Remember what Peter said last week about one rain day? Well, we got it on our first scheduled filming day. It was not just a quite drizzle, either, but a torrential deluge! Needless to say, plans were diverted to make it a "test shoot" day at Clermont.
Just as well - our star possum is sick with hepatitis and unable to attend. Meredith swears that the wily possum is just pouting in her trailer and demanding more money.
Morgan, Lindsay and Ben met, as planned, at Meredith's house for two hours of costume and make-up. Meredith lamented the loss of Morgan's long hair but found a hair piece to work. Ben's jacket was too big, apparently really getting him in Confederate soldier character ('so skinny, they don't bleed,' a Union soldier once said of the Rebs). Lindsay's hoop skirt was missing.
There was much hair gelling and corset tightening, but in the end our young stars sparkled. How did this take two hours, you ask? Well, the girls' layers consisted of pantaloons, a chemise, a corset, stockings with garters, boots, a hoop skirt, 1-2 petticoats, false sleeves and then a dress. No wonder they were so well-behaved.
On our way to Clermont, we stopped at Subway to pick up lunch, but Morgan was concerned that she would then smell like a Chicken Caesar Wrap. Luckily the film's not smell-a-vision, Lindsay astutely reminded her.
At Clermont we were greeted by a cow and her calf who stubbornly held their ground in the middle of the driveway, so that our cars could not pass. We were just about to resort to cow tipping (and hauling) when they decided to mosey on along.
Clermont: Wow! For the actors and me, it was the first glimpse of this magnificent place with its ancient, mammoth trees, moss on the roof tiles, old stone fireplaces - the works. You could almost hear the ghosts tip-toeing through the rooms.
Meredith gave director's hints to the actors while they practiced Scene 4 while the imaginary horse (who would have violated his waiver had he come in the house) took on a life of his own.
Incidentally, Stokes Tomlin found a horse, Remy, who will appear in next Tuesday's outdoor filming of Scene 4, and a friend of Meredith's, Brianna MacDonald, is lending the production full Confederate tack.
There was also a lot of standing around which led to daydreaming and chats of school and Hollywood.
Cinematographer Peter Buck and his brother, Lighting Director Stephen, Brian Busch, Stokes Tomlin (Production Designer) and Larry King spent hours perfecting the lighting. They were busy setting up monitors, placing microphones for sound, deciding filming angles and dolly shots, removing screens from the windows, placing false walls and basically ironing out the kinks. Wow! All this for a test shoot! But triple wow for the results. Boy, was it fun to see the film segment. Everyone maintained an air of awe that we are actually doing this!
Hopefully, next week will bring fairer weather for the highly anticipated debut of our two beasts of wonder, the cross-eyed possum and the long-faced Remy. Yee-haa!
