Director's Diary
Day 24
March 10th , 2001
What? Huh? It's what time? Okay, fine. It turns out that I am not the best a judging what is a good call time. The call time is what time the crew and/or cast is supposed to be at a location for filming. Today we are shooting some flashback scenes at 
Arinell's Pizza {the only good slice on the west coast}, and we have only until 11am to film there. So, since we have a couple pages of dialogue, I make the call time 5:30am figuring this way we won't be too terribly rushed. Well, one thing I forgot to consider is that it doesn't get light until around 8am these days. So we all hang out together and think about how funny it is to be alive let alone awake at this hour. We hang out and wait for the coffee joints to open. Our appetites rise. The gas in our intestines rises. The sun also rises. Eventually it is time to shoot. We are shooting into mirrors, which is always fun. After we get set, things go very smoothly. Boom boom.
I start to realize by 9 that we are going to have more time to do things then I originally thought. So, I call Anne and say, YO! Can you come over to Ben's and film so shit today or what? She's cool with it, and soon we are done at Arinell's. Before we split the location though, we have a dolly shot to do out on the street, and soon all the junkies are asking us for money and or bagels…Sometime during all this, some dude sideswipes Scott's car and knocks off his mirror. Maybe that will help him pay for his short film that he is not done working on.
Anyway, we go to glorious Oakland to Ben's posh house in the hills. It is a very nice house and when I first saw it, I couldn't help but think, "why haven't we been filming here and destroying Ben's house instead of mine????" Not that my house is completely destroyed. We just broke windows, wedding dishes, the kitchen table, and some other stuff. Hey c'est la yo, right?
Anyway, Ben's house is awesome, and other then the fact that I forgot important props, the correct film, and a few other indisposable items, everything goes very smoothly. We shoot Asher's last scene, which is entitled, Phil Gets an Imac. Asher makes out with the IMAC, sings to it, thanks god for it and damn near makes love to it. It is a pleasure to watch and although I am very excited to get to the next step of this huge project, I find myself feeling sad that this segment is coming to an end. Everyone is so tight now and we are a very well operating machine. I can barely believe that we are halfway through our second to last weekend. We finish shooting around 7:30pm and I make a beeline for home. As we crossed the bridge, I was tired and emotional, and the San Francisco skyline looked so fucking beautiful.
Day 25
March 11th, 2001
Good morning. And it feels like a great one. Our plan today? Well, the plan is to shoot some more loose ends at Ben's house {Dylan drinking the vinegar, Dylan in Dream 1, Dylan and Madeline in the bathtub}, then we are going to Ver Unica. Ver Unica is a super awesome vintage clothing store on Noe Street in San Francisco. The owners there have graciously given us the opportunity to shoot a scene of Madeline at work in their store. In the scene Madeline is yelled at, condescended to, spied on and generally disrespected by her greedy, paranoid, sleazy boss Randall. Randall is played by Anne's real life boyfriend Lawson, so the energy these guys are playing off of is strong and fun.
The normal nightmares occur; we don't have this crucial piece of equipment, we forgot to buy this prop, etc… But eventually and despite these things, we get going. The shoot goes well. Anne has Madeline down so well, I wonder how she'll put her down after next weekend! She and Lawson have fun interactions. We shoot some cool shots. We utilize the Dolly, video cameras {Randall is a security nut}. We make raunchy jokes, Holly makes great food. Although, we shoot until very late, it seems like the time flows by. When I am not incredibly stressed, I am incredibly happy. I love my cast and crew. I love my movie. I think it is going to be great. 
Around 1 am we are finishing up packing our cars, we share a bowl or two out on the street and I am feeling fortunate. This movie is definitely stretched me. My resources, mental and financial, have been pulled out of shape. Into a new shape. I wonder what it would be like if I were making a different movie. My movie is so helpful to my nerves, because it is so much about the things that we are going through right now. Even on the movie set. Humans Being. Couldn't really be said more apropos. I can't wait until you see it. I think you are gonna love it. Tonight I go to sleep around 2. I am tired. My head aches. I try to wrap my brain around the concept that next weekend will be the last weekend of filming. I can't do it. I sleep.