Grey Matter_01.The Arrival

by bot on September 14, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Posted In: JEFblog

Blogging about my adventures as an actor on the set of the horror film, Grey Skies.

I haven’t been able to blog at all since leaving for Michigan because, not only have I been experiencing a whirlwind of activity since I arrived, but the internet connection here in the middle of nowhere has been sporadic at best. Go figure. This has made Twittering ideal (Twitter.com/jefbot) since I can do it from my phone, but blogging and e-mailing difficult. Sorry to my JEFbot mailing list peeps as I won’t be able to send the normal email reminders until I get back (click here to join). Here’s a quick rundown of what’s been happening with me for the past few days:

After excitedly spending the entire night last Friday packing for the three week movie shoot, I left for the airport at 4:30am on Saturday, August 12, and went on a hell raising, 80 mph taxi ride from West Hollywood to LAX, during which time I believe the driver nodded off at least twice and almost got in no less than two accidents (after both of which the driver yelled out “Stupeed BEETCH!” repeatedly). Needless to say, the flight from California to Michigan seemed rather uneventful after this.

me and producer/writer mark reilly

ME, WRITER/PRODUCER MARK REILLY, AND FRIEND.

Once I landed in Detroit, I took a quick transfer to Flint, and while waiting for my luggage around the baggage carousel, met a couple of the actresses (Anne Griffin and Shelley Dennis) who had also flown in for the movie, and the P.A., Josh Ensink, who got us all packed into a truck and on our way for the hour and forty-five minute drive to Clare County, where we’d be filming for the next few weeks. A highlight of this drive was Josh pulling over to a Sonic’s burger joint, where we picked up some food since we were all starving after the flight. (They always play Sonic ads in L.A., but I’ve never actually been able to find one, so it was nice to finally see what I’ve been missing.) The cheeseburger, fries, and vanilla Dr. Pepper I had were pretty tasty, actually, and the carhop on rollerblades that brought the food to our car was a nice touch. Food procured, we were on our way.

When we pulled off the main highway about forty minutes later, onto a dirt road through a heavily wooded forest, we marveled at the beautiful scenery, which opened out onto an amazing property with a house overlooking a lake. With all of these horror movie conventions surrounding us, I actually felt like I was living one out in real life. Especially after we were shown to the log cabins where we’d be staying, away from the main house. As in many of the best scary movies involving lakes, cabins and college kids, the scenery was beautiful during the day, but as the sun went down, the lovely trees and homey cabins took on an extremely eerie vibe. If nothing else, the environment should keep me in character at all times.
camp cornacchia

CAMP CORNACCHIA

After getting settled in the cabin (which I’m sharing with three other guys, including Michael Cornacchia, who christened it “Camp Cornacchia” before any of us had a say) and taking a tour of the main house (retrofitted for the movie with a variety of stuffed wildlife including a bear, cougar, fox, beaver and deer, among others), we were stuffed full of pulled-pork sandwiches, salad, fruit and pudding prepared by our amazing craft service chefs, Dede and Greg. Delicious.

About an hour or so after dinner, a huge party was thrown for the cast, crew and investors outside of the house, where an enormous bonfire was lit and the drinks flowed freely. There was literally over a hundred people at the party that night, under the trees and illuminated by the light of the fire, which made for a wonderful, almost mystical, and most definitely memorable night and a great start to what I’m sure will be a fantastic experience making Grey Skies.

More to come as filming begins!

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