UPDATE
20th july 1997
Well ....... It's all in the can. Execpt for a few cutaways that we'll have to pick up over the next week or so. So now it's all down to the editing and other post production stuff and then on to the circuit of festivals and hopefully sell the thing.

Everybody had a great time (or at least they tell me they did!) and it was very sad to see everybody go. All back to some semblance of normality now.

We always knew the last days would be hectic - But we got the last shot (a night exterior) in the can just as the sun was coming up over the horizon. Sorry guys no time for a second take even if it had been needed (which it wasn't) The last day we worked 22 hours and boy did we feel knackered. But hopefully it is all worth it.

Watch this space for some production photos coming soon.


15th July 1997
What a week its been.   We now have only three days more filming before it is all in the can. But they are the three biggest days. We expect them to be 16 hour shoots at least. We have given ourselves a couple of days off to prepare for them and I expect we will need every bit of preperation, as we have to shoot all the scenes involving the guns and body hits next. So these will be exciting times around the Red Mercury set. We have now had a full crew for the past week or so and are quite getting used to the luxury of it. Although there have been a few mumblings along the lines of "This isn't the way we should be making this film" or " We should be doing this, that and everything" But for my part they are worth their weight in gold.

We had a new opportunity (Gene will not allow anybody to use the word "problem") because on of the actors who was going to get shot in the warehouse scene had omitted to tell us that he was going to a wedding on the day of the shoot. So after lots of hectic 'phone calls to him and his agent it was decided to re-write that scene soi that he doesn't get shot, but instead is in league with the guy who does the shooting (Notice: I'm trying not to give any of the plot away, you'll just have to see the film when it comes out - but in the meantime I hope this makes sense.)

The best scene shot this week is the so-called splash scene, where Terry (Daniel Philpott) has been out on his stag night with some mates and rolls home drunk and promptly falls in the Dock. The water there is slimy and horrible (not to mention cold as it was filmed at midnight) So we had lots of hot soup standing by and a hot shower running in a house nearby together with a change of clothing. This was one scen where we had to get it in the can in one take as after his plunge Danny's Dutch courage (so that's where the budget went!) soon wore off. You got to see it. It's a great scene.

We also have had an approach form a major distributor who wants to see the rough edit as soon as it is available. All we need are a couple more approaches like that and we could be home free.


6th July 1997
Well.... we are back from Paris and the first 25% of Principal photography is in the can. As I write we have just completed the first day of UK filming. Oh what joy to actually have a complete crew, instead of everyone doing everything. The stories from the Paris shoot will make a good book one day.

We have realised a lot of things in the last week, and learnt a lot of lessons (most of them learnt the hard way) and I think it is fair to say that we now realise that doing the Paris shoot first was perhaps not the best way to do things. I mean, when you get stuck in a foreign country with a problem and a limited grasp of their language, well things can get a little out of control. Still nobody got arrested; although a few people did get lost for a couple of hours, one of the mobile phones got dropped in a puddle and didn't work for 2 days, and we had to find a film lab at 4 am on the last day because we thought one of the mags wasn't shut properly.

And we got rained on. And we got wet. But we carried on shooting, and amazingly managed to maintain a shooting ratio which everyone told us simply couldn't be done. Well I got news for you. It can. We did it. Shows you the value of an outstanding DoP and an amazing gaffer. it's unfair to single people out in this situation because they were all brilliant, but Gene and Aiden do deserve a special mention for their hard work.

The whole team pulled together and helped out, our leading actress Suzi Cave, was last seen helping to unpack the lighting gear out of the van upon our return. Steph, our 'deaf' sound man kept our spirits up by always saying that every take will need to be redubbed, but what the hell, he was happy.

Anton Mirto might have gotten us an 18 certificate with one look on one shot, and John Duval gets the medal for driving the van home coz I was too tired. Dean Pidoux as Pierre was enigmatically wonderful and his girlfriend, Aurora had her film debut as the woman who gets stabbed. (It's too long to explain - you'll just have to see it when it comes out)

Daniel Philpott was wonderful as Terry as well as doing all the fight direction. And Emanuel Bonami amazed us with his french voice overs, as well as helping us find the processing lab at 4am. (Thanks for the croissant)

Be sure to check back soon for more updates and watch out for production photos coming here soon.

Bye for now.