An easy day: 120 extras, 4 contestants, one moderator, a bunch of cheerleaders, a couple of stunts and five fat-man outfits. A piece of cake…well almost but it was certainly a bit crumbly at first. Doug was brilliant: “It makes me a Heathen,” he sang over and over as the show fell to pieces around him. QT lapsed into his coma about 27 times (perhaps Jerry told him about last night’s kissing scene) and Chad took fall after fall – never once leaving his fat-man outfit. Come to think of it he’s taken a bashing these last few days – the wet-suit and now the fat-man thing…and we haven’t got to the speedo scene yet!
At the end a kind gent called Randy Thompson, who’d been one of our extras, gave me a copy of his book “A Journey.” At first glance it appears to be a description of his passage through many difficulties to a place of self awareness and peace. He writes: “Change is sometimes hard for people. Whatever is familiar is more comfortable even if that familiar is unhealthy. People are usually reluctant to change. They don’t know how it will come out. They don’t know what will happen. Fear of the unknown. But change is necessary for growth. Without it we stagnate.” Amen to that Randy.
Film-making, like any group endeavor, is often made by a million small kindnesses and thoughts coming 2gether. As I knock on wood I feel that making this film is an experience that is changing my life irrevocably and I feel blessed to be sharing my time here with so many good souls.