Lights, Camera, Awesome

The first day of filming was March 10, which was coincidentally my mother's birthday. I wish I had an exciting anecdote about the first day, but it went relatively smoothly. We shot a few scenes in and outside of Michael's apartment building (the college dorm and hotel room scenes), and at the beach.

Not only was this my first time producing a movie, this was my first time on an actual movie "set". I was amazed at how many times Michael had the actors repeat each scene, in so many different ways. He had an incredible way of using analogy to guide the actors into the right emotion. Instant of saying "Be more irritated," he would say something like, "Try that line again. This time, make it sound like you're missing the auction end for beanie babies because of these people right here who want to rent a car." He was always excited, and made it seem like this was a grand fun game we were all playing. Mike worked harder than anyone else on set, because he was involved in every detail of every angle of every single scene, and all our days were twelve hours or longer. He never complained, and was as good-humored and enthusiastic at the end of the day as he was at the beginning.

Likewise, Justin (our DP) and Jared (our sound engineer) worked tirelessly, scene after scene, take after take. The quality of their work was unbeatable, and their good humor helped create a fun atmosphere.

In the evening, we relocated to a small strip of beach off Pacific Coast Highway. These scenes involved the VW bus, which I had driven up from Riverside County. I hadn't driven a clutch in years, and this one had no power brakes and no power steering. Pete, the owner, had given me a list of rules: "The gas gauge doesn't work, so make sure you don't run out of gas. The odometer doesn't work, so make sure you don't speed. The passenger door can only be opened from the outside. The seatbelts don't work." And, as I found out, every time I shifted, the top of my hand scraped against the underside of the dash. This was definitely our most temperamental star. Later that night, as Craig was driving it home (I elected to drive the RV home), the clutch went out. Fortunately, Craig used to be a hippie in Santa Cruz, so he knew how to drive a VW bus with a broken clutch.

I asked myself several times that day why I was bothering with this dinosaur of a vehicle. To me, it was really just an over-sentimentalized tin can. But ... this VW bus attracted more attention than a beautiful girl in a bikini. It represented a piece of retro pop art that you could drive around and sleep in. Who needs power brakes and power steering? I was asked by many a young man, over the course of filming, how much a car like that cost. (Answer: over $10,000, running or not.) Hey girls, you wanna attract cute guys? Get a VW bus, park it at the beach, and hang out in front of it. Better yet - act like you're having a problem starting the engine. No guy can resist this challenge. But I digress.

It was just before sunset when we got to the beach, which allowed us to spend a few hours shooting both morning and nighttime scenes. It was here that I realized we could ask Mac to do just about anything, and he would do it. Mac, can you play the guitar? Sure. Mac, can you wear just your underwear for this scene? Sure. Mac, can you pour a gallon of water over your head? Sure. Five more times? Sure.

Let me be the first to put this in print - he is going to be the next Brad Pitt.

Craig had splurged and bought a laptop mac with Final Cut Pro, in order for Justin to offload footage from his camera. At the end of the day, I got to see the first set of dailies. The first scene I watched was the one in which Shore and Jorge are walking down the street, discussing the mysterious mute girl who lives in the cemetery. I'd never seen magic before, but here it was. Mac and Mario were incredible - they literally became Shore and Jorge. They nailed the dynamic and rapport of the unlikely friendship that formed the backbone of the story. Any doubts I had about the wisdom of making this movie went out the window. This movie was going to be awesome.