The KICK ME Saga - Part Nine

 Days 13 - 14: The End (for me)

Not really much to say; there wasn't a big blowout, no threats were made, nothing at all like that. And nothing that stuck out any more than any other day...

Back to the dojo to get wide & close-up angles of Jim Schweers and Santiago & Luthor escaping Blitz.

Day 14 started with a gas station sequence that did not make the final film:

Then back to the dojo - AGAIN - to finish it out. I STILL say Jim Schweers is the funniest bit in the movie, to me.

Some 'Fake Shemping'

And that's it. 

I can't recall what it was - it may have been a sarcastic reply to a remark Gary made that just escalated. I just wanted OUT... Leanne Reeves said something along the lines of 'Do you want to be fired?" and I responded along the lines of, "YES. PLEASE FIRE ME, PLEASE!!" And so, like Brer Rabbit, I Was Free. I said to not use my name in the credits and don't use me as The Dad. And that was it. Took the notes to transcribe and send it to the editor, slept, then packed the car up. The last thing was getting the check, which was a bit uglish: I had to tell someone that if it didn't show up in the mail, I'd drive around KCK until I found the location and demand it in person. It got sent - Overnight Mail.

It was nice, sleeping like a baby at night again. I would get texts from people just as the night's shooting started as I went to bed; then in the morning on waking up, I'd get told how the shooting went. And indeed, the crash & burn did happen.

Then - nothing. Did hear from people that reshoots were happening a year and a half later and that was a big "WHA????" That money had come in from Rooftop Films in NYC to finish it, and that after seeing footage, to feature Eric Logan's Ro-Tel more. Then nothing more again, until Gary's announcement to Kickstarter donors (I had forgotten I'd donated) in November 2022 that the film was finished and premiering in San Francisco in December 2022.

As to the end of the first shoot and the reshoots, I pass the baton to others who held on to the end and beyond... I'm certain they have better stories than I have.

That was my experience - I leave the last word to My Good Friend Andrew Wegst w/Kevin Mullin for an illustration:

How It Started

How It Ended

The KICK ME Saga - Part Six

 Days 8 & 9

The dojo sequence - the turning point for me.

This was frustrating because the way it was shot, there had to be constant resetting the background, moving things not intended to be seen out of the way, instead of shooting out the angles, then moving things. It was raining outside, so that limited putting things outside, and it ate up a lot of time that we didn't have. We still were not making our days, and at this point, it was a certainty that it wouldn't be finished on schedule. I told the producer that they should probably look for someone else, if this was going to be how things were going.

 

Had no idea who Josh Fadem was - didn't watch 30 ROCK and didn't care for ERIC ANDRE SHOW; it wasn't until he showed up on TWIN PEAKS years later that I realized he was a legitimate actor. (As with Eric Andre - wasn't until his recent bit on CABINET OF CURIOSITIES that I took him seriously.)

 

Paul Burns (Victim)

Jim Schweers - Jim Schweers

Alberto Mercado Ortiz - Mr. Choki

Josh Fadem - Soldier 1 (Doug)

Stuart Scott Smith - Soldier 2 (Randy)/2nd set PA

For me, Jim Schweers was the funniest part in the film so far, on the page and the shoot up to this point.

 

Rehearsal (Kyle Garrison standing in)

Not a happy man...