Studio Gallery II - Van Nuys, CA
This was the second day of shooting at the studio and it was full of a lot of great energy. There were three awesome parts to this day.
First, there was a new character added to the mix, an archivist named Cid, played by the actor, Jason Konopisos. He was a blast to work with, always being willing to snap into character between takes to have his photograph captured.
Secondly, we had stunts on this day! Early on in the slideshow you’re going to see a couple of guys working through a stunt routine. That group of guys was lead by the spectacular, Vince Cecere. Vin has been in the television film industry for many years. He has a memorable Italian accent and it has served him well in many roles. Vin was the second person associated with this film that I recognized. It took me a whole day to remember where I had seen him previously. On the first day, I didn't remember, but I came onto set and met him again the second day. I looked at him and said, “Serving Sara. You played one of the bodyguards, like one of the hit men, right?” He humbly said, “Yeah, that was a fun picture…” The best thing about Vin Cecere, is that he’ll happily tell you stories from his work, all the things that happened on set. I was glued to his every word, because, of course, Matthew Perry and Elizabeth Hurley were both in Serving Sara (fanboy, geek-out moment number 2).
Vince freelances as a stunt coordinator, and man, he is good. He just knows that stuff so well. He came in with three of his assistants, and they went through their scene and stunts for the day. They kicked serious butt and when needed, got their butts kicked. His three actors were playing those blood-hungry ravagers and did a spectacular job.
The third awesome part of the day was the great makeup work done by Shirley Do and her assistant. RUST is supposed to be a virulent blood disease and to show this, Shirley had a few tricks up her sleeve which I won’t divulge. The ravagers in particular looked great. In the end, she was able to make purple veins come to the surface of the skin, make skin wrinkle and deteriorate…well pretty much make you believe that some one was really stricken with this disease.
Adding a fourth awesome part of the day…
I should also mention the great work of costume designer, Bo Toxicuh, who had never worked on a film before, but came through in a big way. He created all of the costumes from scratch, by altering a few pieces/costumes he had previously created for punk rock bands. I believed in the way the ravagers looked. I was convinced. It was a great job by all, and a great day of filming:
