Film makers with prop guns meet cops with real ones. To be clear, were were filming on private land and out of the public eye and our guns made popping sounds but were far from blanks. But at some point a good citizen saw or heard us and completely misinterpreted what was happening there. That set in motion a chain of events that ended with a squad of heavily armed police closing in around us from all sides, springing from the brush shouting “You are surrounded! Hands up!” It’s pretty creepy looking right down the barrel of an assault rife. There were very tense moments as the cops took over the set, and suddenly I envisioned myself mentioned on the 10:00 news. “He dropped his flashlight and police opened fire”. I started to wonder what it felt like to get shot. Everyone in the cast and crew were statues with hands raised high during the standoff.
After a few harrowing moments the police found there were no real guns or criminals and then the gang became very friendly and personable. They asked about the film, made some jokes about some of our costumes, and even talked firearms with some of the crew for awhile. It turns out that the neighborhood we were in had seen some real problems recently and we were near where a meth lab had just been raided and shut down. They treated everyone with respect and the crew responded in kind.

One of the highlights of the encounter was when the police spotted one of our actors in his “nude suit” (his character was naked for the scene) the cops just decided there was no point in searching him.
One things settled down we had a bunch of laughs and went back to shooting and still wrapped the day ahead of schedule.

Ran through my scenes last night at rehearsal and really enjoyed it. David (our director) is collaborative with his actors, but just the right amount. We are free to explore with our characters and make some bold choices, and David gives us a nice boundary to work within which suits me perfectly. There is plenty of room to create but it never feels like we are straying from the vision of what makes the story work.  Most of my dialog has come from ad-libbing, and we have a cast that REALLY gives an actor what he needs to connect and create.

At the Mixer last night I asked Beth Sepko about her thoughts on branding. I’ve been having a really tough time figuring out what my brand is, and just wanted to know if it’s as meaningful here in Austin as it might be in LA. Her response was a welcome “Just be yourself”. Then she looked at me and called out “Computer Guy”. That’s pretty amazing, since I am a computer guy making video games for Disney. By the end of the night I was sociable beer drinking computer guy, and that’s ok with me.

Tonight is the last rehearsal before shooting on Tuesday. Preparing for this has been really educational as I learn about the context of what’s being said in this text. In a historical piece it is so important to really understand the spirit of the times and take on the perspective of one experiencing those events, rather than one who knows it through history books. My character doesn’t know where the Vietnam war is going, but I know where it went. Divorcing what I know from my character is challenging and fun.

Tonight was the screening of “Cannibal” and a collection of other short films. I had an appointment that ended at the exact moment that the screening started just a few miles away. As soon as I got out of my appointment I darted down the road and into the theater, just in time to watch the closing credits. Cannibal had gone first and I just missed it, but I did get to see most of the cast and crew, making the trip well worth it. I’ve learned that I get really attached to people on a project and it’s hard to part ways when a production is done. Every time a play ends I feel a sense of loss as we part for the last time, and that same feeling hits me when I realize that the cast and crew of a film aren’t going to be together in the same place again.

Next week I’ll be shooting a segment for Dave Miller’s “Vietnam Letters” project. It’s a very sober task, because I’m not memorizing sides from a writer’s imagination, I’ll be reciting the words of a real person trying to deal with real pain and trying to make sense of it. This is made even more meaningful to me by the fact that similar people are dealing with similar issues right now. Every day that sons and brothers and fathers die serving in Iraq and Afghanistan more of these letters are being created. Usually I feel a thrill when acting, but this is tempered by the gravity of what it represents. We aren’t making entertainment, we are making something more than that and I’m proud to be a part of it.

Today was a pair of auditions. One in Kyle for “Conflict of Interests” and one downtown for “The Falling Man”. The gods of traffic and parking were smiling on me as I zipped from one to the next in record time, and nailed the perfect parking spot downtown even though the Pecan Street Festival was in full swing.

Holly asks me how it went after an audition and I’m understanding now that I rarely know how it went. On many occasions I thought I nailed it but never heard from them again. Often when I think I bombed, well, then I’ll get a surprising callback or book the part. I think that when I feel I did well in an audition it’s a sure sign that too much of my focus was on me and not on my reader.