Simmonds Arrives/Awards Ceremony

Yesterday our wonderful DP Michael Simmonds arrived.  Michael has shot a number of great movies, and functions well in all environments, ranging from the tropics of Antarctica to the desert plains of Serbia.  So Santa Marta should be a breeze.

After a long day at the office and a number of arrepas and a brief consultation of how to reapproach Nora, we headed to a Colombian Production Grant Awards Ceremony.  Our friends and co-producers on the project--Dynamo--were up for a new film from Andreas Baiz, whose next film is prepping.  The ceremony was like nothing I've ever seen in that they gauge 80 projects or so, narrow it down to 20, bring those 20 in for interviews, and then have a huge ceremony in an auditorium to announce the winners while the non-winners sat and watched.

Michael and I sat in anticipation and confusion (as we barely understood what was happening) but after a five second delay we found out our Andreas won!  Which was great!  Again victory rears its head in pre-production!

From there we went to celebrate with Havana Club!  What a splendid way to pass an evening!  The festivities bore little to no resemblance to the picture below....

Tomorrow we head to Santa Marta.  V excited to catch up with Jack and with Frankie.  All's coming together.

Nora's Response

Half way through my first cigar in years, Nora, the aforementioned, lovely actress whom I've professionally courted to join this crazy trip, struck up an electronic conversation via Skype. While inappropriate to divulge all, let's just say it's official.... she's not going to be in the film.  It was confirmed by, what I can only deduce as a self-portrait expressing her thoughts on my persistence.

See Exhibit A

That said, I think she's alluding to there still being a chance.  Being from Detroit, optimism is in my genes.

While her enthusiasm in saying nahhh is evident, what remains to be seen is whether she or her representatives will file a restraining order.

The Longest Days

I did get to go to the Mall today again which is great.  They know me there by name.  I bought cigars and am smoking one, which is really nice, as I trudge on with work.  Michael Simmonds our beloved DP arrives tomorrow, and I had a great two line email exchange with Ben Kramer in LA which was awesome, as always.  This is pre-pre in Colombia when I should be at a premiere for a film I can't understand.  Producing is all about the leisure and perks.

Colombian Talk Shows

I learned something interesting today about me and Colombia.

When I'm not in the office, which, aside from scouting, is the rarified moment, I am in the Mall.  I really don't have the lay of the land in Bogota, and, admittedly, I never thought Malls were all the rage, despite the extreme fun propagated in Mallrats, but I've spent a fair amount of times in Malls since I got to Colombia.  First up was a few weeks back in Baranquilla where I ate MacDonalds.  Then I bought a thirty dollar Nokia phone and a four dollar wallet at a different one in Bogota.  I've pictured each below because, like a father, of my new children I'm proud.

Claudia, who I've mentioned but not formally introduced, is our production coordinator, and it was with grace and precision that she facilitated my new found love for the Malls.  She escorted me to the best stores where I pondered purchases of belts, wallets, jousts at pinball and air hockey, and Eurotrash sunglasses and revealing swim trunks (that Jack previously bought) that would provoke my dear mother to disinherit me.  Best of all she led me to a fast food eatery whose offerings exceeded my favorite MacDonalds meal in both taste and thrift.  Here she is, kind reader.  Under her watchful eye I pitifully navigate this foreign land.

From there the day turned sour.  I attempted to sneak onto a Colombian talk show called Extra but was promptly escorted out.  The show shared the same stage as the Colombian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.  Despite my vocation as an independent film producer, my aspirations covertly align with that show's ethos, yet I aborted invasion onto it.  Instead, all I earned was this lousy picture before the suits forcibly relocated me to the street's curb.

Publish Post

From there I made a last ditch pitch to convince my actress friend Nora to join us on this culturally enriching adventure.  Beg and plead as I did, she refused, for the seventeenth occasion, so the only option I can muster is breaking into tears on a video conference call.  Nora.  If you're reading, consider this an amazing non-Razzie opportunity!  Regardless of her decision, I will always adore her and a special place will always be vacant in my heart for her likes.  

Back at my apartment,  just got off the phone with Turner and, from the marbles swimming in his mouth, our radically talented (and patient)  casting director Susan Paley Abramson and I could only conclude that he was perfecting his Stephen Hawking impression for All Hallows Eve.  

I can only imagine what that cruise ship did to my poor business partner.