FROZEN STUPID - The Journal, Part Three

Note: Here is a picture of Joey Albright as Tony and Ernest Borgnine as Frank on the interior shanty set of FROZEN STUPID.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

This morning we shoot another scene in the shanty set. This is the one where Joey catches the monster pike. The first challenge is to fake a line going out, being “pulled by the pike.� Norm takes the end of Joey’s line and starts running with it down the hall. Effect #1 completed. The second challenge is to actually have Joey catch the fish. We decide to cheat. The fish, a foam rubber dummy, is too big and will not go through the hole, but instead be launched by grip, Cory Blackmer, from below the platform. (Platform sections remove easily for just such an occasion. Other grip, Andrew Bedinger, crouches under the platform with a water bottle to slosh up into view when the fish emerges. Cory launches the fish into the shanty and Joey does a very physical performance wrestling the beast into submission. He finally calms it with a few choice blows to its head. In the afternoon, we all bundle up and head outside to quickly beat the setting sun and film Joey and Kimberly Norris Guerrrero outside their shanties. Kimberly’s shanty has a sexy zebra stripes. The sun is low and shadows are tall. We run back and forth to keep our shadows out of the shot. A whole parade of screaming snowmobiles screams past during one take involving Joey. This inspires us to capture “Wild Sounds� of a snowmobile, so that last work of the day involves recording Cory racing back and forth at various speeds. Then, we all pile into the Limberlost shuttle to eat dinner at, where else, the Limberlost. Yummy!

Friday, January 27th, 2006

We are outside all day. This morning, it’s just cold enough that people without proper winter clothes will freeze their toes and other extremities. Our first AD, Holli Bremer confesses to frozen feet and during a scene break, runs inside and not only changes footwear but also drops in those “just-expose-em-to-air� foot warmers. We are in and about shanty town. The first scene we shoot involves about 20 extras from the area including students from college, where our sound man Will attends. Here’s the scene: two yahoos with lots of bravado and testosterone challenge each other to a snowmobile race. When they take off, the crowd cheers. Along the way, one guy’s snow machine starts to smoke. Then one ski falls off and he smashes into Joey and Ernie’s shanty. The snow machine rage and race scenes are funny. A splinter crew piles into Rich’s Chevy Suburban and we lead or come alongside our racers. In the afternoon, it warms up and gets very sloppy. Kimberly’s character eats “smelt� but we can only find fried smelt. We take off the breading and she humorously munches ‘em down. She’s good at spitting out the heads. This is Ernie’s last day and he’s anxious to wrap. We do two quick scenes while the sun pokes in and out of the clouds. (Michigan winters?!) Before Ernie leaves the set, Rich asks me to interview him for the “behind-the-scenes� DVD extras. Ernie obliges but calls Houghton Lake, “Hooten Lake�, and snowmobiles buzz all around. I don’t know what we can or can’t salvage out of that but I’m sure we can pull out a few good lines.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Today it was tough to get back into swing of things after the weekend. This morning, we filmed a very long scene in the ice shanty set with Wayne David Parker a.k.a. Daba (who was also in Rich’s movie BARN RED) and Grant Krause. These two guys are hilarious. Grant looks and acts like Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong fame. The scene is that they are looking at a monitor involving a camera they drop down into an ice hole. They see a sunken snowmobile and then they see the big monster pike who inhales Tony’s cell phone that falls into the hole. Just before lunch, Tony drops the phone into the hole, but we discover at lunch, he has dropped it “open.� And when we see it on the lake floor, it is closed. Hence, there is a major continuity problem. Rich and the team say this is a “Matt Kinne� problem, and every time since in the afternoon, all problems are called a “Matt Kinne� problem. Sheeech! But, the problem is easily fixed. We shoot it again just after lunch. And then we do a quick follow up scene without trouble. Then we go outside to the Houghton Lake Cosmetology School and shoot a parade scene with Daba, Grant and Kimberly. Quick, painless and we’re out. But, it’s snowing and some “driving around shots� won’t work. They won’t match continuity wise and Rich decides to scrap it until later, which is OK because we are ahead of schedule. Instead, we shoot the scene where the monster pike trashes the shanty. It takes a little longer than expected and we wrap at 6:15pm. We still eat dinner just fine, but right after dinner, we go outside and shoot the shanty out on the ice as the snow is flying. That takes awhile to fire off and we do a final wrap at 8:15. So, it’s a very, very long day, and we are all pooped and I will stop writing.