Return to Home Page

   

BRAZIL PRODUCTION - Week Six/Principle Photography Week 2

April 30, 2001 - Mon - Today we were off.  I enjoyed sleeping in, listening to the sounds of the ocean just outside my room.  For a while today I was really homesick and wished Kelley could be here.  I called and she said I sounded very sad.  With the pressures of shooting and coming up on nearly a month living in Brazil and away from home, plus the fact that we are really having some wonderful experiences here it is a natural thing, I suppose.

Tonight as I was walking downstairs to get a bite to eat I saw that Rutger Hauer had arrived and was sitting by himself at the bar.  Thinking that this might be a good opportunity to introduce myself I walked up and said "hello."  Rutger invited me to sit and visit with him.  We had a long and wonderful conversation.  We talked about his home in Holland, our common love of animals and the art of filmmaking.  As the conversation turned to Rutger's previous work and he brought up "Blade Runner," one of my all-time favorite movies, I was delighted.  I had been thinking I would not bring it up as he has probably had people asking him about it incessantly for the past 20 years. To my surprise and delight Rutger admitted that he was a much a fan of the movie as anybody and loved talking about it.  He told me how he had made up his own monologue for the speech by Roy Batty (his character in "Blade Runner" and shame on you if you have never seen it) in the character's climactic scene: "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.  Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.  I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.  All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain."

With the door open I told him how much I had enjoyed his other work as well, especially "Ladyhawk" and "The Hitcher."  We also talked about cinematography - Rutger recently directed his first film, a short called "The Room."  It is amazing how much he knows about every aspect of filmmaking (or perhaps not so considering his many years in the business!).

I discovered in my conversation with him that Rutger is an enigma.  He is a very gentle, polite and soft spoken man - contrary to his often ruthless, brash on-screen personas.  He is also very intelligent and a bit eccentric ... definitely my kind of person!  I am delighted to have met him and gotten to know him a bit before we begin working together.  I know it will be a privilege to work with him and I am really looking forward to it.

May 1, 2001 - Tues - After a slow start our first week of shooting, we climbed back into the saddle today with renewed determination.  Our call time was 6am, but the delayed arrival of wardrobe held us up getting what would technically be a very simple shot.  When we did get started the day began with a bit of hand held camera work tracking Gabrielle and Mark walking out of the jungle into a clearing with Gabrielle placing a call on her cell phone.  I always enjoy operating handheld and it is made more challenging when I am walking backwards through weeds and over rocks and logs!  We wrapped the scene up with a nice dolly shot arcing around Gabrielle solo during a very dramatic and heated conversation on the phone.  I was very happy with the scene and used some low bounce light which looked very pretty on her face.  After closing out our first week with two gruelling sessions of night shooting it was a pleasure to be shooting day exteriors once again.

Next up we returned to the jeep driving shots which had been abandoned on our first day.  After rigging the car up on our Brazilian camera car a series of events took place which have me believing that this scene must be somehow cursed.  To keep the shadows from getting too dark on our actor's faces I had requested that we have some small HMI par lamps to rig to the car.  Turns out - they did not want to work.  So we did our best with what we had: bounce cards.  With the jeep rigged for shooting we began driving to the filming location.  However, we were soon dismayed to learn that the roads which had been designated for us to drive on were too steep for the camera car to negotiate while towing the jeep!  This meant we needed to immediately find different roads at another site if we were to shoot anything!  So Criag, Vince, Jeff, Sophia and I set off to look for a workable road.  We finally found a good stretch which fortunately was reasonably nearby and the tow vehicle, jeep, production support vehicles and crew all relocated to the new site so we could begin shooting.  After filming a couple of passes on a two shot of our scenes towing along the new road it was time to begin shooting the car mount coverage which would include all of Gabrielle's and Mark's closeups for dialogue in the scenes.

That's when we found out there had been a misunderstanding and our car mounts had been sent back to base camp for the original location!  While a production assistant was dispatched to retrieve the mounts we waited.  Cesinha tried to jury rig a mount to the car with clamps, straps and speed rail.  But he simply didn't have the gear to work with.  After a - remarkably - long time the car mount finally showed up.  With instruction from the tow vehicle operator, who designed and owns the custom car mount, the grips rigged it to the jeep.  Only - it just didn't work!  It was not stable and the camera shook terribly - so much that the shot could not be filmed.  Before long the sun had set to the point that there just wasn't enough light to shoot and once again our driving sequence was projected into some future TBD slot in our schedule.

Complicating my frantic and frustrating day was this.  While filming the driving stuff Ralph, who was in the chase vehicle, held onto my cell phone.  During one of our stops he came running up to me saying that Kelley had called.  I thought it was a little strange since she really had not been calling me.  She knew I was working today and Ralph seemed to think she sounded urgent.  So of course I was a bit alarmed.  As mentioned previously I have been concerned about Oopie and her medical condition.  Alternatively, I could imagine a plentitude of disconcerting scenarios involving various members of our family and friends!  Meanwhile here I was - in a jungle, on another continent 6,000 miles away!

I tried to ring Kelley back but could not get through.  After several more attempts we stopped in a place that had a signal, albeit a poor one.  I got through, but the sound kept breaking up and I could not hear most of what Kelley was saying.

Finally after we wrapped at 5:30pm, three hours later, I was sitting by the trucks in the twilight and I got through with a clear signal.  By that point I was extremely worried and asked Kelley what she had called for.  Apparently my "worried" sounded "aggravated" to her and she got upset.

She was calling to find out what the word was on her doing the set photography.  Relieved that she was not ringing me with some terrible news, I explained that I thought she had decided firmly against it.  But she said "No," actually she was waiting to hear if Criag could make a firm offer to her for the work.  I had to explain that I had misunderstood and that he had already gotten a local fellow who would be doing our stills - and today had been his first day.

Today was also the first for Vince to work with us all day.  While we remained beset by assorted turmoil, it was good to have our producer witness first hand that we were applying ourselves relentlessly to achieve all we could.  It also turned out that he is a very, very good assistant director.  It was really a pleasure to have him holding down that role for us as he did a tremendous job of coordinating and getting the various departments moving.

As a sidenote to this remarkably frustrating day I must add that at lunch I discovered I had been forgotten again - no vegetarian food!

By the conclusion of my twilight phone conversation with Kelley my mood was as dark as the sky.  Ralphie was there of course, sunny as ever: "Don't you worry, bro!  You see!  Everything's gonna be ju-u-ust fine."  While wondering whether Ralph was merely being optimistic or deluded, I realized that he was certainly right from one point of view.  My being upset was not going to improve or correct anything. Almost instantly I felt much improved.  So I went around successfully recruiting much of the crew to make an açai run with me - a pleasant finish to a most tumultuous day!

Pictures for Tuesday: Pictures - Tuesday May 1, 2001

May 2, 2001 - Wed - 6am and back to work.  We filmed at the military compound set covering the Shadow People attack and some of the ensuing conflict.  

Our first shot of the day established Gabrielle in her capacity as a television reporter and Mark Adair Rios as Raka, her cameraman.  In the same scene we also introduced the character of Scotty, played by Jason Brooks.  Scotty is a senator - also friend and possible paramour of Ann.

Then in the next setup we introduced the character of Saviour, played by actor Duncan Regehr who previously appeared in such roles a Vedek Bariel on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  Our main objective for the first part of the day was to set up all the principles and film the dialogue leading up to the conflict between the Shadow People and soldiers which will be staged and filmed later by second unit director and action specialist Pat Statham.

We closed out our filming day by shooting our first scenes with Rutger Hauer.  Rutger is a very interactive performer and asked me about how he was being lit and framed so that he could take these elements into account in his performance.  While we had intended on shooting these interior scenes in actual daylight the sun had set by the time we got around to filming them which turned out to be quite an advantage giving us a greater amount of control over the look.  I was very, very pleased with the lighting and photography in these scenes.  They are very moody and stark and I think they will complement Rutger's character, Mr. Ezekial, very well!  We wrapped at 6:45pm.

Back at the hotel we decided that an açai run was in order (of course!).  Jason Brooks and his wife Corrine, along with Ralph, Pati and Nara, our Scottish/Brazilian translator, joined the expedition to a local purveyor where we all enjoyed the frozen treat.

Before going to bed I readied my laundry to be picked up the next day and finished reading "Level 31" a fun science fiction script by Rolfe Kanefsky.

As I complete today's entry I am pleased to report that this was our best day yet and I think we have found our groove.  I'm grateful that we have such wonderful actors and for the terrific crew people I am working with.  I am really enjoying myself and realize that these people in particular are making this is a very special and unforgettable experience.

Pictures for Wednesday: Pictures - Wednesday May 2, 2001

May 3, 2001 - Thur - Ann and Raka find the Shadow People at our beautiful, picturesque Waterfall location.  Walking into the site, along a lush forested lane Cesinha remaked that our location reminded him of his house in the country.  I was very impressed to hear that he also owns a country home - and one in a place as beautiful as this.

Unfortunately our day soon bogged down with the revelation that our lead actors had been mistakenly sent to second unit.  By the time it was sorted out they arrived at our location 45 Minutes late.  Further aggravating the situation - wardrobe showed up 2 hours late because they also had been sent to second unit somehow!  While these circumstances were very annoying, I was in some way pleased that our producer Vince is still filling the shoes of AD.  When schedules fall behind it is often the Director of Photography who comes under scrutiny for it.  Having Vince beside us on the front lines is the very best way for him to see in person that we are doing our very best job and the delays are occuring in a realm completely outside our control.

In setting up our first shot I wanted to elevate the tripod off the ground.  To do this Cesinha utilized a piece of equipment that we do not have in the United States: practicavél.  I am actually rather surprised that we do not have this very handy tool.  It is a set of different sized, collapsable wooden scaffolding-like structures.  The base folds out from one flat piece over which a top fits forming a very stable base.  It comes in various sizes and can be stacked - "sort of like Legos" is how Ralph described it to me before I had actually seen it.

From this vantage point and others we shot various coverage of our heroes tearing through the jungle, stopping, looking - and running on again.  Next up was our main wide shot for the location, a beautiful reveal of Duncan Regehr's character, Savior, amidst a crowd of Shadow People warriors.  In order to achieve this all of the extras playing warriors, and Duncan, were blocked standing in a knee-deep pool of water at the base of the falls.  The bottom of the pool, however, was not perfectly even and in a few places where Jeff wanted to place extras there was a drop off of two or more feet!  So the folks who were occupying those spots wound up standing on três tabelas - or Apple boxes as they are called in the United States.  The Portuguese phrases is literally "three tables" referring to the different lengths of each side.

Once the talent were placed we needed to work in the camera.  The shot being a moving one it was decided that, rather than take time to set the dolly in the very uneven pool, I would operate hand held.  So with Kito on focus I walked through the water across assorted hills and valleys, avoiding rocks, all the time keeping my attention on operating the camera smoothly.  Fortunately everything came off perfectly and we got the shot without me even once falling in the water!

At lunch I ate at a table with Marcelo & Cesinha and we had a nice - if restricted by my limited command of Portuguese - conversation about our families.  We were seated at a table which was near a large concrete pit-type-thing which was full of water - like some kind of reservoir.  In the water fish were swimming around so I made sure to share my lunch with them to the amusement of Cesinha and Marcelo.  Noticing that some of the food floated (like bread) while other items sank (tomato), I asked the guys how to say sink and float by demonstrating with each type of projectile.  I will share my new words in the vocabulary section which ends today's installment.  Now you, too will be able to toss food in the water in Brazil and impress your companions by describing which course each type takes in Portuguese!

All in all lunch was quite nice and I am very pleased to report that there were plenty of tasty vegetarian options on the menu today.  It also may be of interest to some that since there isn't any iced tea on set (the horror!) I had a Coca Cola™ with my meal.  In Brazil it still comes in the cool Coke™ bottles you probably remember from when you were younger!

After lunch we shot a scene where Ann and Raka come running around a huge boulder.  This was the completion of the running scene we began our day with and leads up to their discovery of the Shadow People standing in the pool which we shot before lunch.  Our only obstacle (and we discovered this during the scout) was that there are no boulders anywhere at this location.  So in the spirit of good movie-making we brought our own!  It was a huge thing carved from styrofoam and painted by our art department.  It was plopped down and we filmed our shot.

Following a bit more coverage on the running and dialogue we shot some angles on Ann and Raka at various points in their trek through the jungle which will cut into another scene.  Then we wrapped up with a shot which had been planned and blocked as a spectacular reveal of our characters.  Unfortunately due to the time we lost waiting on wardrobe in the morning our beautiful light was gone, the shot had to be very much simplified and I had to push the film one stop to even get that.  Very frustrating.  It is really the worst kind of compromise when I have to lose a spectacular image due to a logistical foul up which could have been avoided.  Happily though, we made our day and we have our very impressive waterfall sequence.

It was a pleasant surprise today that craft services brought out some nice sandwiches towards the end of the day.  It was a perfect pick-me-up.  They even had some special sandwiches for me: cheese, lettuce and tomato on a little roll.  So nice!  It really made me happy.

Back at the hotel I checked my e-mail and saw where Kelley and Criag had exchanged e-mails.  Kelley told him that if the stills guy he hired on does not work out she will be available as of the 13th.  Amazing!  It would be so nice to have her here enjoying this adventure.  I am glad that there is a possibility, however remote.

Pictures for Thursday: Pictures - Thursday May 3, 2001

Float - Flutuar - (Fluh-TWAR')

Sink - Afundar - (A-Fuun-DAR')

May 4, 2001 - Fri - Early this morning, prior to leaving, I moved all of my belongings - everything - into Criag's room.  We will be roomates for the weekend.  The reason is that Marcelo's and Cesinha's families will be visiting and they want to stay at our hotel, Recanto Das Toninhas, to enjoy the beach with their families.  Criag even agreed to extend them the same discount rate that production is paying for the rooms.  Unfortunately only one room is available (you are beginning to understand, aren't you?).  So, with Criag's approval, I have clandestinely moved in with him for three days making my room available, so they can each have one.

As the van pulled up to our Shadow People camp location today I was presented with a page torn from a magazine by Chico.  It was bright pink with only the words "Muito Quente" on it in white.

"Very Hot"  Yer freakin' right it's Muito Quente!  Hot as hell today.  I find it odd that this is Fall in Brazil and it has really been broiling the past few days.  I sure am glad it's not summer!

Our first shot up was on the crane, which I rode with camera assistant Kito.  For those unacquainted with cinema cranes - the rideable type specifically - there are a number of safety protocols which must be observed.  The principle one has to do with the fact that the crane is a "lever" with the operator, assistant and camera itself on one end precisely counterbalanced with weights on the other.  Therefore, unless you want to catapult your partner into the air, you NEVER step off the crane once you are on until someone else gets on.  So for all practical purposes you are stuck there.  This is one of the reasons that I prefer to operate a remote head when using a crane.  But that is sometimes prohibitively expensive - as in this case.  We could have gotten a hot head (remote) but it would have reduced our crane days by 1/2.

The shot began with a huge boom up from the ground to maximum height while the arm swung about 20 feet!  So it was a good deal of movement.  In fact we extended the crane's height (normally 18 feet) by placing the base on a 6 foot high platform.  Doing this the arm can actually swing down below the height of the base and then up to a full 24 feet in the air.  Good thing we were strapped in with seat belts!  There were a lot of actions to coordinate in the shot, Mark Adair Rios and Gabrielle Anwar, the background extras, the crane crew and the camera crew!  I should also mention that the crane had to dolly back about 6 feet in order to get the arc of the arm correct and there was a slight zoom hidden in the shot in order to get us from an initial 2-shot to our great, wide master.  It all paid off in a spectacular reveal of the entire Shadow People village.

One of the elements in the scene was then covered in closeup via a dolly tracking Ann and Raka's walk - disgusting looking foam rubber frogs generously slathered with some vile goo which dripped off them as they hung on racks.  Oooooo.  It's not the first time I have worked with fake movie props which were utterly disgusting.  But these critters are definitely among the top five and my imagination insisted that, in spite of a lack of olfactory evidence, they must reek terribly!

After completing our exterior coverage of the village we moved to shoot the interior scenes in Saviour's Hut.  One of the reasons we shot out the exteriors this morning is because over the weekend 2nd unit will be here filming an attack on the village which will necessitate the burning and destruction of most of the village structures.  Inside Saviour's hut we shot the events which lead up to and follow that attack.

Our move inside, which followed lunch, also initiated the introduction of a new face into our midst.  Dan Heffner became our Assistant Director.  Dan had just flown in from Los Angeles and was taking on the AD duties of our endeavor freeing Vince up to move on to supervising two other productions now shooting - one in Romania and the other in Canada!

For the interior of the hut I had been able to coordinate with our production designer, Angela, on the placement of windows prior to construction so I could both motivate great light and work large HMI units from outside keeping nearly all of the lighting instruments ot of our fairly cramped space.  The main things I used inside were kinoflos and bounce cards, with an occasional 1200 par or 575 par working in some additional light.  The scenes were very contrasty and dramatic - and in addition to working with Duncan, Ann and Mark we were also had Rutger Hauer and Jason Brooks in the scene.

Rutger once more impressed me with his awareness of the camera when during one of his performances he gestured with a chrome gun and flashed an ultra cool flare into the lens.  Immediately upon seeing it I was struck by how great it looked.  Adhering to protocol of not interrupting an actor's attention to performance by requesting they repeat some serendipitous action for lighting's sake until after they get a "keeper" I watched in amazement as Rutger repeated the move exactly on the second, equally perfect, take!  Afterwards, of course, I asked him if he was aware of the effect and he said, "Did you like that?"  Of course I did!  And Rutger, ever the gentleman, wanted to be sure that I agreed with his improvisation.  I continue to be taken also by his humbleness.  For an actor who has been in some of what I consider to be the greatest contemporary films I have ever seen, he has not one trace of arrogance.  Truly a remarkable man.

By the time we were set to film our last shot in the hut the sun had completely gone down and so all of the light was artificial.  Since our key light had been provided by units outside the hut I added only a little bounced "sky" fill and - interestingly - had to add backlight through the walls!  The walls being thatch have a multitude of crevices in them which permit light from outside to shine through, an effect we had been seeing all day long and one which I was compelled to maintain for continuity sake.

We filmed today from 6am to 6:10pm and, with the light completely gone outside, we had to move a single shot to tomorrow - a cutaway of a boy with blowdart outside the hut window.  A pretty good day.

Back at the hotel I transferred some money into my IRAs and paid my International Cinematographers Guild dues online.  I am so spoiled! Å

I also received an e-mail from my composer friend Christopher Farrell regarding a new 35mm feature film shooting in L.A. in June.  He has mentioned my name several times to the director who is looking for a DP.  I wrote him back to thank him very much for the referral and I sent Kelley an e-mail asking her to please send a copy of my demo reel along.  I am delighted to think that I may return to Los Angeles with yet another feature to shoot!

Pictures for Friday: Pictures - Friday May 4, 2001

Very Hot - Muito Quente - (MUIn'-toh KAYn'-chee)

Shadow People - Povos Das Sombras - (POH'-vohs DAS SOM'-bruhs)

May 5, 2001 - Sat - Call time - 6am.  After a fairly smooth shoot yesterday we were revisted by bad luck this morning.  First, the threat of rain had us rethinking our shooting plans.  Then we discovered that our weapons master had been intercepted by the police and arrested, his weapons confiscated.  It turns out that, even though they were all props, the weapons were still too real for the São Paulo State Policia.  This meant our soldiers and shadow people would be reduced to making obscene gestures and throwing stones at each other.  Jeff decided that would not be an effective re-write!  What's more ... some idiot(s) had vandalized the riverside Indian Village set overnight!

All of this was revealed to us en route to the set.  As the van pulled up we saw the area where the helicopter, which we would be shooting later in the day, was to land.  Something did not look right.  Jeff and I had requested that the place where the helicopter would land be levelled and raised just a bit.  But there was a HUGE pile of dirt there instead.  Where did it come from?  I was afraid I knew.  Jeff stayed behind looking at the gray, misty skies overhead and marvelling at our great misfortune this morning.  As I approached my worst fears were horribly, and I will admit humorously, realized.  There was a great, gaping hole in the earth!  Where our helicopter platform was supposed to be looked as though someone was building a swimming pool!  This was so not good.  I returned to Jeff and broke the news.  He was incredulous.

We reported the gaffe to Criag via cell phone and he called in the bulldozer to rectify the situation.  Meanwhile Jeff and I headed down to the riverside Indian Village to see what we could shoot of our scheduled scene and the pick-up shot of the dart-blowing kid.   Poor Angela and her art department had done their best to pull the vandalized set back together, at least enough so that we could shoot it.  But unfortunately the props which showed up simply could not replace the guns needed for the malicious soldiers who were to occupy the village and terrorize the inhabitants.  So we filmed our pickup of the boy and abandoned this sequence to a future date.

Arriving back at the helicopter location happily the hole was now being filled in.  So we set up nearby to shoot a scene with Rutger Hauer's character, Mr. Ezekial distributing hand grenades from a box to his minions.  Then we grabbed some reaction shots of "E" (Mr. Ezekial) on his cellphone watching the offscreen melee - which is part of yesterday's scene and will be shot later by second unit - where the mercenary soldiers attack the Shadow People Village.

Finally it was time to shoot our interior helicopter sequences.  There are a fair number of helicopter scenes in the script, involving Rutger and his men as well as some with Gabrielle, Duncan and Mark.  All of these interiors will eventually cut into flying scenes.  So we shot a type of poor-man's helicopter process.

This meant finding a site during our scout with as low a horizon as possible - free of mountains and tall trees.  Then the helicopter was placed on the ground, engine off.  Beside the copter we placed several sections of track and put the camera on the dolly at a low angle looking up.  This both enhanced the sensation that the helicopter was "up" in the sky and helped edge out any horizon which might have been seen through the opposite windows.  Thus the view through the windows was solely ... blue sky!

To further enhance the helicopter effect we used the rig which I had asked Marcelo and Cesinha to design.  This was basically a large carboard fan-looking thing placed in front of a large 18K (dezoito) HMI which was blasting into the heli as a 3/4 backlight.  When the "fan" was rotated it gave the effect of rotors slicing across the sunlight and played very nicely on the actors' faces and in the interior of the plane.  My only concern was that if the blades rotated too slowly the effect would not play as helicopter blades and if it rotated too fast there was the very real possibility that it could interact with the camera's frame rate of 24fps in such a way as to produce either a weird effect like dimming up and down - or theoreticaly disappearing altogether if the flicker corresponded directly but out-of-phase with the camera shutter!  I was very, very happy to have flicker-free video assist on set which let me see that the effect was working very nicely.

The final trick to sell the gag was that rather than mount the camera to the dolly and shake the head and arm, which some folks had suggested, I sat on top of the arm holding the camera in my lap with my leg perched in such a way that I could introduce a slight and varying vibration with my foot to further enhance the feeling that the plane was in motion.  I could also raise and lower the camera, via my leg, and thus allowed it to float a bit.  On top of all this Cesinha eased the dolly back and forth at different speeds, depending on the shot.  A little e-fan action blowing wind on the talent and ... hey, we were airborn!

Ultimately everybody was very pleased with our helicopter effect and we were able to move around and knock off all of our set-ups really quickly.

I should mention that Jeff had originally wanted some fairly elaborate moves in the helicopter - like a jib arm taking the camera from outside, into the plane.  Unfortunately the vehicle was just too small to permit that.  Ideally, had we the time and budget, the shots he had in mind could have been done rather nicely in a modular mockup on a greenscreen stage.

The helicopter interiors completed our shooting day.

In behind-the-scenes drama, Criag has suggested that I may be in line to shoot the very next feature which they are doing in Brazil as soon as FLYING VIRUS wraps.  That is POWER PLAY.  If this happens I am definitely going to insist on having Kelley come down.  That would mean at least another 2 months down here!  It would also mean another feature under my belt (and of course I wouldn't mind the continuing paycheck either).  The idea of doing another job with my wonderful camera, grip and electrical crews is also very appealing.  I shall eagerly follow the developments on this and report them to you here!

I got an e-mail today from a fellow whose site I linked to in my introductory page of this "Flying Virus" Brazilian expedition.  This is his site here: ROUND TABLE BRAZIL

The group is Round Table Brazil, a collection of mostly European expatriots living in Brazil.  Apparently they discovered I had linked to them and wrote me a very nice e-mail:

Hi how are you.

Just a note to say thanks for adding a link from your site to ours.

Don't know if you are still in Brazil, but if you are and in Sao Paulo we would love for you to come to one of our meetings and give a short talk about what you do. We meet at o'malley's http://www.omalleysbar.net.

Next meeting is on the 15th May.  O malley's which if you have not found yet serves great beer.

all the best
Vince

I have made a note on my calendar.  I would really like to go to this event and meet these folks.

Finally, today is Day 2 rooming with Criag, whom the Brazilians affectionately call "Gringo Grande" (GRING'-goh GRAHN'-jee).  He is a tall guy.  Fortunately he is also a really swell person so I do not mind at all and I very much appreciate him helping me do this for the guys.  They are really enjoying having their families here and I know tomorrow being a day off will be extra nice for them!

Pictures for Saturday: Pictures - Saturday May 5, 2001

May 6, 2001 - Sun - A very welcome day off.  After our second week of shooting the adventure is at least consistent ... really amazing and wonderful experiences occasionally punctuated by some terribly annoying and traumatic pitfall.  Nonetheless my impression remains - it is a wonderful adventure being here!

Today is more a day of disparate news items and tidbits than any grand narrative.  And so I will present it in that format.

Production coordinator Laura Sherman's partner Jill flew in today.  She is very nice and her favorite beer is Boddington's - yep, she's aces with me!

The Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have reached an agreement today!  That is a relief to us all as there had been concern that an impasse could have prolonged the slowdown in production which has been the fallout of these negotiations and the SAG ones as well. Hopefully this means there will be plenty of work for all soon.

For the latest scoop on whether or not I will be shooting the next movie I will share a recent e-mail which I sent to Kelley:
"If it happens - and Criag gives it a 20% chance - I should know something Monday.  If I do it I really will insist on you coming along.  I will give you details when I have them.  I miss you too and would LOVE to have a lazy day off with you.  As it happens this IS my day off.  It is 1:45pm.  I slept in until 1 and then have been answering e-mail from a flash session last night here in Criag's room.  I gave up my room for 3 days because some of the crew guys have their families in town and wanted to have them stay here.  It is a beautiful - if lonely - hotel."

I also took time to send an e-mail to my brother Jeff, who had inquired about coming to visit:
"Sorry to have not been in touch sooner.  As far as your coming out I am not sure what my schedule will be.  There has been talk over the past few weeks of me staying on to shoot the next film here.  Now that may not happen.  I also may have a better offer in L.A. and I do not know when that would start.  Hopefully this coming week things will firm up.  As soon as I know something I will e-mail you.  It would be good to see you down here."

More e-mail!  This is to one of the cool Beatles shops in Sao Paulo about a great CD set which I saw there and did not buy.  As it happens I cannot stop thinking about it and now I want to buy it!
"Hi There!
This is Brad Rushing - I recently was in your shop browsing your wonderful selection.  I am in Ubatuba for the next week, but have decided I would like to buy the George Harrison Making of All Things Must Pass box from you.  Can I buy that through your web site?
What would be the best way to do that - I would hate to have someone else buy it and miss out.
I could send you the credit card information now and then pick it up when I am back in Sao Paulo.
Thanks,
BRAD"

Another from Kelley:
"Mr. McGraw will be performing on "LENO" May 8th and be sure to catch ME on Brazillian tv, MAY 8th too....'"
What a remarkable coincidence.  "Mr. McGraw" is Tim McGraw and our friend Jeff McMahon plays keyboards in his band.  Jeff is based in Nashville, TN, but he is in my town (Los Angeles) playing on the Tonight show, while I am in Brazil where my wife, Kelley, will be appearing on TV in a program about fitness that was taped in our gym, Bally's in Los Angeles while Kelley was in her jump rope class.  Oh, the synchronicity - my head is spinning!

I had a chance to visit some more with Rutger.  In fact he went with several of us for Açai today.  He loved it, of course.  Nara, Ralph, Pati, Jason and Corrine all went (oh, and me too!) - what a great experience.  See ya next week!

Continue on to our next thrilling chapter: BRAZIL - Week Seven

Back to Flying Virus Main Page: FLYING VIRUS

Complete FILMOGRAPHY on IMDB: BRAD RUSHING - Cinematographer

To Request a DEMO REEL or contact me: BradDP186K@aol.com

For information about ME go here: BRAD RUSHING