Someone had to drop out. Tom (Director) was looking for someone to take on his role. I volunteered. As I said, we were at a party. The goal was to appear somewhat hungover. There was some drinking going on. My judgement may have been impaired when I agreed to help.
Trooper that I am, I remembered the next morning and drove out to Jeremy's (Cast member/Set homeowner). At this point, I barely knew most of these people. It was a strange and frightening experience. On top of that, I hadn't done much acting since high school! Sure, a bit of voice stuff for the radio, but that's completely different to me.
Day 1 was a complete debacle. No one was on time. Well, a couple of us were. I was, Jeremy was. Erik (Cast member) and Kelcie (Cast member) were. We spent all day there. We shot a lot of footage, and we also spent a lot of time not shooting anything (this would be a recurring theme). We didn't use much, if any, of the footage from day 1. I mean that. We spent 10 hours out there (well, those of us who arrived on time), and we did more that contributed to the gag reel than the actual movie. We set up tents. Not once is anyone in a tent in the end.
Largely though, we hung out. We talked, we joked around. A year later and the cast of Dead Woods includes some of my closest friends, and these are people I barely knew a year ago. As frustrating as it tended to be at times making the damned thing, I don't regret a minute of it.
Last night, on the anniversary of our pre-movie flip cup party, we got together to record a commentary. Like much of the movie, it was fueled by Miller High Life. Afterwards, we had a bit of a bonfire. The further removed I get from the movie, the more I like it. And the further away we get from shooting it, the more I miss that. I'd do another one right now if I could.
Dead Woods is a finished movie now. There's nothing left to do but make DVDs and try to find ways for people to see it. You'll never see me even TRY to review it here. There's no way I could be objective enough.
