Earthkiller -- yet more pictures (part I)

Whew -- lucky for us Joe and Libby took a lot of "behind the scenes" pictures.

Lucy Rayner as Raze and Robin Kurtz as Helen.

The Queen of Mars on the left, while Greg Oliver Bodine sits on the floor, Robin Kurtz in background.

The Queen of Mars hollywoods a light while Andrew Bellware shoots down the "robot shaft".

Libby Csulik supervises from behind her desk while Kari Geddes has rubber guts attached to her by the Queen of Mars. Anthony Pepe made those guts for us back on the movie Pandora Machine and I THINK we've used them in every movie since. Now THAT'S amortizing a cost!

The Queen of Mars starts the makeup job on Robin Kurtz which will eventually cover her whole body (Robin's, not the Queen's). I think they got this process down to about 45 minutes the last time they did it.

Earthkiller -- yet more pictures (part II)

Remember that shot where I was shooting down the "robot shaft"? Well this is what was at the other "end". I'm on my way to my therapist now.

Andrew Bellware looking all lonely and confused inside the airlock.

Nat Cassidy in what clearly needs to be his next Facebook profile picture, with Alaina Hammond.

Libby Csulik finds the job of slating to be so exciting that she turns into a zombie.

Do not pay the Ferryman Henry Maduka Steady 'till you get to the other side. That's all I'm sayin'.

Earthkiller -- yet more pictures (part III)

Lucy Rayner and Tom Rowen (who just can't keep his shirt on.)

David Ian Lee (in profile), Lucy Rayner (pointing her gun at the director), and Andrew Bellware.

Andrew Bellware on a precarious perch shooting downwise at a scene.

Katie Hannigan and Robin Kurtz confer with Andrew Bellware. This was one of our many very hot days.

Robin Kurtz showing off her amazing arms as she opens a jammed-shut door to let Katie Hannigan escape.

Earthkiller BTS

Here's the last bit of behind the scenes I'm publishing today.

Here I am, having forsaken pants, shooting Michael Chmiel and Anthony Litton (who are about to be blown out of the airlock.)

This is a great picture for showing the set of the "robot room". It's only accessible via that tube, but there's also a door in the floor of the set (which doesn't go anywhere) and a huge Blade Runner-ish fan above.

Henry Steady in a slate action shot.

Did you say you wanted more behind-the-scenes from Earthkiller?

Robin Kurtz and Katie Hannigan do a walk-and-talk, Andrew Bellware on camera, I'll presume the Queen of Mars on boom. EDIT: actually, that's David Frey on boom. I thought the ring on the finger indicated QOM, but no, it's the sexy, sexy David Frey.

Robin Kurtz looking through a back-lit door. I'm on camera.

Robin Kurtz (looking really excited to be here) waits while Andrew Bellware shoots Katie Hannigan's entrance.

Here I look like I'm directing but I assure you I'm only saying "Your character is the only smart one, everyone else is just one of a bunch of idiots" because I said that to every actor. Alaina Hammond, Maduka Steady, Andrew Bellware, and Nat Cassidy.

It looks like the drugs we were piping through the ventilation system have kicked in. Maduka Steady, Lucy Rayner, and Nat Cassidy.

Earthkiller Behind the Scenes by Joe

Yet e'en more behind the scenes of the funtastical Earthkiller. I think Joe Chapman took all these pictures although some may have been taken by Libby Csulik (the ones she isn't in, of course.)

Robin Kurtz in the foreground. Libby Csulik peers around the set. Henry Steady stands next to Andrew Bellware (at the camera.) That might be the Queen of Mars standing behind Drew.

Andrew Bellware shows playback to Robin Kurtz, Joe Chapman, and Lucy Rayner.

Kari Geddes and Libby Csulik get ready to be "blue shirts" dead on the floor.

I like this picture -- it shows of the sheer enormity of our sets.

Here I am conferring with a pile of the undead.

More Scenes Behind

Earthkiller:

Chien, my sister Jean's dog, was on set one day. She makes sure we're on schedule and getting our coverage.

Andrew Bellware on camera with Libby Csulik wearing a simply fabulous jacket and Henry Steady keeping us from going completely off script (actually, it's likely that he was reading the lines the "Automated Voice" says.

Robin Kurtz as Helen activates the self destruct on the Earthkiller.

This is seriously one of my most favorite shots. Robin Kurtz on the set of the Earthkiller. In the crepuscular left of the screen you can just barely make out Maduka Steady.

Behind the Scenes on Earthkiller (part 1)

Joe Chapman sent me a bunch of awesome behind-the-scenes stills from Earthkiller. I thought I'd share.

Libby Csulik does job #1, making sure the director has mixed drinks.

The beautiful Robin Kurtz and the absurdly photogenic Henry Steady look at the script.

The Elevator set -- I'm on camera, Robin Kurtz is in frame, and Libby Csulik is being grip -- running a "gag" which makes the light flash over Robin like the floors are going up.

Robin Kurtz with the beacon, Henry Steady, and Andrew Bellware (with camera and Tyrannosaurus Mouse T-shirt).

Lucy Rayner waits for her cue.

How do we know when we're done?

This is how we know:

More from the Desert

Shooting exteriors can be a lot of fun. We got rained out a few times before we could shoot this day. But whew, finally we did it.

We're shooting at f22 so there's just no limit to the depth of field.

So, actor... looking directly at the sun. Eergh. If I'd a-only thought about it I'da said something, now I feel bad. Looks great though. Hope her eyes are OK. Robin Kurtz as Helen. She was wearing way too little clothing for how cold it was today. But she gets to keep the groovy leather jacket we bought for her character! Woo!

The Queen of Mars looks upon the damaged android.

We'll have to add heat distortion to this shot. It wasn't that cold but I'm glad I could wear my coat under the cloak. My costume was originally made for my friend Ed McNamee's musical La Gioconda by the brilliant Michael Bevins. The goggles are from Carly Hirshberg, who designed costumes for Clonehunter, and the rebreathers are from Brian Schiavo. You might remember the Queen of Mars' costume from Millennium Crisis.

All About Drew Day

Today I made my cameo in Earthkiller. Look at that! You can see the entire crew in my goggles! Hee!

Day 14 Gorillas

Today was our final day of photography on Earthkiller. That is, the final day of photography which was in addition to principal photography. And no, that doesn't mean I can absolutely guarantee we won't be shooting a little something here and there before we lock picture. But I'm fairly sure we won't be shooting anything other than someone's hand coming into frame.
In any case, we had to shoot the only exteriors in the movie. So we went to the Gobi Desert Robert Moses State Park on Fire Island, NY.
Could we have shot this on Coney Island? Probably. But we didn't. But, as it turns out, supposedly you need permits to go on the beach. We... uh... didn't get them. We probably spent about 20 minutes shooting. You know, we started shooting this picture on the what? 17th of July. And now it's the 19th of November. That means we've been shooting for nigh on 5 months. But it's OK because we got the trailer out to potential buyers and we'll have the picture complete for Cannes.
The Queen of Mars and I played desert Freemen, finding the body of Helen (Robin Kurtz) in the Philadelphia Desert.

Robin lay on the sand for about 20 minutes before we turned around and went home. Well, maybe not 20 minutes, maybe only about 6 minutes. But she got to direct me when she was operating the camera.

I Ain't Buyin' It

Someone on the Internet was wrong today and I just have to fix it.

Overthinking it has the Female Character Flowchart. Now I'm gonna make an ad hominem remark. I bet the author don't do nuthin' in the dramatic arts. This chart is based, in part, on this essay which (in a nutshell) asks for "weak" female characters (meaning: characters who are flawed, not "weak".) I buy that. Perfect characters aren't terribly interesting dramatically.

So getting back to what's wrong with this chart: it has Ripley from Alien in it.

And you don't go messin' with Alien on my watch.

Now here's an interesting thing about the year 1977 and the Ripley character. She was originally written to be a man. You can tell that Lambert's character is a "female" character from the time as she's kind of useless and specifically 'cause she won't stop screaming and get the hell out of the way when the alien shows up at the end and Yaphet Kotto has a flame thrower and could have just killed the damn thing.

Oh wait. Suddenly I don't care. Because in that "weak" character essay (linked above), Ripley is explicitly characterized as a strong (meaning flawed) female character. So... I don't care about the logical inconsistencies anymore. Sorry to have bothered you. Carry on.

Maybe I care about Amazon Studios. Oh wait. No, I really don't. I'll upload a movie, see if they want to send me a million dollars.

Otherwise I think I want to make a Warhammer 40K movie. Maybe I should just watch the Chronicles of Riddick again...

More Behind the Scenes

Joe Chapman sent me some behind-the-scenes stills from Earthkiller. I don't know who took them, either Joe or Libby Csulik I suspect.

Andrew Bellware behind the camera.

Rik Nagel and Brian Silliman. You can see the edge of the set here which I think is cool.

Brian Silliman on set while the wonderfully silhouetted Henry Steady booms. Note the radically different color temperatures between the florescent on our set and the sunlight through the window.