What Kind of Movie IS this?

OK, so behold the first footage.



This clip will make more sense when you actually see the film, but just to set the record straight early. YES, he actually is throwing up all over himself in this take, and NO, he wasn't supposed to. In fact, he wasn't even supposed to be in the movie, let alone this particular scene. Strange ideas enter your head though when it's 4:30 in the morning and you are 6 hours behind schedule. So a guy you went to high school shows up on the set drunk and depressed from a horrid 21-20 Eagles Monday night loss at the hands of the hated Dallas Cowboys.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/recap?gid=20051114021

He starts harassing the crew, chugging hard ciders, cursing and demanding a ride home cause set was "boring"

What would you do?

I decided to put him on the roof of our elementary school location, and let him do whatever he wanted for one take. The scene was chaotic as hell anyhow. Very close to being an unusable disaster. I figured we could use it for something.

There was no time for rehearsal. He kept threatening to jump off the roof and taunting the other actors calling them "a bunch of pussies" and how he was going to "leave it all on the field" once the cameras started rolling.

Everybody was rolling their eyes.

I remember the gaffer going in for a light reading and he swatted the meter away angirly and said something like:

"Don't light that side, that's my GAY side!"

Then we started to roll. One take. No time. A lot of pissed off people. This is what I call our "Gettysburg shot". It was going to make or break the climax of the film, This one pivotal scene that had undergone so many rewrites that night I wasn't even sure if we would have a movie after the sun came up. I'll remember the night the rest of my life as the night we caught lightning in a bottle.

I believe he honored his word and "left it all on the field".

MM