It’s dawning on me that it’s nearly all over and I’m heartsick. I’ve never seen so many happy faces on a set and a party mood has taken a hold of all of us – I’ve tried manfully to keep myself concentrated all day but it’s been hard and like the cast and crew I’m feeling light headed – Robert and Troy were wearing funny hats today and I wished I had one too. Sensing our joy the sun came out and stayed out all day – and it NEVER rained once.
We finally got to shoot Jerry and Buss driving to New York as we wrapped tonight. This scene has been hanging over us for two weeks – an unfinished piece that we tried to slot in a number of times. Some kind man in Vancouver loaned us his car as the Buss-mobile and he has been expecting it back for days. Finally the Cadillac will make its way back home. Today was also the last day the Indian was around in all its glory. It is being de-commisioned and returned to the dealer we rented it from. Some innocent couple will purchase it and take it on a trip across the country unawares of the hours of fun and drama that took place inside its walls. I can see the sign now: “For Sale, Winnebago 90,000 miles, Good runner, star of MTV movie 2gether!”
Unsung Heroes Of The Set Part Seven: the Art Dogs. They build us sets before we arrive and can’t break them down till we wrap. They are expected to miraculously come up with dressing to cover up walls that Marc and I don’t like the look of, produce tiny props at a moments notice from Buss’s rolodex to bras and teddy bears that will be thrown at the stage. My ideas are always bigger than their budget and I could make their lives easier if only I could make up my mind. They are the first to be blamed and the last to be thanked and yet I can’t ever remember working with an art department person who didn’t have a smile on his / her face. They often have to stay up all through the night covered in paint. More than once in my life I have found the art department behind the set curled up like babies in paint-spattered overalls fast asleep on a stone cold floor, spent with exhaustion, just to make my reel look good. Is that selfless or what?