I'm sure that most people don't realize exactly how much work is poured into the making of a movie, but as I was standing in a dimly lit room at midnight with exhausted, hot, hungry actors and crew members, my ever-widening perspective on movies came into sharper focus.
"It's more exhausting than you think,’" said Lindsay. "It's emotionally exhausting, too."
Yet, when offered the option to finish the close-ups at a different time, all the actors, without exception, declined and dug deep for their original level of enthusiasm.
"We can do this," I heard someone say. And they did a remarkable job, at that.
I arrived at 5:30 pm when the crew (for the large part Stokes) had worked all day preparing the set. Stokes was hammering a nail in the wall with the butt of a revolver when I walked into the parlor and Maxine was explaining her "accidental curtains." Apparently the window treatments were sewn too short which led to a last minute idea to tie them back on one side which, in the end, looked fantastic. "They worked out better," she said.
"This is one of the most critical scenes," said Meredith, referring to Scene 15 which includes a marriage proposal (well, almost), and a dramatic, multi-person fight.
Daniel Johnson, the boom mic operator for the evening, walked in the room with Nate Juraschek, the sound guy who also plays Confederate Private Martin Barlow in the movie, just as Meredith was explaining the need for scary lighting. "A scary proposal?" Daniel questioned. Ben pulled his gun and added, "It's a forced proposal!" Intriguing, isn't it?
Meredith, Pam Oliver, Maxine and Megan, Clermont's House Manager, continued rearranging the props to hide wall seams, raiding the kitchen for more china and burning the candles down a bit. The transformation in the parlor room was astounding. Last Tuesday it was chocked full of wires, camera equipment, boxes and ugly wallpaper. Tonight it was a completely authentic 19th century Quaker parlor, sparsely decorated with antique chairs, books, a knitting basket and Quaker potato chips. Okay, we did get rid of those but were definitely transported back in time as the musty smell of the old room gradually gave way to the pleasant aroma of snuffed candles.
Peter continued to work out the lighting, grabbing any passer-by to stand in front of the camera while the actors dressed in their costumes. Ben continued his perpetual search for a comb while Meredith fixed his "costume malfunction" by sewing on a button.
Just before we started filming, around 6pm, Megan looked outside and said, "How did it get dark so fast?" forgetting about the black velvet and black plastic covering the outside of the windows.
Michelle, Abby, Morgan and Lindsay secured their hairpins and tied their aprons while Ben rolled in the mud (every man's dream) to authenticate the civil war soldier look and then the scene was blocked out under Meredith's direction.
"I love it when the actors spontaneously change the script," Meredith told me, speaking of an improvisation that happened last weekend. "I'm not precious about my words when it comes from the character."
The actors also received expert advice from Carolyn Christensen, a stunt woman certified in choreographing stage fights who drove up from Richmond to help. She explained that the action should all come from you and not as a reaction to the other person, when staging a fight. "There should never be a transfer of energy from one person to another," she said. In other words if someone is pushing you, you are actually stepping back on your own.
After working out a few more placement details, the filming began and with a few takes we had a master shot. From there they began the arduous process of takes, re-takes, and close-ups, while dodging the background sound of passing train whistles.
Many hysterical bloopers emerged from the fight scene. For example, in the confusion and scuffle to run up the stairs, Abby somehow ended up crawling with Ben practically on top of her. Not exactly Quaker behavior, to be sure. Also, Lindsay's gun got stuck in her pocket so that when she yelled, "Cease and desist!" her pointed pistol was draped in her calico dress (What's a Quaker doing with a gun? Well, you'll have to see the movie...).
Morgan, Lindsay, Michelle and Abby all agreed that Ben looked very scary: "Powerful, seductive scary," to be exact.
As sweat started melting off make-up and take 22 rolled around, Peter said, "Quiet on the set," and Stokes said, "Do you want the clap?" Of course he was referring to the clapboard, but everyone was extremely punchy by then.
On a break for one last train at 11:30pm, Daniel said, "It never strikes me how hard it is holding a pole (boom mic) over my head until I've been doing it for a few hours."
Meredith decided not to film the beginning of the scene, as stamina and pizza ran out.
Again, everyone was dazzled to see the finished product emerging on the monitor as if by magic - but we all know that "magic" only happens with many good people, a lot of hard work and a few cookies.
12:00am: "That's a wrap!"
