8th April 2007
Bentwaters – Shoot Day Five
To make up some time we split into two units and I take David to shoot the Ronnie BZG cage scene whilst Mike looks after pick ups with Richard. We make good headway but are constantly against the clock. Mike keeps pressing for urgency and, although he’s right, we are rushing and still dropping scenes.
Mike and I have a team talk by the gates to New Town at lunch and we are both stressed to breaking point. We’re miles behind schedule, we’ve dropped too many scenes along the way and I’m already considerably over budget. Everyone is stressed beyond belief through lack of sleep and food. This is a tipping point and I consider aborting the shoot.
I make an executive decision and assemble the remaining cast and crew.
Everyone has given too much to the project to give up now so it’s time for Plan B. Richard and Lee don’t look convinced but hang in there. Mike does another epic revision on the shooting schedule and between us we are convinced that it is still doable.
We start shooting again at 3pm and finish at sunset. It’s the final scene of the movie where the good guys take on the forces of evil. The army of the undead. The zombie horde.
The only problem is that our zombie horde is now down to ten. All the rest of our zombies have gone home, tired of sitting round doing nothing and not getting fed properly. I don’t blame them. I’d have done the same.
We shoot it anyway but I know in my heart it isn’t a good enough ending. Physically and emotionally drained I fall into a deep sleep as soon as my head hits the pillows. Surely it can’t get any worse.
9th April 2007
Bentwaters – Shoot Day Six
I’m woken up by Mikes flatulent version of Reveille. I sit in the kitchen nursing a cup of coffee and watch the rest of the crew emerge from their rooms. There is noticeably a different mood in the camp. Perhaps it’s the lack of sleep and I’m hallucinating but I could have sworn that people are smiling and laughing.
Over breakfast we work through the day ahead. Between Richards razor like mind for stuff we haven’t covered and Mikes engineering of the script we’ve got a plan. We shoot on two locations – the hut and New Town.
To my astonishment we finish early and better still wrap with the zombie choir which has every one creased up laughing – a rare commodity on the shoot to date.
The evening is more relaxed and chilled than at any point. Andy is supplying me with an endless stream of fags and we eat properly in the evening.
The showers have been sorted and even Mikes arse seems to have stopped expelling noxious fumes. Everything is good in the world and I get my first decent nights sleep in a week.
10th April 2007
Bentwaters – Shoot Day Seven
Another good day. We split into two groups again. One unit covers the scenes shot at the hut and the other picks up shots in the limo. Both units do a great job, the footage is good and we seem to be functioning better as a team. Richard and David work well together to combine two separate scenes into one set up and we’re starting to claw back some time.
The original Number 48 sword wielding scene is binned. There are no Samurai swords on set even though we had two in the props room. Instead I not only despatch the Figure In Black character but invent the best weapon against zombies. A mattress. I like it a lot. It’s quick, it works and there’s no need to fill in endless health and safety forms relating to a flatulent sleep deprived actor brandishing a razor sharp katana. Job done.
We head off to K9, the holding pen for our captive zombies, to grab some pick ups before finishing off on the runway to shoot the limo heading off into the sunset. Richard is struggling without the proper equipment to keep the camera steady and I make a mental note that this may be a re shoot.
11th April 2007
Bentwaters – Shoot Day Eight
Our saviour at A14 Limousines lets us keep the limo overnight and we do pick ups first thing in the morning before shooting the big scene with BZG and Ronny. Lily has been on set for most of the week dreading this scene so we make it a closed set, much to the annoyance of Mike who was spotted dry humping a fir tree the night before.
The weather is still scorching hot. So much for the torrential rain and snow, Mr Bastardi! Ray is suffering from a mild case of sunstroke and is having to wear a rather fetching sun hat to prevent his brain from frying.
In the afternoon we head back to the hut for the Ronny and Dean meet and then back to the Hush House for some more pick ups. The pizzas go to the wrong air force base and we end up eating at 10.30pm. We push too far and tempers are frayed but we get the footage. Mike spends an hour and a half having prosthetics which won’t make the final cut…
Bruce wraps and goes. It seems strange without him..
12th April 2007
Bentwaters – Shoot Day Nine
We’re going to pull it off after all…
Mike’s schedule has taken a hell of a pounding but he’s worked out the order of the day and principle cast start to wrap one by one. Rez, Doug and Joe are all hugged profusely and then like Keyser Soze, they are gone…
Seb and Sophie are left and we head into the woods for their fight scene. I simplify the shoot by combining two scenes. The zombies hit their marks, drop their bollocks and we’re done. My emotions are as fucked as the budget but thanks to the enormous goodwill, belief and doggedness of everyone involved the shoot was over. Just another couple of days shooting the pub scene and that will be it.
I eventually arrive home around midnight and just about persuade my girlfriend fiancee not to leave me. I promise to never make another film again. ‘Just two more days left, darling, and it will all be over’ I tell her.
How wrong can a guy be?
