Gregory's Remarks on Lucky Juliet

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Last day of shooting!

The day started early at the salon. Janelle showed up and to get her hair and makeup done. The wedding dress was put to use and Janelle was stunning.

Georgia Gregersen came to play Betty the waitress at the diner. She was very cute. Everyone loved her and was really happy with her performance. The diner scene was difficult. The lines were difficult to get out and everything took twice as long as usual.

This was weird for a number of reasons. First of all, Janelle and I were most familiar with this portion of the script. The scene was basically the short film script that the feature length movie was based on. What I think happened was that the characters had evolved so much during the shoot, that Janelle and I had to work harder to tell the "new truth" of the scene. In any case, I think the struggle really addded something to it.

After a break, I put on a suit and we did the wedding sequence: lunch at Taco Bell, walking in front of the church, walking through the pidgeons at the homeless shelter, riding public transportation, and bowling. We were wished congratulations everywhere. The guy at Taco Bell gave us free drinks as a wedding gift.

We ended the evening with a few different scenes that we had to pick up. We ended the evening with a good improv scene.

Corner store, Mom and Daughter fight, kids in the car, and a kitchen floor party

Man, did the fatigue of a long couple of weeks kick in yesterday. Good thing everyone is tough and focused. The day began with Thomas, playing Tyler, doing scenes with me at the Corner Market. Good stuff. Ralph, the owner, even got in on the action and played my boss. I cleaned windows, swept, and sat down, just like you would in real life.

Lisa Grow showed up to play Juliet's mom. The fight scene between Janelle and her was awesome. I was in the middle of it and it was fun to watch. Lisa was wonderful. Jana Edgington and her daughter Sammy came in for the scene and they were both great. Sammy was so well behaved. Jana came in like a pro, did her part, and really added a lot to the scene. Everyone was happy with both of them.

We picked up some the car scenes and Jason's kids came to the set to play Lucky's kids. They were very cute and took direction well. Janelle and I drove, walked, and drove some more. I encouraged Janelle to throw the wild flowers she picked out the window. I don't think Gregory was too happy about it. He also didn't like when I drove off without him and Jason.

Dinner occured and then Janelle and I did the "softball" scene on the floor in the kitchen. It was a funny scene at times, especially when Janelle decided to get sick and go throw up during the scene. It certainly added something special.

Bought a bra, took a shower, met some people, went to a bar

I had to go to the store to buy a bra on my way to the set today. For one of the scenes, Juliet's bra needed to be hanging up on the shower curtain rod. I picked out a nice one(cheap) at the store and proceeded to buy it. Why I got weird looks from the workers, I'll never know.

Took a shower with Jason sometimes in the shower with me and sometimes without. Good thing I didn't forget to bring my swim trunks. We had to turn the hot water down because it was steaming too much for the camera.....or maybe it was me.

It was definitely the hot water.

We went to Downtown Music and met some interesting people. Alex played Juliet's brother, Marcus. Good stuff, good scenes. Juliet also met up with an old friend who was playing in a bar later that night.

We did the scene where Lucky gets upset at Juliet's accusations and then went to Sonic. By the time we were done, Janelle and I were dead tired. Janelle is a good sport, but she's been running on fumes all week. I think everyone needs some sleep. Greg talked us into going to the bar for 20 minutes to watch the band and we took off. The fatigue is creeping up on us.

Scene with a towel, scene with Mike, a wedding dress, and a duck pond

This morning was all about Steve. There was orange juice and a towel and not much else.

After we were done with that fun stuff, I drove to the Post Office to pick up Juliet's wedding dress.

Mike Donahue came by to film a scene as Lucky's brother-in-law. He confronts Lucky about the accusations Marissa has been making. It really turned out to be a great scene. After we were done, we went outside and Mike played us some tunes on the guitar. Good times.

Janelle came over in the afternoon and tried on the wedding dress. Perfect fit. Beautiful.

Janelle and I were then filmed taking the Trax, taking the bus, and walking to the duck pond. Jason tried to take the Trax, but he was moving too slow and missed the train. We had to wait a little while until we met up with him again. He did get some good footage while he was lost, though.

While we were walking around with Greg, Jason, and the camera behind us, people kept staring at Janelle and me. It must have looked like Janelle was a celebrity and I was her body guard. I even saw a guy in a truck pull out a camera and snap a quick picture.

The duck pond scene was awesome, except for the fact that during my close up, I got these really bad cramps in my legs and had to stop filming. I think I've been getting dehydrated, so I'm going to have to watch it. We did, thank goodness, get the shots we needed and the dailies looked great. I'm thrilled with how today worked out.

Fight with Reisha, song with Emme, and fight with Matt

Today, we started with a scene where I'm dropping the kids off and Reisha gives me a hard time. She's got that scorned ex-wife routine down.

Emme Packer, who plays my sister Faith, came by for a scene where we celebrate my birthday. We make lunch, go outside to enjoy it, and then I find out that Emme asked my estranged wife, Reisha, over for my birthday. It becomes awkward, Emme plays me an original birthday song, and Reisha takes off. I thought Emme was a total pro, and we had some really good moments. The song was great, too.

Matt Webb and Janelle did the confrontation scene which ended with Matt and I getting physical and Janelle getting upset. The fighting was so realistic, that many neighbors stopped by just to make sure no one was getting hurt. Janelle was a trooper and was caught in the middle of it. I think Matt and I sold the fight and it was a pleasure to work with him for the first time. Definitely not the last time.

Jet lag or not, it's time for work

I've had a devil of a time getting back from the Fastnet Short Film Festival in West Cork, Ireland. The Penny-Ante Affair, that I acted in, premiered at the festival and was well received. The travel home was a nightmare. I hope they can at least find my luggage!

I walked in the house at 5:00pm and had a 6:00pm call time. A few energy drinks got me on my feet and we finished filming the Trax scene with Dino, Janelle, and me. I honestly don't know what happened after I crashed from the energy drinks, but I somehow finished the scene and found my way back home. The dailies showed some beautiful things. Tomorrow starts early and I only hope I can get some sleep and some script time before we get on our feet. I'm seriously having the time of my life.

Car, Park, and Bowling

The day began in the morning with less sleep than I would have wanted. Reisha and I began rehearsing a scene we are to do next week. Once we were sufficiently warmed up, we went to the car to do a scene about divorce papers. Reisha was cold-blooded. I mean good. She played her character just cold as ice. We had some really good moments. I still made her laugh, though.

Dino arrived and we rehearsed the Trax scene and Janelle joined us after eating some vegetables, or something. We started to get kind of the flow of the scene. These rehearsals have been invaluable. I feel I'm making real moments with the other actors and good things are happening.

After Janelle changed into her rollerblading outfit(great socks) and filming a few scenes at the house, we left for Liberty Park to film a scene where Tim-Tim happens to bump into Juliet. We had to avoid some drunks and crazies, but got some good footage.

We went back to base, changed outfits, and went to the bowling alley to test some footage and rehearse with Micah. She did some great work. The dailies looked great. Some really good things happened today and the project is getting me really excited. I think we have something special.

Rehearsal and shooting(second day for me)

I met Greg and Jason at the coffee shop and we headed over to the grocery store. Jason made mention of how he always gets kicked out of grocery stores when he has tried to film inside. Not this time. We filmed everywhere and the customers and the employees were all very cool. Lucky was shopping for vegetarian items for Juliet.

We went back to Jason's and met Janelle. We shot some improv scenes with Lucky and Juliet getting the groceries out of the car and into the apartment. The pizza fell out of the box and onto the floor. I thought it was awesome. We put the stuff away and then sat down to rehearse the diner scene. That scene is going to require some special attention to get it just right.

Janelle and I went outside to the stairs and sat down eating our fruit "casserole." Chopped mango, bananas, salted almonds, and honey on top. It was the worst combination. I had to spit out what I had in my mouth at one point. Janelle and I had some really good moments there on the stairs and it was way easy to work with her. I couldn't ask for a better scene partner.

We planned out the next day's schedule and called it a night.

First day of shooting

Today, I picked Jason, then Greg, up and the camera was rolling. From the time Greg got in the car until I was done with eating Beto's, the camera didn't stop. The new battery that Jason was using didn't hold the charge, so after a battery swap, we continued.

Greg wanted to make sure that we got all the shots we needed, so Jason went outside to shoot me from the windows. After about 5 minutes, a cop car slowed to a stop, and an officer approached. Jason, always the pro, didn't stop filming while the cop asked him what he was up to. It looked like he was a paparazzo the way he was going about. I didn't break character either, so it seemed that Jason was up to no good and that I was none the wiser. After looking the cop in the eye(through the window) and giving him two thumbs up and a grin, he smiled and let Jason be.

I then jaywalked over State street to the Piper Down bar and walked inside. There was some chick hanging outside the bar who struck up a conversation with me. She seemed friendly, but I was busy. I then walked back. Since we were shooting late on a Sunday night on Mother's Day, no less, there wasn't a lot of traffic. This made the stroll to and from the bar boring. I went "back to one" as they say and went to and from the bar, yet again. This time, I waited til there was a lot of cars and ran between them. Far more interesting to watch.

Greg, Jason, and I discussed the schedule and I dropped them both off, going over to Jason's afterward for our mandatory conversation session.

Cover Art

Original cover art by Gregory.

Pre-production has begun.

Lucky Juliet is a feature length movie about love. Written by Gregory C. Haynes, who is also directing, Lucky Juliet is set to begin filming in May 2009. The director of photography, Jason Eggleston, is also producing. Steve Bethers is cast as Lucky and Janelle Odair will be playing Juliet.