As stated by some, making a movie is a collaborative affair. I think the word that represents it the best is Communion. It’s sharing or exchanging intimate thoughts and feelings towards a specific goal to make the very best possible Movie. And the best ideas or concepts can come from anyone associated with the team. I’ll give a few quick examples.
Dialogue
Shira Behore, who completed her first book and published it at the age of 19, took a personal interest in Asherah’s dialogue. Anyone who has written a script knows how precious words are to a writer. But, she would challenge some of the words used. Not many, but enough we would talk about them to ensure consistency of character and verbal approach. In one example, she hit it out of the park. When her character enters the Art Gallery, I originally had the line, “I just stepped into a Technicolor Movie.” Shira recommended changing the word “Movie” to “Wonderland.” This may not seem like much, but it was perfect. Reason? I use the Alice in Wonderland motif throughout the screenplay as subtext. This one word provided an excellent play to all of that subtext. Just Beautiful!
Wardrobe
Connor Tuohy, the co-star playing Raphael’s character, was working on his wardrobe. We established that he would contrast his dress as very casual to the Asherah character being a bit dressed up. I had envisioned the scene from the Movie, Jerry Maguire when Tom Cruise takes out Renee Zellweger on their first date. So, we were very conscience of what Asherah wore but not so much with Raphael. I told him to keep it casual with a tee shirt and a pair of jeans. Well, he hit it out of the park too. Being a NY fashion model, he would not stand for just the ordinary. He sent me pictures of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans tee shirts. Since his character gives Asherah a Piggyback ride, the concept is that his shirt would foreshadow what is to come. We decided on the Lone Ranger and Trigger tee shirt. Asherah eventually gets blindfolded, and she already calls him Trigger in her dialogue. So this allows the audience a foreshadowing with what was to come. Just Brilliant!
On The Set
Trevis X. Leigh Williams, Art Director. Just one of many from the Production Crew. I will address more later, but this one comes to mind. It was the first night of the shoot. Once on set, we found out that we would not use the bedroom as planned. This was a critical and significant change. So we reconsidered a scene utilizing the living room’s couch. There was not enough room for two to lie side by side, as outlined in the script, but since it was L shaped, we could have two people across from one another. Perpendicular. I was at wits’ end. Trevis saved the night. She said that the right angle would represent an alternative realm that Asherah was returning into Raphael’s life. That Asherah was at a higher plane than Raphael. Just crazy, a bit of a stretch, but I believed her; and used it for the shoot.
Trevis is bright and at a higher plane!
