5/4/24
Newsletter #595
Why is this a story anyway? Because I remember it as a story.
The first day of shooting on Lunatics: A Love Story was what’s called a Day/Night or split. Generally, you would schedule a split so that you’re shooting from noon until midnight, giving you twelve hours, and depending on where and when you are – L.A.; Auckland, New Zealand; Sofia, Bulgaria – you’ll have a certain amount of both day and night shooting conditions. You could also schedule from 3:00 PM to 3:00 AM, but that’s inevitably miserable. If you schedule 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM you’re shooting nights and it’s difficult to turn the schedule back around to days.
Anyway . . . We were shooting out on the streets of Pontiac, Michigan (where they used to make Pontiac automobiles). I found out later this was the first day on a movie set ever for Keegan Micheal Key of Key & Peele (I saw a clip of him saying, “My first film was some weird, low-budget movie in Pontiac, Michigan, called Lunatics”). In any case, in the movie the lead girl (Deborah Foreman) gets lost in the city, finding herself in the dark on an empty city street. Then, out of the shadows, a street gang appears to menace her. A gang made up of tough-looking young men of any race – it was a fully inclusive, multi-national, “Hollywood,” gang. The lead was a tough-looking guy who you’d think was Latino, but was actually Native American, named George Aguilar, who went on to have an actual career in movies and TV. But George was a local guy, and, like Keegan Michael Key, Lunatics was his very first gig.
This was back in 1989. Lunatics: A Love Story was my second feature film, and my first to be shot on 35mm. I actually had a real, though small, movie crew, including all of the attendant equipment that goes along with it, particularly on location at night. This was our first night shoot, and it was a big deal with a lot of people, lights, stands, trucks and all kinds of shit. We had it all under control, me and the producer, Bruce Campbell, and the 1st AD, John Cameron, but it was the biggest production I’d ever caused. Amidst all of this hubbub of activity, George Aguilar, ready to go in his costume as the lead gang member, pulled me aside with an extremely serious expression. He had several pages of yellow notes that he gave to me. George said, “I’ve rewritten all of my lines.”
Well, of all of the many things that I might possibly hear, good or bad, at that moment, that was about the last thing on the list. I said, “Have you now.” He said, “Yeah, now they’re much more realistic. And believable.” I folded his pages, put them in my pocket, said, “Excuse me,” and split as fast as possible. I had many other shots to shoot before that scene, I’d deal with that later.
Hours later I shot the scene in question exactly as I wrote it, and it came off pretty well. George did what he was told, and delivered my lines with verve, and to my satisfaction. I forgot about his rewrite entirely. But at the end of the shoot, late in the night, as we were wrapping out, George came up to me with a sad, hurt expression and said, “You didn’t even look at them.” I took them out of my shirt pocket and handed them back to him. “No, I was way too busy. And actors don’t get to rewrite their lines, particularly when the director is the writer.” He said, “They don’t?” I said, “No, they don’t.” He nodded, put the folded pieces of paper in his pocket and walked away.
It's a silly moment, but there it is.
Well, thank you, Emmanuelle, I appreciate it. That was a terrific scene on the couch with Ted and Debbie. Unlike any other movie I ever worked on, I had a week of rehearsal. Wait, I'm going to use this as the newsletter . . .
I wanted to see the film again after reading your newsletter and it was awesome !
It’s all mixed emotions. I laughed even in awful situations like when Nancy saves the plant and then “tries” to save the dog. Horrible ! I have a dog and I usually hate when animals die in movies, but in that case, I found it funny. Nancy's got a big heart but she brings back luck and thinks she responsible for everything (the dog, her grand-mother's death). She can be so touching. I'm thinking about the scene where she almost gets attacked. Honestly, she almost made me cry.
As for Ted, I have to say he always impresses me. I saw him in few movies and TV shows and he always cracks me up! Extreme situations suit him. Intense acting. Hank goes through a lot in the movie. His brain is really messing with him.
Those moments when they're both at Hank's and they get to know each other, it’s all going well until everything goes wrong... He starts being delusional, she slaps him and he punches her...the crazy sequence!
In the end, I went through a whole range of emotions, from laughter to sadness, compassion, confusion and even fear (I jumped once or twice because of Bruce). The musical atmosphere was really good too. So if you wanna avoid a nervous meltdown, you should all watch that movie ! 😊
Thank you Josh, I had a great time watching it again!