DAY 30 – I can’t believe it’s DAY 30!

1 more day to go!

Got my ass kicked last night at the temple. Shot until 4:30 am and I was done. Good and done. Amy and Tim and all the Pale Figures kicked ass but things just didn’t go as smoothly as I thought they would.

The scene of Amy coming into the sacrifice room, which I estimated to take half an hour at the most, took like three freaking hours to shoot. Blew all our time until before lunch. Couldn’t believe it, but it’s the way the day went. Actually, the first two days at the temple were unusually hard.

Tim had a big make-up day and it took so long to get him ready once he was on set. Actually, just getting him into the set proved to be a hell of a chore, since he had make-up all over his body and the set had a foot of water on the floor. He had to come in wearing my waders and had to take them off up on the sacrificial platform. He looked like a Greek god up there all made up in white make-up, looking down at his people, green waders up to his waist. Quite a sight.

Then we dragged our way through the dialogue scene and then shot Amy’s break-down right at the end of the night. I had her only do one take because she nailed it and we were all just freaking done by that time. I was at the point where I started feeling careless and that’s not a good way to direct. It’s hard enough without having this crazy exhaustion overwhelming you.

Tonight was a different story. A big scene that I thought was going to be a ball-buster ended up being relatively pain-free, at least for me, because I wasn’t standing in the damn water like Amy, Lam and Handsome, the 2nd AD, were. Handsome was freezing but Amy and Lam seemed cool with it. I was really worried about Amy. It’s hard to act when you’re cold. The wet-suit she wore under her clothes really did the trick. Her performance was great.

Had Amy out of there by 10 or so, I think. Great night for her. Then started with the Pale Figures running around the temple. Got that done before 1 am. Got home at 2 am. Great short day after two crazy long ones.

Have to hit the hay now. Should be getting up around this time 24 hours from now to start heading over to the landfill, the last day of shooting ahead of me. Really looking forward to getting up this early. It’s great fun.

But I have the day off tomorrow which means hanging with the family. Last day with Sandra and Toby, too, who are leaving on Sunday. It’s been a cool trip for them. They went to the set again today and took pictures with Amy. My sister’s a fan.

Already having some sad feelings about ending the shoot. I really going to miss this crew and shooting in Hong Kong, even though I’ve dreaded so much of it. Contradicting emotions at play right now. Sunday will be an emotional day for me.

Peace out and here’s to the last day of shooting SEVENTH MOON!

At least until the pick-up day on Monday.

-ed

HAXAN YOUTUBE DIRECTOR’S FLICKR PRODUCER’S FLICKR ACTOR’S FLICKR