Skywalker Australia

NOVEMBER
Happy Birthday wendago.com. I have kept an online journal for 10 years. I say “journal” cuz when I got started “blog” and “blogger” were relatively unknown. So to show respect I am playing catch up, which brings us to November of 2010.

But first…

A trailer should entice the audience. Make them WANT to see the movie without giving away the twists and turns. Right? Am I alone in this? This one is eat up with all kinds of brilliant. The trailer is the movie’s setup. You get zero hint at what the answer might be because that’s WHY you go.

The month of November started brilliantly with a week at Skywalker Ranch for the final mix of Drive Angry. Nothing short of awesome. Tron was there. And Rango. And a Star Wars Disney ride. By the way, I’m not there because I am of any importance. I go to support the sound crew. I don’t go on production’s dollar. I stay offsite in a hotel of my purchase.

But this means I get to use the hotel gym. I stayed at a Marriott in the area. Great hotel. Good price, clean and with a bed that’s simply dreamy. But the gym is the width of three treadmills stacked side by side with a few feet behind them where a dumbbell wrack was stuffed. Oddly enough, not a downside at all. When you work out six days a week anything different is a bonus.

When you go to Skywalker you have two choices for on grounds lunch. One choice is to go to the main house. Big white mansion. If you’ve seen FANBOYS then you’ve seen the main house because that’s the house they break into. If you have not seen FANBOYS then duh, go buy the bluray. The house is George’s business office. And you know what? He’s always there. I’ve never been to lunch at the main house when he wasn’t sitting there, chatting or dinning with someone. I know that may sound lame but it’s Holy Grail to a fanboy.

We got some posters and signed one to the team.

Have I mentioned the poster yet? Not sure I have and too lazy to scroll back. So here’s the thing about the poster. I thought they nailed it. For one it doesn’t say “He BUSTED out of HELL”. What it says is “All Hell Breaks Loose.” And that I don’t mind. It’s a tease. I also love how Nic and Amber look. And I love love love the sparks. I simply dug how it advertised the movie. I did not get that same vibe from the trailers.

And in other poster news, it was nice to be included on the one-sheet as an actor. Granted that’s not my day job but I’ve been acting as long as I’ve been writing. All the way back to playing Harsh Raider in the grade school production of A Star Wars Christmas (which I’m certain was a copyright infringement – a point I didn’t think to mention to George while on the ranch).

And while this next point likely only exists in my head, my name on the poster feels like validation. My last two roles are… well they certainly have moments of embarrassment. It is not uncommon to feel the tinniest bit of humiliation at being naked for the whole world to see if they choose. If you toss in some simulated zugzug on top of that… well, you can see how it could all be a bit nerve-wracking. And then anyone who has seen either movie can tell you I’m not exactly the model type. I don’t have the six pack or the good hair. I’m old school everyman. More Willis than Hartnett. More Ford than LeBeouf. Actually. I’m okay with that. And then there’s the actual character for Frank. He’s not only a tool but he’s also a tool. In MBV he’s a misdirect. In DA he’s Piper’s reason to go on her journey. He’s more than just the butt although the butt tends to outshine all else. Being on the poster, to me, validates the story fulfilling part of Frank.

While I never asked I’m certain my name being there is all Patrick’s doing. Actually, his and Producer, Rene Besson as well.

On the 5th I had to cut it short. Hugs and kisses goodbye then I shot down to the San Francisco Airport and caught a flight to LA. Next would follow a flight to Australia. I could spend hours talking about the two weeks in Aus. But no time. So I’ll sum up.

I went to Aus with producer, Kerri Grisham. Getting there was a challenge. We were flying standby due to the fact that it cost a semester of college tuition to fly to Australia. This would not have been an issue had an engine not fallen off a Quantus jet while in the air. This led to Quantus grounding all their flights which resulted in every Virgin flight suddenly being slammed. So we did not leave on the 5th as planned. We crashed at a Hotel near the airport. And from what we were hearing, it would be days before we got a flight via standby.

I likely would have just called off the trip but we were actually expected to attend the Gold Coast Film Festival. We had given our word. I know that means little in today’s world. But still meant something to us. So we booked regular flights. Sorry Izzie. It’ll have to be community college that first semester. But that’s okay. I’ll get you the Bluray box set of Community to prepare you.

We did make some Aussie friends on the way over. David Bouwmeester who was sporting Chewbacca hair. And Sara Petrie who was not. After well over a 24 hour journey I would without hesitation consider them both mates.

We finally arrived and if memory served we had some issues getting our handicap Holden due to our late arrival. But we managed and before long we were crashed at Kath and JA’s where I was drinking Smirnoff black label due to the 6.5 alcohol content rather than the sissified 4 point whatevers we have here in the States.

Kerri and I spent the first part of the trip at the Gold Coast Film Festival and had a blast. Australia is the size of the States with the population of Orange County. And the people are as real as it gets. I adore them. We did a bunch of press. Interviews for magazines and radio. We even did a Q&A: “Bringing Hollywood to Australia”.

We caught several screenings and a couple premiers. For the most part Aussie film is similar to Independent Film in the States. Both in budget and “art”. The stories tend to be darker with a moral question asked and not always answered. As a result they rarely make it to the States. And while they may have critical success, you need the States for any real financial success. Thus was our pitch. What if we could bring some commercial stories to the Land Down Under? Cast and crew them with Aussies but tell stories that we hoped would appeal to a global market.

The rest of the trip was spent meeting and discussing the reality of shooting a slate of movies with Aussie crews and cast.

First we spent huge amounts of time at Village Roadshow. Until recently they were merged with Warners so there’s not only a lot there but also a park with themed rollercoasters and rides. Sadly, after all my visits I’ve yet to visit the park. Next time. For sure.

I ran into Marc Varisco down under. Marc was our FX supervisor on MBV. He’s Aussie and amazingly talented. Seeing him made me wish he was on Drive Angry.

I saw Brisbane and Sidney. I met the who’s who of Australian film making.

By the end of our two week stay with Kath and JA, we were bickering like siblings again. Well, not JA, as he’s the only one of the four of us who does not have a menstruation cycle.

I spent my birthday in Australia and to celebrate my birth and my growingly grumpy mood, I was thrown into a tank with sharks.

The biggest thing that came out of Australia was learning how the system worked, both financially and politically. I would explain that. But number one, it’s likely boring to most. And two, it took some blood, sweat, tears and more than a few confidants to learn it all. We walked away with both the pros and the cons. As a result we can now navigate the minefield and make movies there without getting blown up.

Meanwhile Drive Angry rolled along without me.

Drive Angry was rated R for “strong brutal violence throughout, grisly images, some graphic sexual content, nudity and pervasive language.”

The process of Main Titles and Ending Credits was still ongoing. We were spammed daily with new versions. And like those moments with the Poster it was oddly fulfilling to see my name as an actor at the opening of the movie. I was honored to share a card with Jack McGee.

On the 22nd we got a scoreboard showing where we were on FX. With delivery thundering toward us, everyone was felling the pressure. There were daily emails discussing the visual FX of the Godkiller, the Roadblock, the Ending and hundreds of smaller issues. Truth be told, we were all stressed. We, of course, wanted the movie to look its very best! And for me it wasn’t until long after delivery did I consider that our rough FX might actually add to the grindhouse feel of the thing. Sort of wish I’d thought of that sooner.

Finally I was on a long flight back to LA.

That last week was spent with the girls and trying to decompress from two weeks down under.

And that was November. In 48 hours we bring you Christmas month!

But first… news from Kentucky.

Doc’s cracked open my kid brother’s noggin this morning and found two Matchbox cars and a vintage Stormtrooper figure which apparently is up to 43 dollars on eBay in less than three hours. No buyout. They also found something not so easily removed and sold on the eBay. Going in they speculated we were looking at either a 3 or 4. I don’t pretend to understand exactly what that means and when I spoke with Rikki briefly after surgery he was tired and I gathered not up for an interview. But from what I’d gathered previously a 3 is bad… but workable. A 4 means… get the will in order. As it turns out… they think it’s a 2. Again, I don’t have all the details and the Doctors stated it would be days before they knew for certain but they were very optimistic.

Thank you for all the comments, emails and well wishes. It meant alot to the little fella. And to me too.