback scenes in our bathroom and then outside. The other filming the Fan Club girls. Those two girls were cracking me up. It was a very competitive best friend relationship. Each girl wore a J. Withers shirt that Jon had made. One had a hug photo of J. and it said “I “Heart” J!” the other had a picture of J. and it said “Free J. Withers” as she believed the imposter that was arrested recently was the “real” J. I just let them go, we had a photo album full of pictures and posters. A framed pic on the fireplace mantle was used at one point. They were a blast. Finally we were ready for our final location and our final shoot!
10:30pm we hit Rosemary’s office across from Boston Common. It’s a great space and we were using the modern reception area for the “televised” talk show reveal. Typical 3 camera set-up using only two cameras. It was pretty fast and smooth. Jon created a book with a photo we took earlier in the day. It was the J. Withers tell all sure to be a best seller titled “I’m Not Really Like This” and it had adult female J holding a publicity photo of herself as a boy at age 6. Great cover, great title. We wrapped shooting at 11:30pm and not a minute too soon. I was ready to be done with the day and we were all getting punchy. Jon met us outside with my Mac and he took some of my equipment home as it was now editing time and we were off to Rosemary’s to hunker down and pray for daylight.
Brandi and I set out to get some establishing shots that could “double” as Italy. We ran into another team filming in the North End as we were getting an exterior café shot. That was pretty funny as they were on their way to pick up a dollie. We so couldn’t be bothered with a dollie shot. No time. Regardless, it was fun to see someone else in our predicament. A moment of recognition of what it takes to do this weekend.
We had Allesandro (J. Withers as a child) and Sharon (“Mother Withers”) scheduled for 3pm so it was go time. We went to a ton of cafes, stores, butchers, bakers, barbers and candlestick makers interviewing true Italians about the mythical J. Withers. Some were better than others, some needed intense coaching, some none. Café Graffit was my favorite. Luigi and this woman there were just incredible. As if they really knew and loved J. Withers. Completely amazing folks. They gave us some of our best footage.
We ended up behind (as usual on a shoot) so we eventually split into 2 teams. Rosemary, Brandi, and Jefferson went and continued the mock interviews while I met Lukas, Ben, Amanda, and Sharon down near an alley in the North End to film the imposter scenes. Amanda wrangled up about 10 high school kids from Rochester, NY to be an audience for Lukas’ arrest and it was go time. Ben bounced Lukas off trash cans, barrels, and eventually slammed him into an iron gate, smooshing his face through the bars as I shot hand-held. It was a blast. Lukas was screaming lines about how he was bigger than “The Corey’s” and how he gave a kidney to a fan. It was hysterical. Great footage!
But the best moment of the day came right after this shot as I hear Amanda laughing and yelling for help. I turn around and the only thing I see is COOCH! She is naked from the waist down trying to cover her girl parts with her hand but she’s laughing so hard nothing is happening. Lil Jenn is like “what the hell!” and I don’t know what’s going on. Lukas, Ben and Sharon are in tears as I reach down and pull up her pants. It was quite possibly the funniest thing I’ve seen in years. The residents of the North End got quite the treat that afternoon. How often does a woman flash her cooch and ass to the masses in that neighborhood? Genius!
I pushed Tallie and Lorraine (American Fan Club Presidents) to 7pm – meeting at my house which cleared us to get the money shot of the day… J. Withers arriving to throngs of fans in a cherry red Ferrari! Allesandro was in a suit looking sly. Mother Withers was in her best Joan Crawford gear and the sun was about to hide from the street. We gathered as many tourists as possible and sent Allesandro around the corner to hop into Guy’s Ferrari. Guy owns a shot in the North End, great guy. We amassed a crowd of at least 50 people. It was incredible! Roll! The Ferrari comes up the street and the crowd starts chanting “J… J… J… J… J…” we drew a bigger crowd with the Ferrari and the screaming. People must have thought it was a real celebrity because they just came running. Picture a 10 year old boy with people screaming for him, girls asking for autographs and giving him flowers. It was a surreal sight for everyone!
Everyone left besides Rosemary, Brandi, Sharon, Allesandro and myself because we had one more restaurateur to interview to get in the can before going back to my house for dinner and a couple shots.
By the time we were leaving Pino’s restaurant, I was nauseous. All I had eaten was an breakfast sandwich and a slice of tiramisu. I was not feeling so hot when we got in the car for the 3 mile ride to my house. Car sickness kicked in and by the time I walked up my steps and into my house I was done.
Jon had made baked ziti and bread for us. We ate and had about an hour before the Fan Club girls would descend on my house. Rest… Must Rest. Brandi went up and laid down. I put my head back and just sat there for a good twenty minutes, relaxing and concentrating on not throwing up. Eventually my tummy and head came back to earth, the doorbell rang and it was time for Round 2 or is it 12?
Again we split up. One team upstairs filming J. and Mother Withers flashback scenes in our bathroom and then outside. The other filming the Fan Club girls. Those two girls were cracking me up. It was a very competitive best friend relationship. Each girl wore a J. Withers shirt that Jon had made. One had a hug photo of J. and it said “I “Heart” J!” the other had a picture of J. and it said “Free J. Withers” as she believed the imposter that was arrested recently was the “real” J. I just let them go, we had a photo album full of pictures and posters. A framed pic on the fireplace mantle was used at one point. They were a blast. Finally we were ready for our final location and our final shoot!
10:30pm we hit Rosemary’s office across from Boston Common. It’s a great space and we were using the modern reception area for the “televised” talk show reveal. Typical 3 camera set-up using only two cameras. It was pretty fast and smooth. Jon created a book with a photo we took earlier in the day. It was the J. Withers tell all sure to be a best seller titled “I’m Not Really Like This” and it had adult female J holding a publicity photo of herself as a boy at age 6. Great cover, great title. We wrapped shooting at 11:30pm and not a minute too soon. I was ready to be done with the day and we were all getting punchy. Jon met us outside with my Mac and he took some of my equipment home as it was now editing time and we were off to Rosemary’s to hunker down and pray for daylight.
posted by duckyxdale at 7:13 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home