Beneath, Between, Behind the Scenes: Getting Ready to Shoot in August 2024
M. Francis Enright is a filmmaker. His first short film, HR, was accepted into zero of the 23 festivals to which it was submitted. His second short film, The Routine, was nominated for Best Dark Comedy at the Georgia Comedy Film Festival. His third short film, Say Your Name, won Best Drama and Best Director at the Top Shorts Films Festival and has been selected for the 2024 Boston International Film Festival.
Scene 22 Notes
Robert DeNiro on actors not having to do anything. Paul Schrader said, in his commentary on Taxi Driver, that DeNiro wanted him to record Travis’s narration. He is not sure what DeNiro did with it. But we see it. It is backstory; emotional backstory.
Schrader said that there was much more narration about loneliness in the script than ended up in the final product. That is because it didn’t need to be said; we see it.
DeNiro really didn’t do much in terms of physical movement; he didn’t have to. He watched. That was his role; a watcher. Until he finally decides to act.
When an actor feels it inside and they can relate that to the audience without doing anything, it separates them from other actors. It is going on inside of them and the audience can see it.
I think this can be applied to the director, the cinematographer, etc. Don’t keep trying to do as much. Be restrained.
The DP worked for Jacob. She is more his person than Toby’s, which means she is not really down with his program. Remember that we are coming into the middle of the shoot, and she might be getting fed up with him. He has some agenda that she is just becoming aware of and is getting in the way
At the end, one of the grips says, “Man that is a fuckin’ hard situation. You gotta feel for the guy. Unrequited love is the worst.” Sort of a Kevin Smith moment at the end of Clerks.
After Jacob leaves, Toby is watching him go from the window, leaving with Melissa.
We are paying $2,000 a day for the park.
When Jacob walks into the motel room in the beginning he and Melissa should have the attitude that they just walked in on a porn being shot.
Toby hearing Melissa say that she and Steve are engaged is the impetus for the scene in the motel room.
Jacob did not know they were shooting at the motel.
Have the basketball hit the craft service table.
Between Scenes 18 and 19, the actual dialogue should be seen from the POV of Toby, which makes it different from the POV of Scene 1. Toby is not looking at the actors; he is looking at Jacob. Also, have an eye for the editing-replaying this scene, messing with the dialogue etc.
Toby has a scene of self-loathing, loneliness etc. “I’m fat.” The audience should really feel for Toby. We have all been in the position of unrequited love.
The Toby and Jacob characters should have the dynamic of the characters in Sideways. Jacob has outgrown this relationship/partnership. He actually is moving to the west coast to pursue an opportunity. Toby is not included in that opportunity.
Maybe change the city from Seattle to LA.
Have some BTS scenes where Jacob is talking about his opportunity. Melissa can talk about it as well. Toby talks about being left behind. This film is kind of a desperate move to go with Jacob but it is more than that.
Interrupt the basketball court scene with a plane overhead.
I can walk by talking loudly on my phone.
One of the actors says, “I’m not homophobic, but this was not in the original script. I am going to have to call the agent.” The actor says, “You have an agent?”
Interview with Jacob on another film set sometime later. Maybe get this in LA. Or maybe he is moving to NYC.
Part of the gag is that the actors are repeating the same dialogue and the crew are repeating the same lines and ideas: “More intimate.”
Quick scene with Jacob and Melissa- “It was not the dynamic we had in the original script.”
Scene 22 (1/8/24)
Shoot in NYC/Westchester
· Motel/Bedroom
· Cycling (separate bikes and then a two-person bike)
· Canoe/Kayak
Shoot in August 2024?
Jay is going to show the script to a casting director.
Shannon, the DP, is also talking as the Assistant Director.
The idea is that Toby is revealing to Jacob that he has romantic feelings for him. Jacob does not feel the same way. To him, they are old friends. Toby also has a girlfriend/fiancée.
They keep reshooting Scene 22 over and over in different locations. The dialogue remains the same in each scene but the dynamic changes. In the beginning, the dynamic is like Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in Goodwill Hunting. As the film progresses, the tone of the dialogue becomes more intimate which is supposed to match the different locations. (The locations aren’t set in stone, but I want them to reflect the evolving nature of what Toby is trying to reveal to Jacob.) So the actors will have to be able to nuance the way they deliver the lines.
This is a rough draft. I’ll add in more BTS footage and other details to flesh it out.
Scene 22 Shooting Notes
When Jacob comes in during the first scene from being out of the room and asks why the actors have their shirts off, catch him with the BTS camera.
Try to avoid just having the BTS camera rolling all the time. When in doubt, use it, but pick specific moments to get.
There needs to be something in the BTS footage that indicates that Toby has had feelings for Jacob for some time. Something he says or something that Melissa says.
