Since I was still running a business full-time, EVERYTHING on this movie had to be done on weekends, even casting and pre-production. I recruited Marcus Eakers and Dave Curd, two local artists whose work I really respect, and they worked with Leah on production design. Leah is an outstanding artist & designer in her own right, and this small group began generating some incredible designs. Some of them would have been impossible to pull off on our budget, but we started with the really cool stuff and scaled back to a level we could actually afford. Meanwhile, I was meeting with Shogo to discuss the shooting style of the film and planning an audition. Our audition ended up being held on Memorial Day, which definitely cut down on the turn-out -- but the space was available for free that day so we took it. When casting this movie, a major consideration was whether or not I felt the actor or actress had the passion and determination to stay with the production over a long period of time. That became the deciding factor in some of my casting choices and it turned out I was a pretty good judge of character. What follows are a few pre-production journal entries...
JUNE 02, 2004
Auditions on saturday went well. A little overwhelming. But I could cast from who I saw if I needed to. A lot of very talented people. Actually I was impressed with the caliber of talent, especially the people who came in from unusual places (i.e. people we found through the internet, flyers, vox ad, etc.)
Now is the really hard work. Narrowing it down. Figuring out which actors look right together. Figuring out who will really have the commitment to last out the summer. The real hard part is knowing that people will be disappointed when the don't get the part they really want. but... there will be future projects. things have a way of working out. Can't worry about that at this point.
We got more painting done on the interior of the house - rooms we are going to use as sets. The place already feels a lot better. We are trying to make lots of open space. A place that fosters creativity.
Here is a Jack Kirby inspired rendering of some of the Sex Machine action! Art by the fabulous Dave Curd (who I am trying to rope into being a part of our production design crew). Make sure to check out Daves web site.
JUNE 06, 2004
I've had about a week to look at headshots and think over how we are actually going to cast this project. It's really like putting together the pieces of a puzzle. They all have to work together. The problem right now is that people are kind of scattered for different summer things. I want to get all my leading contenders together in a room and do a reading.
Some of my choices are fairly unconventional and will surely prove not to be popular with some of the core people involved with this project. That being said, I'm pretty excited. I've delivered a couple of full scripts and had some further meetings with the actors involved... warned them of the commitment level required, etc.
So if everybody jibes, we will make an actual announcement and get some photos taken for promo purposes which I will of course post here.
JUNE 10, 2004
1. Went to just about every bowling alley in town and there's jut no comparison. 66 Bowl is the only place to shoot this flick. I just love that place. We went by and talked to the owner who is just one of those truly nice guys. We don't have anything in writing yet, but gave us the verbal okay. Awesome.
2. Also, the art department at U.C.O. is on board as far as us using their life drawing class room and one of their art galleries. They were exceedingly nice and helpful as well.
Met with two actors yesterday and was very impressed with both of them.
3. Tyler sent me fight breakdowns yesterday. He has developed a fighting style that fits each character and is very much in sync with the film. Very impressed with these as well.
4. Met with Amy today about doing some conceptual production design sketches. She's very talented so it's cool to have her on board, particularly for the very difficult last sequence.
5. John is back in town and ready to roll. He's coming over on Saturday to read with a few of our potential actors. this is when we will really be able to tell who is right and wrong for the different roles.
JUNE 12, 2004
1. Callback auditions with several actors. K---- is awesome, but the more I think about it, the more I feel like I need to cast her as Zoe. Ultimately it's about doing the right thing for both the movie and the actor. She could pull off Claire, i have no doubts. But I think she would really shine as Zoe and bring that role to life. John is already doing a great job reading as Frank.
2. Tyler came over to work on the fight moves with John. I'm increasingly impressed with this guy. The moves he worked out were very cool, very fluid, very interesting. And John picked them up very quickly.
3. Shogo and I edited about four scenes for CLOUD SYMPHONY including a complicated dialogue scene that took a long time. Editing conversations in a language you don't understand is harder than it might seem at first.
4. Dave Curd came over with tattoo designs and two big bottles of rum. As always, the Queen soundtrack for Flash Gordon came up in conversation which led to the Tenacious D concert being played.
JUNE 17, 2004
I cast the two female leads yesterday. Add these two girls to John as Frank and we have a strong core cast.
It's really starting to come together. When you see actors actually bringing the lines to life, it is very exciting.
I'm in love with this movie.
Next: Production