Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
I'd like to relay a little adventure I had toward the end of last year to the city of Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada, when I went to visit a dry cleaners on the edge of town (by the way, "Dry Cleaners on the Edge of Town" is my favorite Bruce Springsteen album). I was actually on the set of Darren Lynn Bousman's reworking of the Troma classic MOTHER'S DAY. Fresh off the cult success (and, to a degree, commercial success) of REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA (as well as SAWs II, III, and IV), Bousman's take on MOTHER'S DAY is clearly far more serious and much less campy than Charles Kaufman's 1980 original. And based on the footage Bousman was kind enough to show me (20-30 minutes of rough-cut footage, as well as a sizzle reel), it's also pungently brutal and bloody, and loaded with horrific and suspenseful drama.
This new version stars Jamie King, Patrick Flueger, Brianna Evigan (SORORITY ROW), Shawn Ashmore (about to be seen in FROZEN), Alex Vega (REPO!, the SPY KIDS movies), Matt O'Leary (SORORITY ROW, HAVOC), and the still-stunning Rebecca De Mornay as Mother.
But let me back this up a bit. At Butt Numb-a-Thon 10 (2008), I was fortunate enough to be seated next to two extremely cool people--Jaime King (of SIN CITY, PEARL HARBOR, BLOW fame, there to support her lead role in MY BLOODY VALENTINE remake that screened at BNAT) and FANBOYS director Kyle Newman, who just happens to be King's spouse. Shortly after BNAT, I arranged an interview with King about MY BLOODY VALENTINE and THE SPIRIT, and she ended up being instrumental in making a screening of MY BLOODY VALENTINE happen in Chicago, during which one of the film's stars, Tom Atkins, appeared for a surprise Q&A. The screening was significant because the distributor wasn't showing MBV to critics, but since I'd seen it and liked it, they were willing to let the screening happen.
Jaime and I kept in touch through most of 2009, and she let me know when different projects for her and Newman were in the works, and when she got the news that MOTHER'S DAY was in her future, she made a point to make certain that I got an invite to do a set visit. Because of my busy fall schedule, however, with Fantastic Fest and the Chicago International Film Festival coming almost back to back, it was beginning to look like I wouldn't be able to make it to Winnipeg (standing in for Omaha, Nebraska, for the film). But somehow I managed to find a 36-hour window where I could get up there and watch what turned out to be the final full day of shooting (to be followed by an unscheduled half day of pick ups).
The particular day I was on set was actually a night shoot that began at 8pm, and went until about 7 or 8am the next morning. The location was an actual, functioning dry cleaners with slightly hideous green and yellow walls, real clothes on the racks, and a slightly exhausted crew ready to put in a long night's work. Because the dry cleaner actually had to open and be operational the next morning, everything had to be done and equipment moved out on schedule. The only two actors in the sequence I saw shot were King and Patrick Flueger (from "The 4400" and most recently seen as Toby Maguire's unfortunate fellow U.S. POW in BROTHERS). When I arrived, the set ups were nearly complete, and the first scene was about to begin shooting in the cramped quarters, which included the main dry cleaning counter area and an adjacent office, which is where the first of the night's shooting would take place.
Jaime looked slightly disheveled, scared and angry (by design); Patrick looked more than a little menacing, plus he was holding a gun. Bousman was out of my view for a while, in the office blocking the scene and talking to the actors. Kyle Newman was there as well, and he and I chatted a bit as he filled me in on where in the story this scene took place. Bousman told me later than the film was shot mostly in chronological order (if I remember correctly, he also may have said that the drama unfolds more or less in real time), therefore, the scene they were about to shoot happens near the end of the film. I'd met Bousman twice before: once at Comic-Con 2008, when I interviewed him and Paris Hilton about REPO!, and then again at the sold-out Chicago premiere of REPO! So when he first saw me, he alerted the crew that I was the Ain't It Cool writer who has given REPO! such a good review months earlier. Turns out much of the MOTHER'S DAY crew worked on REPO! as well.
To give you a little plot backstory on MOTHER'S DAY, the film opens with a car racing down a road amid acres of sunflower fields and other crops. Inside the car are three brothers, one of whom is bleeding quite badly, while the other two yell at him to man up and stop screaming. The three go to what used to be their childhood home to find strangers living there. There's actually some sort of party going on when the brothers arrive, and they end up taking everyone hostage until they figure out what's going on. Turns out the boys' mother hasn't lived in the house in years, and when she finally is brought into the story to straighten things out, we start to discover that she's about as temperamental as her sons. The scene being filmed happens when Flueger takes King to the dry cleaner owned by one of the kidnapped guests. In the office is a safe with money that they are trying to get into. But what the owner also managed to tell King is the location of a gun in a desk drawer.
The MOTHER'S DAY set is only the second I've ever visited (my report on the first set I visited is coming soon, and it's a much bigger-budget movie shot mostly in Chicago, I believe on a little known thoroughfare called Elm Street), but it was impressive watch this tightly knit group maneuvering around each other like a choreographed performance. People were a bit punchy (this being the almost-end of the shoot and all) but still laughing and joking between shots and being incredibly generous with their time, explaining to me each shot and scene and stylistic choice. At one point early on, the firearms guy was loading blanks into a couple of pistols about six inches from my face and asking "How does this look?"
A couple of the people situated behind the small bank of monitors who were extremely accessible and eager to talk were executive producer Andrew Golov and cinematographer Joseph White. Whenever there was a spare five minutes of downtime for Bousman, he'd have someone cue up a scene or two for me to take a look at, including the opening of the film; a couple of great transition shots that required long takes and moving walls in mid-scene to make room for the camera and move between two separate scenes; and a few choice kill scenes that would guarantee the film doesn't get an R rating in their present form, but will look awesome on the Director's Cut DVD.
The scene with King and Flueger involved them coming into the empty dry cleaners (not including a few late-night workers back in the cleaning area of the business) and heading right for the office. Jaime takes a seat behind the desk, while Patrick kneels down in front of it to open the safe. She reads him the numbers while she fishes around for the hidden gun. Just as he gets the safe open and grabs the money inside, she draws up the gun and points it at his head, a struggle ensues, shots are fired, and a chase begins. What I found most incredible about the whole experience was watching Bousman play the role of ringmaster: he's directing a scene, he's looking at stills of De Mornay, he's talking to me, he's cracking jokes, he's consulting and being consulted on every micro-task imaginable.
And when there was a break in which all of the monitors have to be moved into the tiny office so shooting can continue in the main lobby of the dry cleaners, Bousman pulls me into a quiet, dark room, hands me his laptop, and shows me loads of rough-cut footage, including one scene in mother's old house (King's current house) involving a disobedient hostage and boiling water. It's one of the most tense and fucked-up scenes I've seen in a long time. He tells me the scene probably needs to be cut down (primarily for time), but I really liked what I saw. There's another extended sequence in which De Mornay sets the ground rules about lying to her or attempting to escape. God, she is good and wholly convincing.
Bousman also reviews dailies with his producers and debates scenes that might need cutting or trims, and with this much advance work done on the editing side (and few visual effects beyond makeup), it should come as no surprise that the film's first cut was completed by mid-December. Because things are running a bit behind schedule for the evening, very few scenes go beyond three takes and a few only require one. In the second major set up with much of the crew crammed into the small office, the scene involves Jaime escaping Patrick and running from the office into the store with Patrick eventually pursuing her (I think she clonked him on the head with an iron or something just prior to running).
I was standing just out of camera range next to an enraged Flueger. That dude can be scary when he wants to be, but just as easily, he can turn it off and crack jokes with us. I got a chance to sit down with him for a period early in my visit. We talked a great deal about BROTHERS (still a few weeks out from being released), which he was extremely eager to have people see after being delayed about a year. We even ended up having lunch together in the wee hours of the morning. There was one very funny moment where he ripped off his shirt to change shirts and stood on the set bare chested with muscles rippling. Everyone, men and women, on the set just went quite, I think out of respect.
Just before I took off, the crew was seeing the end of the work day not too far in the distance, and the mood was much lighter. A lengthy discussion about Christopher Walken's many "SNL" appearances occurred complete with impressions from many. Later, a group conversation about the greatness of the late Mitch Hedberg (again, complete with impersonations of entire routines) ensued.
My only disappointment was not getting to see Rebecca De Mornay in person. I believe she had flown out a day or two earlier and was only coming back for the pick ups. The clips Bousman showed me of her covered the range from slow simmer building to rapid boil, and her performance is clearly going to be one of the highlights of MOTHER'S DAY. Bousman said that by the end of the film, the audience is going to be torn about who to root for, especially when it comes to Mother. It seems clear to me that in times like these, it's going to be tough not to feel bad for a woman after she's lost her home because of the economy. But above all else, MOTHER'S DAY is meant to put the fear of the Almighty in us and make us pee our pants a little in suspense.
It's my understanding that MOTHER'S DAY does not officially have a distributor yet, although it sounds like it may be close to getting one. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Bousman and company come up with in the end, and I want to thank him, Jaime King, Patrick Flueger, Kyle Newman, the publicity folks for, and the entire crew of MOTHER'S DAY who arranged for my visit, were so darned flexible, and were patient with me as I attempted to stay out of everybody's way. I can't wait to do this again sometime soon.
-- Capone
therealcapone@aintitcoolmail.com
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