The film is a horror film, but Brian and Chris (O'Brien--the director) are much more interested in subtelty. It's not a slasher flick and it's not a Blair-Witch-wannabe. This is their first film (though they've worked in smaller capacity on other projects), but I probably wouldn't have assumed that if they hadn't told us. I've heard the name of Hitchcock invoked as their inspiration and they seem to be doing a lot right. Won't know for sure until I see some footage. For all I know casting me was their first mistake.

We started work on "Fork in the Road" on Friday night. We started sometime between nine and ten o'clock and those of us who stayed until the end (namely me, the crew, and a few actors who didn't want to go to sleep just yet, the crazy fools) packed up the set around six o'clock. I can't remember staying up so late at least since college. We had the traditional indie film setbacks. We blew a fuse, we ran out of extension chords, we ran the batteries and tapes out, barely making it to the end. The stuff you read about.

I headed back on Saturday because I wasn't needed Saturday night or Sunday as many of the other actors were. On my way out of the location though, the radio announced a Tornado Watch for its entire listening area. I tried to call and warn them. But they were all sleeping and I only reached voicemail. Hope the rest of the shoot went off okay.

I have two more days of filming coming up ahead. Turns out I like the technical aspects of filmwork as a nice additonal challenge to what I associate with stagework. Don't know exactly what I'm doing, but I like it. I like the cast and crew and, aside from the long nights, I can't think of any negative aspects of this experience. The waiting around hasn't started bothering me yet. Three of the actors, including me, have only acted on stage before. The others have all done filmwork, and I believe they've all worked on Dawson's Creek--as an extra or as an actor with lines. It was shot only a few hours away, in Wilmington, so I guess it makes sense that they used a lot of local talent. Chris told me it was such a dominant part of the North Carolina filming industry that he saw it on practically every actor headshot he looked at.

Jerry, the soundguy, suggested we write a song together for the film since there's no way we could afford source-music. That's more my element, so we'll see how it goes. I'll bring my guitar next weekend and maybe it'll be even more fun.

Now that we know what we're doing.

Filed under Acting, Carrboro Area, Journal, Vanity Smurf

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