The meeting between 2gether and another band in the truck stop had been a fly in the ointment since day one and we just couldn’t find a band who could get in synch with what we were trying to acheive or even 98% as excited as we were about the movie. Then QT came up with a germ of an idea that led to the replacement scene that finally landed on our desks on Thursday night. The answer, of course, was right under our noses all the time: 2gether needed to bump into Woah! All credit must go to Maggie who had singed her right ear off with the cell-phone talking to half of New York so we get the new scene approved.
In the corner of the Bannerman Convention Centre we had built a truck stop and we rehearsed the new scene over and over trying to get ten actors to hit their marks in the tiny space we had allowed ourselves. Swimming upstream against the holiday vibe that had pervaded the set Kev, Marc and I struggled to get everyone to focus and it wasn’t going that well then, suddenly on take 3, it gelled. Everyone got it and all we had to do was get the coverage.
At about 8pm the camera was shooting a bunch of stills of Buss with the Johnson Five, the Fifth Unit and 2 Cool 4 Skool. For the final time I yelled “Check The Gate” and it was all over. I hugged Marc who has become a firm friend and blubbed like a child.
As the day had progressed little packages started appearing on my desk – gifts from the crew and cast and every gesture moved me beyond words. The Wrap Party was a fine ending to our little adventure – everyone got a present and we all danced to QT’s latest CD and raved like crazy to 2gether (the song). Having staggered from my bed at 6am to go to work I couldn’t believe I was still frugging at 3am. Within hours our party will be separated forever. Some of us will be journeying to Europe some are going to Mexico (not Tony still recovering in hospital) and Abraham, who first guided me to every location, will not be going to Venezuela as planned because of the terrible flooding there and must find a new destination for his Christmas break. I feel for him as he had been looking forward to the trip for months.
As I soaked in the bath before the wrap party I remembered a quote from Robert Bolt the screenwriter who wrote Lawrence Of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, A Man For All Seasons and Ryan’s Duaghter. He said “At a pinch all directors without exception think in all sincerity that if they put their minds to it they could write, act, design and photograph the film better than their actual colleagues.” At times I have been very guilty of that attitude, and today was no exception, but the truth of the matter is that any filmic undertaking is a team event and everybody deserves equal credit for completing the film on time and, as far as I know, on budget.
Unsung Heroes Of The Set Part Eight: The Editors. While we’ve been doing the glamorous bit up here in Vancouver Johnathan and his crew have been cutting away in a small room in Hollywood. Everyday a new batch of rushes has arrived in the office down there and one of his assistants has worked through the night inputting the footage into the Avid so that Johnathan can come in in the morning and start viewing and cutting. I’ll be sitting beside him on Monday morning and we’ll see what it looks like – I can’t wait. Principal Photography is over – we’re now officially in Post Production.