10 July 2013
Quote of the Day: Rob Thomas
The Veronica Mars movie is filming now. Here's a story from set from writer/director/creator Rob Thomas:
Last week I was stressed about one detail on our schedule. I needed a man dressed like a gorilla for a scene in the movie. More specifically, I needed a man dressed like a gorilla to dance in the foreground of one of the shots, while Kristen and Ken Marino played a scene on a bench behind said dancing gorilla.
The problem was, unless you hire an actor who has auditioned (as opposed to using an extra), you never know what you're going to get. I was afraid we'd end up with someone who had no dancing ability — or, more importantly, no willingness to go for it, to really cut loose and dance.
Where to get a dancer? Where to get a dancer?
It was at this point that I thought of Ryan Hansen. He'd just wrapped his last scene of the movie a few hours earlier, and he committed the cardinal sin of hanging out on set afterwards.
I can't begin to tell you how short the list is of actors I've worked with who I'd feel okay walking up to after they've wrapped, and saying, Hey, I know you’re not working tomorrow, but do you mind coming in, dressing in a heavy, old, smelly gorilla costume, and dancing in a scene as glorified background?
Come to think of it, Ryan may be the only person on that list.
And naturally, he agreed to do it, because he's a better person than you or I or anyone we know. After he agreed, I went back and sat in my director's chair. I thought about it for a little longer, and I had another idea.
Well, what if we don't tell the other actors that it's Ryan in that gorilla costume? And what if, during the second or third take, I just come storming onto the set from my chair and just start screaming at the gorilla for upstaging our actors, throwing an absolute tantrum?
Naturally, Ryan was game for this as well.
The next day, we put the plan in motion. Ryan was dancing with abandon in the gorilla suit. After the first take, I barked that "the monkey needed to tone it down a bit." After the next take, without yelling cut, I came out from behind the monitors with a full head of steam. I started yelling, The movie is called VERONICA MARS! Not MAN IN MONKEY SUIT!
Kristen and Ken stared at me wide-eyed. I'm not really a tantrum thrower. The 30-some Kickstarter extras who were working as extras thought I had lost my mind.
It was at this point that Ryan sheepishly took off his gorilla mask and told me he'd try to do better. Laughter and relief all the way around.
Last week I was stressed about one detail on our schedule. I needed a man dressed like a gorilla for a scene in the movie. More specifically, I needed a man dressed like a gorilla to dance in the foreground of one of the shots, while Kristen and Ken Marino played a scene on a bench behind said dancing gorilla.
The problem was, unless you hire an actor who has auditioned (as opposed to using an extra), you never know what you're going to get. I was afraid we'd end up with someone who had no dancing ability — or, more importantly, no willingness to go for it, to really cut loose and dance.
Where to get a dancer? Where to get a dancer?
It was at this point that I thought of Ryan Hansen. He'd just wrapped his last scene of the movie a few hours earlier, and he committed the cardinal sin of hanging out on set afterwards.
I can't begin to tell you how short the list is of actors I've worked with who I'd feel okay walking up to after they've wrapped, and saying, Hey, I know you’re not working tomorrow, but do you mind coming in, dressing in a heavy, old, smelly gorilla costume, and dancing in a scene as glorified background?
Come to think of it, Ryan may be the only person on that list.
And naturally, he agreed to do it, because he's a better person than you or I or anyone we know. After he agreed, I went back and sat in my director's chair. I thought about it for a little longer, and I had another idea.
Well, what if we don't tell the other actors that it's Ryan in that gorilla costume? And what if, during the second or third take, I just come storming onto the set from my chair and just start screaming at the gorilla for upstaging our actors, throwing an absolute tantrum?
Naturally, Ryan was game for this as well.
The next day, we put the plan in motion. Ryan was dancing with abandon in the gorilla suit. After the first take, I barked that "the monkey needed to tone it down a bit." After the next take, without yelling cut, I came out from behind the monitors with a full head of steam. I started yelling, The movie is called VERONICA MARS! Not MAN IN MONKEY SUIT!
Kristen and Ken stared at me wide-eyed. I'm not really a tantrum thrower. The 30-some Kickstarter extras who were working as extras thought I had lost my mind.
It was at this point that Ryan sheepishly took off his gorilla mask and told me he'd try to do better. Laughter and relief all the way around.
Labels: Veronica Mars
# posted by mamurd @ 10:15 PM 
