On Thursday I started filming my "Series of Sonnets", a project that I actually came up with in high school and am just now picking up where I left off. I had talked with Jesse Ormsby about it weeks ago, and he came back to me with Sonnet #130. Jesse was the first one I thought of when starting this project, he's helped me with scripts in the past, and well, c'mon, if anyone would portray Shakespeare, it would be Jesse. I have since read #130 over and over again, and love it, I'm not Shakespeare scholar myself, but to me its a celebration of the quirks in people, its the imperfections that you love the most, its what makes you you. Now if any young lady were to celebrate my imperfections, I have plenty . . . I'll celebrate all your imperfections too . . . any takers? . . . nobody? But for the purpose of the film, I decided to change the tone to a "make-up" story--the guy and girl get in a huge fight but then make-up, what did you think I was talking about, Loreal? no I don't wear that stuff, only occasionally . . . every other weekend . . . okay every weekend--yes it does throw in more drama, and well, I'm not a fan of drama, I enjoy laughing much more . . . or explosions . . . caused by giant robot aliens . . . that disguise themselves as 18 wheelers. But I took this direction because it gave the sonnet the power of telling a story.
It was pretty cloudy through the whole day, but thankfully it never rained on us and we still got plenty of light. The "muse" or "beloved" of this sonnet turned out to be Tara Barborka, and she was awesome. I approached like 3 girls before I got to Tara, and, Tara, does that mean you're the 4th round draft pick? Absolutely not, it means that you were meant to be in it. I thought I had settled on one girl, but the day before filming she tells me that she can't make it, so I panic and scramble, and call up Tara, and she says "of course". Tara to the rescue? Absolutely. I think Tara's biggest challenge were the scenes of her fighting with Jesse, she had trouble getting mad . . . and she started to feel awkward around the improvised discussion between the two which veered toward the topic of making-out . . . I think the phrase "lightsaber in my mouth" was actually uttered . . . just don't ask. However, Tara's high-point came at a scene where she had to look like she had been sobbing in front of the bathroom mirror. We had to come up with a way to evoke that emotion, and thinking "my dog is dead" just wouldn't cut it. So super crew member Kyle Dorwart suggested to play some emo Death Cab songs (they are the best by the way), Tara said that country music makes her cry, country music makes me cry too, not cause its emotional, just cause its bad, and I was kidding about crying. Well, to pull off the look Tara stuck handsoap in her eyes to give them the swelled up, teary look, now that's what I call dedication! She looked great, well the "I look like a wreck" sort of great. A sonnet isn't that long of a poem so the shoot only lasted about 3 1/2 hours, which is nothing, and everything went pretty smoothly overall, we'll see if editing will be as agreeable. Props to Kyle Dorwart on crew and car and Dan Jones on behind-the-scenes documenter.
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