week 5

TUESDAY JULY 28, 1998, Shooting Day 17 of 16

Today, I realized that I hate Jackson. The first thing he did was bitch about money, and he went on for about twenty minutes. It seems that the check I gave him last week has had no effect.

Jackson continued to cry and whine all day.

I’ve noticed that when there is a problem (slow or inexperienced crew, lack of lights, food is late, any problem at all) Jackson intensifies the problem by ten fold with his attitude and constant bitching and moaning. For that kind of attitude, I hate him.

Jackson wants more money, he complains about rent, etc. He’s been paid $3000 for 17 shooting days, and even if you count all the days in between and add two weeks for pre-production (8 weeks total), he still is earning $375/week. That nearly more than what I was earning working as an iron working five days a week in the hot Texas sun. At least he’s getting paid, everyone else is making great sacrifices to make this film and they aren’t getting paid at all up front. People like Tony, Kurtis, Gonzo, Richard, Shannon, Daniel, Troy, Sandy, Jerry and the entire god damn cast.

Jackson sat on his ass all night, trying to scam on the make up lady, Candy.

We wasted half an hour trying to find a glare on the camera while Jackass was hitting on Candy. He was of no help, finally, Tom found it and Jackass didn’t lift a finger to help.

I definitely do not like this prick..

Re-shot squibs, gunfire. Ted got a big ass bruise on his thigh from the squib.

We shot the car crash with the Man. Randy spit blood on the camera. It was pretty cool

I shot Lupe, Paco, and Toe’s scene where they do coke and first meet. We had to shoot it in masters since the sun was coming up and we didn’t have time for the coverage. Maybe if Jackson was helping us shoot the film today instead of trying to get laid then we might have had the opportunity to get some good coverage.

Barna might be right when he suggested that we buy Jackson a five dollar crack-ho to suck his dick so he can bust a nut and concentrate on the film again.

FRIDAY JULY 31, 1998

Rob told me that his AC is broke, so we’re in for a hot one tomorrow.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 1998, Shooting Day 18 of 16

Today we shot most of the interiors. We will need to be inside tomorrow, but it shouldn’t bee too long, I hope.

We shot the scene where Floyd and David are buying weed. They were both great. Very natural. I caught Floyd sneaking a look at the camera, but other than that, they were perfect.

We also shot the scene where T-bone is buying a bag of weed. It worked well also.

Next was the Burtis and Toe scene. They played well off one another. There was good chemistry. I might just run the scene in a master, but I did get a few close ups and cutaways for safeties sake.

The slo-mo weed buying montage with the crew went well too. We burned a lot of film on that. We might have to use the 500 speed stuff for some exteriors and it might not match too well. We shall see.

Rob had his air conditioner fixed, it was blowing, but not cold air.

We shot a great fight scene with Steve, Paul, and Luis. Steve is perfect as a fighter. He would hit Paul’s chin hair and then blindly kick Luis in the stomach. Every time he kicked, he would barely touch Luis’s stomach. He never hit Luis enough to hurt him, just enough to look real. Frankie Sanches, the stunt coordinator who always wants to add explosions, cable someone or add gunshots to every scene (he loves his work), tied a rope to Luis’s belt and yanked him back when Steve kicked him. It looks great.

SUNDAY AUGUST 2, 1998, Shooting Day 19 of 16

We finished the interiors at TOE’S HOUSE by midnight, no too bad, I guess.

We shot all required shots that see Rob’s house, so hopefully, we do not have to return.

Rob’s landlord, Skip Smith, wants $500 extortion cash for letting us film there. He said nothing about it until the air conditioner broke and he was stuck with a $600 repair bill. Both I and Rob suspect that he wants to recoup his loss on the AC.

Filmed Toe throwing Bo out the window. That was a pretty fun scene, since I’m Bo. We also filmed Toe shoving Bo into the bed of the truck.

The scene where Mic, Trav and Toe were loading out their equipment was pretty funny up. Toe and Mic were running around like chickens with their heads cut off as Trav was meticulously packing up his guitar.

Shot Paco busting ass on whippet canister and Paco and Jarvis entering the house

Shot the scene where Paco and Ned are in the van as it pulls up to Toe’s house. Paco running out and Ned shooting him with giant flaming spitwad. Ned opens door and bashes Paco’s head.

We need to pick up some stuff inside Paco’s van with Ned. We didn’t have time to film Ned loading the giant flaming spitwad. I’m sure the scene wont make sense without that information, we need to film it. I also think we need to pick up some other stuff, diopter things, effects shots, inside Toe’s truck and a small scene with the Man on the phone. I forgot to get the scene where Toe meets Jarvis’s truck outside to buy a bag of weed.

Wrapped at 6AM, took Kurtis home. Dylan’s truck had an extremely low tire, so I pulled into 7-11 to put some air in it. Of course, two cop cars pull up in front of the air compressor, and this truck is beyond illegal. It’s completely smashed up and has no registration sticker. So I parked away from the cops and went in to buy a drink. The cops followed me in and while we were inside, Kurtis drove the truck to the compressor. Before the pigs could finish buying their donuts, I was back outside with a full tire and back on the road.

MONDAY AUGUST 3, 1998, Shooting Day 20 of 16

Shot the tit/Tourette scene at Continental Club, used Richard McIntosh’s 3mm wide angle attachment on the Beaulieu 5008, it looks pretty bad ass. We had fourteen breasts on the bar: Amy Monger, Tracy (Rob’s girlfriend) Kirsten Hagger (Jackson kept calling her Kristen), Shannon Valderaz, Cori Hubbard, Colette (a titty dancer that Steve Gurvich brought), and Alycia Howell. Steve did good, he seems to be a natural at scamming on chicks. Amy was great, as the girl Stu was picking up, she has a really high pitched voice, like a mouse. Scott Pate was the Tourettes dude and he was a goofball about it, he started geeking out after each scene, but before the camera shut off, and people were cracking up.

Kurtis stuck the boom pole in an antique ceiling fan and broke the blade that cost 100 bucks to fix. I hope the check doesn’t bounce.

Filmed Witchbanger playing their song. I used the zoom lens and the 500ASA film.

Steve Gurvich brought a camera that he said he would give me to the set, it turns out to be a Bolex with a zoom and a wide angle lens. I didn’t have time to check it out, but it needs cleaning. Steve said he would send it off to be cleaned and then give it to me. Steve thinks that there is film in the camera and it’s either some Kennedy footage that his dad had (Steve’s father did something with the investigation of the assassination) or there is footage of a Clydesdale shitting on a little girl’s head. Either way, it’s a win-win situation.

Watched Jet Set Zydeco, Kurtis and Amorette’s swampbilly band. Jerry Clark, Rob Gasper (who works the door), Paul Wright, Richard McIntosh, Randy Felton, Gonzo Gonzales, Chad Holt, Jim Isaacs, Steve Gurvich, Mike G., Travis Lacy, Amy Monger (who works as a waitress), Jackson, Barna, Steve Benson, Bridgett, Chicken, and a lot of other folks who helped out on the film as cast or crew showed up and we all hung out and bull shitted.

Some girl-rock band from New York called Sit and Spin played. Paul Wright got up on stage for the last song and sang along with the band. Afterwards, the girls, Gonzo, Richard, Jason, Toe, Randy, and Paul went down to Deep Eddy and swam, Paul, Gonzo, and Jason in the nude. Some of them went on to Randy’s house and drank and crashed out.

Barna brought the last of the donated beer that Lone Star gave us and we sat around the back of the Continental and pounded beer. Everyone took turns bitching about Jackson.

Speaking of Jackson, we were talking about how things went and how the crew hung in there. Jackson was saying that they hung in there because they were well treated. Jackson was the biggest jerk in Texas while on the set. I couldn’t believe he said that.