Wide Awake

You know what’s nice? Catching yourself in a moment of your life where you think, “I have never been here before, or anywhere remotely like this…EVER.” I felt that way the other night, Oscar night in fact. Here’s what happened…

When people are talking in a screenplay, you want to find ways to make it interesting to look at. Two people in a moving car is generally a lot cooler than watching people talk in a room. But in that pre-production period when Jieho and I were compressing locations and cutting speaking roles to try and save money, it was suggested by our producers that we start cutting driving scenes. So that’s what we did, keeping just the driving scenes that were the most important, and it ended up being one day of shooting to cover all the scenes.

Well, I just found out why we cut driving scenes: they’re not a pain in the butt, really, but…well, actually, yes they are.

Here’s what happens: you want Brendan Fraser and Emile Hirsch driving in a car and talking? First thing you do is take the wheels off the car and put the car on a giant trailer called a process trailer. On this trailer you must also fit your camera, maybe a dolly, lights, and the entire camera crew.

Pulling this trailer is the camera car, which basically is a very big pick-up with a flap over the back to shield whoever’s riding. On this you have the sound guy and his equipment, the video guy and his equipment, two video monitors, the director, script supervisor, assistant director armed with a bull-horn, a producer crouched on a little apple-box, and if you’re lucky, a screenwriter, grinning ear to ear.

So when it comes time to shoot, the camera car starts up, pulling the process trailer behind it. And behind them, are about six to ten other vehicles that basically block traffic and provide background. That way, when you’re shooting Brendan’s close-up for instance, you don’t have an SUV driving beside him with people hanging out the windows taking pictures. No, that’s what you have in between shots. Seriously, it’s a major production and we stick out like sore thumb, especially when we’re driving through one of the busiest areas in downtown Mexico. The cars are all around us are a mix of star-struck people, trying to drive and simultaneous take pictures on their cell phones, while the rest of the cars are angrily honking at us for slowing down traffic.

Imagine Emile tearing through some of the funniest dialogue Jieho and I have ever written, when some creep starts laying on his horn through the entire shot, just to mess us up. It’s a crazy process, but we’re blessed with an amazing team and incredible actors who ended up nailing it every single time.

Eventually, the sun went down, and we set off for another scene. As police held traffic, we took a sharp turn into probably the busiest intersection in Mexico City…and broke a wheel. All of sudden, there we are, stranded, holding up about a THOUSAND cars (I’m only sorta exaggerating). Sarah and Brendan were in this scene, and thus stuck in the car, trying to keep each other laughing and in good spirits as a thousand cars honked in rage at us, our crew racing to fix the trailer and get us on our way before we started a revolution in the streets.

After a tense fifteen minutes, we finally took off and as we slowly drove through the streets, we passed through a specific park where Mariachis in full costume socialized on the side of the street. I don’t know how it happened, but a producer leapt into action, money changed hands, and all of a sudden, there we are, driving through the bright lights of Mexico City, pulling a process trailer behind us, as a Mariachi perched on the corner of the trailer, serenading the crew in between shots.

That’s the moment where I just laughed and thought, “I have never been here before, or anywhere remotely like this…EVER.” And it was right after that when word came over the radio…Brendan’s film CRASH had just won the Academy Award for best picture. Brendan was playing a very serious, quiet scene, and in between takes, he was cheering like a kid, completely thrilled.

I felt so privileged to be a part of this moment, and so privileged to be here in Mexico City, where every day brings a new experience, a new chance to live a moment so unlike any other I’ve ever lived before. I guess that’s what life is, a never-ending series of chances to do something new, see something special. I take it for granted when I’m home and one day just seems to roll into the next. But I do not take this experience for granted. Not at all.

I’m wake awake in Mexico City, drinking in the city and the experience of making this movie.

And I am forever changed.