Up early and I bought some good coffee in Brighton which is just as well as there’s no milk. Espresso pot on the bubble and I go to neaten up my beard. I’ve laid out my costume already. Black velvet blazer, blue collared shirt, black trousers, my nice watch. My shoes won’t be in shot but I bring my best. The coffee is bubbled. I pour it in a keep cup. The lines are going round in my head. I run the scenes as I drive to Wimbledon. This is a low budget film. Normally I wouldn’t be providing my own costume or getting myself to location. But it’s interesting, and it’s what I do, and even though my last few days have been a white noise of line learning, it’s fun.
I learnt a long time ago that you absolutely have to know your lines backwards forwards and inside out when you go on any kind of set. Especially one like this where the budget can’t swing to long times in the venue and multiple days. With four scenes to shoot and pick ups etc I was pretty sure this would be one take per angle and then reset. I also figured that things might be shot in a funny order. Important to have the lines fluent so the camera doesn’t see you remembering. Reputation.
My character is very talkative. White collar criminal, probably with a family and a country house, sitting at the head of a boutique drug trafficking ring, volatile and charming, dangerous and petty. Almost certainly getting high on his own supply.
I was playing opposite Andrew. It’s a strange fellowship, this game. I met him in character. We looked at each other. I liked him and the day flew by. I know nothing about him. Once the shoot started I never stopped until wrap, and then I had to run to my car before it got ticketed.
This movie will look good I suspect for the budget, which is extremely low. No gaffer. No wardrobe or make-up. They’re very much flying by the seat of their pants. One camera and a sound guy. The director knows his movies, and it was a pleasure to work with him after many years. I am very curious to see how it all falls out in the edit. Glad to be back on set, and I got to play with guns.
Between shots at about half one I switched my phone on briefly and had about 12 missed calls from people in my block. No messages so no clue what it was about but probably flooding by the urgency. There’s a shower stuck in the cistern to work around a problem I’m having fixed on the fifteenth. Someone left it on.
Testament to the people in my block, they were kicking off because the overflow was going. Not because any damage had been done. Good to be safe though and it could have got worse. I didn’t have time to fix it so asked Brian to teach the caretaker the emergency break-in protocol.
AlBarclay 