Set Stories

[David Jimerson]

Thought I'd start a thread to share some amusing set stories.

One of my favorites:

On a network TV show, I was standing in for a guest star and a bit for one of the leads, and between shots, the 1AD and I started debating the then-new Man of Steel movie, and whether Superman would kill Zod. His position is that Superman doesn't kill. My position was that's Batman; Superman kills when necessary, always did, and he killed Zod in Superman II anyway. The argument resumed every time "cut" was called. A few others joined in.

So we went to lunch. We were still talking about it in the van. The star of the show was sitting next to me with an expression which said "what the F are these nerds talking about?"

I sat with different people at lunch. When we all went back to set, the whole set was debating the point.

Not an Earth-shattering story, but one I smile about when remembering it occasionally.

What do you have? Hoping for better than that one.

 

[Paul F]

I don't have set stories. I have post stories. Carrol Ballard, who made The Black Stallion, which was known for its cinematography, did a movie called Wind. He made fabulous montage scenes. He shot 110 hours of film. The editor spent 13 months cutting it. I would drop by about once a week supporting the editing system, which was in it's infancy (Editdroid). They screened the movie for the critics and I sat in on it. There was silence after the screening. No one could find some kind words.

So I left the project, but months later they held another screening of the movie and I was invited. They had improved the movie quite a bit. We were standing around with drinks at the after-screening reception. I walked up to the editor and assistant editor and said "You guys did a nice job fixing the movie". The editor said nothing and walked away. The assistant editor said "He didn't re-cut the movie".

I stuck my foot in my mouth a couple of times doing similar things. Know your audience before you speak.

 

[Paul F]

Oh, and for the in-house monthly newspaper, the top story was about Editdroid being used to edit the movie. It had a picture of the editor with the 'droid.

The caption under the picture? "(name redacted) cutting wind on the Editdroid." Classic.

 

[J.R. Hudson]

I don't know if I have any really good stories

I did work on a film with Pierce brosnan and Tom Atkins and at the rap party I got to drink beer with them and chill for a couple hours

Two of the nicest people I've met

Of course I was low-key and acted like I was supposed to be there.

 

[Paul F]

George held a charity. All the employees were invited. He was a bus boy, cleaning up tables. George had a president to run Lucasfilm. His name was Doug. When George came to clear my dishes I said to him "I'll talk to Doug and see if I can get you a better job". George thanked me.

 

[CharlesPapert]

When I went to work on "Office Space", my first time talking to Mike Judge I instantly recognized his voice as a softer version of Hank Hill, with a little Beavis and Butthead around the edges. He would sometimes stand around set commenting on what was going on in those voices--if you happened to be next to him at the time you'd catch him quietly channeling Butthead, "this is cool, hehehehehe" etc. This being late 90's, everyone was going around imitating those voices so it was crazy to hear the legit version! When we shot the office building catching on fire for the end of the film, I heard hisBeavis voice behind me cackling "Fire! Fire! hehe!" Hilarious.

He didn't hide the fact that this was his first live action film having previously only done animation. When we stood overlooking the 100 cars backing up to reset during the opening traffic jam scene (which was complete chaos, with locals hired along with their cars, quite a few of whom couldn't back up in a straight line), he mused "it's a lot easier to draw this kind of thing". He would occasionally pull me aside to ask for an explanation of the more arcane terms used in camera department. One day he asked what "sticks" were, and then when DP Tim Suhrstedt called for a split diopter, another request to explain. We had a crew from Entertainment Tonight shooting behind the scenes on set that day. Judge called over to them "are you guys rolling?", cleared his throat and loudly announced "OK guys, let's put the split diopter on the sticks over here". Only I really got it, but it was a great gag.

 

[Paul F]

That is such an under-appreciated film. It's a favorite of mine.

 

[David Jimerson]

Same show, different episode. 3 am, 13th hour of the shoot, Fraturday. We were shooting inside an abandoned cement factory, which is a commonly-used local location (you've seen it in a ton of stuff). Everyone hates it because it's uncomfortable and downright dangerous in places (I rolled an ankle and smashed a phone on the same night during the Reprisal shoot). And we were inside in the middle of the summer and the dank humidity was awful.

So, everyone's dead tired. Doesn't want to be there any longer. We're on the second-to-last setup of the night. We just had to get through it, then the next setup - the reverse of this one - and we were done.

It was not a well-written show. The dialog was terrible.

The star of the show kept having to repeat a corny line over and over and over. You could tell he knew it was corny. We all knew it was corny.

After a couple of takes, people naturally started guffawing every time he said the line. Quietly, reservedly. People were putting their hands over their mouths, on their chests, etc. And he kept having to say it. Every time he did, the chuckles spread more, like a contagion.

It wasn't his fault. He was doing the best he could with it. But it was just a bad, bad line.

So, we're all holding it in, some almost turning blue, as he said his line for the umpteenth time. There was a long pause after he said it. The director called "Cut! Turn it around."

Everybody busted out laughing and cheered. And the star was happy, because he was done saying the line.

 

[David Jimerson]

When I went to work on "Office Space", my first time talking to Mike Judge I instantly recognized his voice as a softer version of Hank Hill, with a little Beavis and Butthead around the edges. He would sometimes stand around set commenting on what was going on in those voices, if you happened to be next to him at the time you'd catch him doing Butthead, "this is cool hehehehehe" etc. This being late 90's, everyone was going around imitating those voices so it was crazy to hear the legit version! When we shot the office building catching on fire for the end of the film, he would cackle "Fire! Fire! hehe!" as Beavis. Hilarious.

He didn't hide the fact that this was his first live action film having only done animation prior. When we stood overlooking the 100 cars backing up to one during the opening traffic jam scene (which was complete chaos, with locals hired along with their cars, quite a few of whom couldn't back up in a straight line), he mused "it's a lot easier to draw this kind of thing". He would occasionally pull me aside to ask for an explanation of the more arcane terms used in camera department. One day he asked what "sticks" were, and then when DP Tim Suhrstedt called for a split diopter, another request to explain. We had a crew from Entertainment Tonight shooting behind the scenes on set that day. Judge called over to them "are you guys rolling?", cleared his throat and loudly announced "OK guys, let's put the split diopter on the sticks over here". Only I really got it, but it was a great gag.

George held a charity. All the employees were invited. He was a bus boy, cleaning up tables. George had a president to run Lucasfilm. His name was Doug. When George came to clear my dishes I said to him "I'll talk to Doug and see if I can get you a better job". George thanked me.

These are without a doubt the two best stories so far.

 

[CharlesPapert]

I forgot to include the dang picture to button the joke! Added above.

 

[Paul F]

Ok, one more...... speaking of putting foot in mouth well, maybe. I never found out.

Godfather III was being finished at Skywalker Sound. I don't recall how, but somehow Phil Egan and I ended up having lunch everyday with the producer. It was just the three of us. You know, it was a commissary where everyone just sat with other people and somehow we became a regular thing. Anyway, we had nice chats and he commented that he really liked spending lunch with us. I think maybe it was because we weren't movie people and maybe we talked about other stuff? I don't know.

This went on for a few weeks. One day, we did talk about a movie. Terms of Endearment. I said I didn't like the ending. Her getting cancer seemed so contrived. The world ended at that point. The producer got upset and pointed at me with his fork and said 'I have no respect for you. I can't eat lunch with anyone that feels that way' or something very similar. He was really upset with me. I though maybe he wrote the movie or was somehow involved with it. I never did find out. That was the end of our lunches.

The reason I dropped Phil Egan's name is because he was a wonderful designer/engineer who was one of the designers of the Tucker car, and was a consultant to George and Francis when they made the movie 'Tucker; The Man and His Dream'. Oddly enough, Phil's getting a job to do design for the Editdroid had nothing to do with his consulting on the movie.

Below - The lunch room where I got fired as lunch-mate to the Godfather III producer.
My office was on the second floor, behind the tree. Delightful to be sure, but it had sliding barn doors as the entryway and it was noisy at lunch time. Oh the burdens I had to endure at the ranch.

 

[CharlesPapert]

Paul, your story above reminds me of an unwritten rule in LA--when you go see a movie, you aren't supposed to criticize it until you are two blocks away from the theatre, just in case someone who was involved with it hears you.

I have pretty much reached "no f***s left to give" time of life so I look forward to not adhering to this.

 

[Paul F]

Ah, welcome my friend to getting old and not having the care or need to impress friends, co-workers, bosses.....anyone. The older you get, the less fudge you give. I'm down to one quarter of a fudge.

Yes, I learned that rule at Skywalker, but I still stumbled. When I was in the video room watching someone's project, I would be stone faced no matter what was on the screen. I learned to have no opinions about anything.

 

[rob norton]

Ah, welcome my friend to getting old and not having the care or need to impress friends, co-workers, bosses.....anyone. The older you get, the less fudge you give. I'm down to one quarter of a fudge.

Pretty funny talking about not GAF while also using the term fudge.

 

[Paul F]

English is such a rich language with an almost limitless supply of verbs, adjectives and nouns. It bugs me that we have replaced all of those wonderful words with two words that don't make any sense. I mean f*&k, I used to give a f*&king s(*t, but who the f&^k does anymore. F&%k!

It's so stupid. I like the versatility of the English language and we should take advantage of it's capability to be eloquent.

 

[CharlesPapert]

I like the versatility of the English language and we should take advantage of it's capability to be eloquent.

He says, while including an apostrophe in a possessive pronoun that does not require one.

[winking emoji]

 

[scorsesefan]

When I went to work on "Office Space", my first time talking to Mike Judge I instantly recognized his voice as a softer version of Hank Hill, with a little Beavis and Butthead around the edges. He would sometimes stand around set commenting on what was going on in those voices--if you happened to be next to him at the time you'd catch him quietly channeling Butthead, "this is cool, hehehehehe" etc. This being late 90's, everyone was going around imitating those voices so it was crazy to hear the legit version! When we shot the office building catching on fire for the end of the film, I heard hisBeavis voice behind me cackling "Fire! Fire! hehe!" Hilarious.

He didn't hide the fact that this was his first live action film having previously only done animation. When we stood overlooking the 100 cars backing up to reset during the opening traffic jam scene (which was complete chaos, with locals hired along with their cars, quite a few of whom couldn't back up in a straight line), he mused "it's a lot easier to draw this kind of thing". He would occasionally pull me aside to ask for an explanation of the more arcane terms used in camera department. One day he asked what "sticks" were, and then when DP Tim Suhrstedt called for a split diopter, another request to explain. We had a crew from Entertainment Tonight shooting behind the scenes on set that day. Judge called over to them "are you guys rolling?", cleared his throat and loudly announced "OK guys, let's put the split diopter on the sticks over here". Only I really got it, but it was a great gag.

Love your Office Space stories, Charles. I love that Judge had the humility and sense of humor to poke fun at this lack of live action experience. Many young directors would be embarrassed and overcompensate... I always wondered about that opening scene. Looked like a logistical nightmare

 

[CharlesPapert]

. I always wondered about that opening scene. Looked like a logistical nightmare

It took a bit to get through, yep!

Car mounts (hood and hostess trays) were something I looked forward to as an operator, because you'd get everything dialed in, take one last check through the eyepiece then close it up and send them on their way while you took a well-deserved break!

 

[scorsesefan]

It took a bit to get through, yep!

Car mounts (hood and hostess trays) were something I looked forward to as an operator, because you'd get everything dialed in, take one last check through the eyepiece then close it up and send them on their way while you took a well-deserved break!

Nice... Years ago I was involved with a shoot (not DP) where we had an Aaton 16mm rigged to a car in a similar set-up and after a good half-day of shooting we looked at the rushes and all of the shots had a flare!

 

[CharlesPapert]

Nice... Years ago I was involved with a shoot (not DP) where we had an Aaton 16mm rigged to a car in a similar set-up and after a good half-day of shooting we looked at the rushes and all of the shots had a flare!

gawwwwwd, that sucks. These kind of things are one of the many reasons I don't miss shooting film, honestly.