The Rex Blog

…picks up me and Hayes and takes us to the film s(w)e(a)t.

Nikki is the curly, red-headed production co-ordinator on ‘Starlight and Superfish’. She’s quick to smile and laugh and has a distinctive drawl of a voice. She’s also got loads of tattoos (so don’t mess, OK?). At the moment she’s a stay-at-home-mom, but she’s an occasional filmmaker, too.

She tells me she’s thinking about specialising in silent film production - when I raise an intrigued eyebrow (I’ve had it for some time now but the doctors say there’s nothing they can do), she explains that she can’t stand the fiddly nature of recording clear sound for film. Fair ’nuff. Harold Lloyd eat your heart out.

Good crikey, it’s hot in this damn loft!

We’re greeted by Tevis’s smiling face, edged with a short dark beard and framed by long black hair. He extends a mighty arm and chucks me on the shoulder. Just about succeeding in not falling over, I smile back and we chat while getting into costume and make-up, and cameras and lights are set up. He tells me he’s just shot a film with Sigourney Weaver (’A Prayer for Bobby’) and is clearly excited about the prospect of seeing the final cut (it’s about the US gay rights movement and sounds very interesting).

Despite the heat, the shoot goes well and I finally meet Carey (Peters, who plays Beth) - more about her later.

Back at the condo, Hayes and I end up talking about the burgeoning film industry in Michigan. I learn the state has very recently introduced a bill that means feature films shot in Michigan can claim back nearly half of their production costs…and Hollywood companies are already planning to spend in excess of $350 million on Michigan-based productions!

Hayes tells me a little about his ex, who’s now a regular on Saturday Night Live. What’s she up to this summer? Filming Drew Barrymore’s new movie with Ellen Page.

Where? Detroit.

It looks like things for this city - that’s been in decline ever since the end of the automobile industry’s heyday - might finally be starting to look up…

Matthew Jure 02/07/08

Beth can’t hide the pain…

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http://thetriumvirate.com/starlight

…bloody hot in Detroit in July. In a loft. With all the windows closed. And a bunch of actors. And massive lights.

Oh, yes, it’s hot alright (somewhere around the mid-90s, I believe).

When Hayes and I enter the movie-oven, I’m told I’ve missed Tyler (Spencer [AKA Dick Valentine]) from Electric Six. No fair! It turns out his scene was shot a couple of days ago and he’s now left town again. Harrumph. Having been asked to play a fictional rock star, I’d really been looking forward to meeting a real one. Oh, well.

The clothes clinging to my sweaty flesh are not my own. They’re director Steve’s. He’s kindly lent me some jeans and T-shirts (and Amy Julia’s bought me some, er, ’smalls’), as my bloody luggage still hasn’t turned up. Double-harrumph.

I meet Tevis (Marcum), who plays Rex’s bassist (’Stumpy’) and another Steve (Pratt [that's his name - I'm not being nasty]) who plays ‘Jesus’ (”hey, Zeus”), the guitarist in The Rexperience. Much jabbering/jamming ensues, most of it involving reference to Michigan’s own rock god, Iggy Pop (he’s from Ann Arbor, just outside Detroit).

Just before we shoot, I manage to impale both (yes, both) my hands on the only two rusty nails in the corridor walls outside the set. Seriously. I’m trying to psyche myself up for my first scene, in which I give wimpy Nick (Hayes Hargrove) a good shake-up when Rex and the band turn up unannounced in his apartment, only to be met with his incredulity and displeasure. I imagine I’m shoving Nick up against the wall…and stab myself. Ambidextrously. I ask if anyone knows where I can get a tetanus jab. (Fortunately, director Steve’s brother [Matt Kopera] is a doctor and he drives over to heal the sheepish idiot Brit).

Rex smokes a hell of a lot of fags (much American hilarity at this homo-icidal turn of phrase from the limey) during his first day’s shoot, but all goes very well.

After a late finish, Hayes and I are dropped off at The Riverfront and have a nice spot of grub at the restaurong.

Innit.

Matthew Jure 01/07/08

Red-hot Rexy…

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http://thetriumvirate.com/starlight

…but, hey, I suppose any sleep’s better than none.

The strangest thing about last night was my dream, not least because I remembered it (I usually wake up with a vague sense that I’ve dreamt about something nice/nasty, but I rarely recall the specifics). This one involved me realising mid-gulp that I was drinking superglue - it tasted fine but I was more than a little alarmed at the prospect of my throat being bonded shut just as I arrived to shoot a film in which I would have to deliver numerous lines and sing several songs.

Lucky for me, then, that it was only a dream.

Humming to myself (just to double-check my throat really does still work), I get up and shower then walk a quarter of an hour or so from the condo to the nearest diner. It’s a pretty rough-and-ready kind of place, but the staff are friendly and the food looks fine and reasonably priced, so I take a seat at a corner table and look at the menu.

Much of what’s on offer is similar to what you get in your average English greasy spoon, but there’s one thing in particular that catches my eye and stands out as ’something different’ - pancakes. With syrup. With your sausage and bacon. (Neil [McEnery-West] had raved to me about how good the pancakes were when we took ‘Undertow’ to the New York International Independent Film Festival in March, but I never got round to trying them…) I stuff myself with sickly-sweet pancakes and fatty meat. Lovely.

I bloatedly walk back to The Riverfront, where I meet Amy Julia Cheyfitz, the bubbly ‘Starlight’ costume designer. She’s very nice, but clearly quite mad. After a fitting session - during which I get to don for the first time the clobber I’ve heard so much about via email and video conference (skin-tight silvery trousers, silver and black snakeskin shoes, a decidedly blousy shirt, various pink and purple scarves, jangly jewelry and a bright yellow wig) - Amy Julia drops me off downtown at the set.

It’s during the drive to Iron Street that I become aware of Ms Cheyfitz’s unique approach to the spatial world. It goes something like this: ‘If I stuff my car full to bursting with the various textiles that I am in the middle of using to make costumes for umpteen film and theatre projects I will, therefore, also have ample room for a lanky Brit in my passenger seat.’ Quantum physics in action, folks. (Btw, reader, if you do actually understand quantum physics please forgive my blatant demonstration of the fact that I clearly do not. Thank you.)

I extract myself from the Cheyfitzmobile, unfold my legs and follow Amy Julia into the converted red-brick warehouse and up the stairs to the fourth floor, where one of the loft-apartments has been transformed into a film set.

Everyone’s very friendly and when we arrive, the ‘Starlight’ crew are filming Hayes’ first scene. I hang back and watch, taking it all in.

Hayes is a thirty-something razor-tongued comedian and actor who currently lives in New York. He’s tall, with piercing blue eyes which might just fool you for a moment that he’s the boy next door…

…as if!

He has us all in stitches as he goofs around - in and out of character - and I quickly realise that this shoot is going to be a lot of fun.

What better way, then, to celebrate the fact than by going up to the decking on the roof - which, like the condo Hayes and I are being put up in, overlooks the Detroit River - and singing along to the title track from Coldplay’s new album. (’Coldplay’ [n.] = a very good English band that a lot of people talk a lot of bollocks about.)

Better still, why not sing along so loudly that the racket carries all the way down to where people are trying to make a movie? Great idea! A crew member appears and semaphores at me until I spot them and remove my earphones:

“We’re shooting a scene downstairs - could you not sing for a while?”

Rex Redding thinks to himself, “F*** you, man - no-one tells ME what to do!”

What he actually says, however, is, “Oh…yes, of course…erm…sorry.”

(Sigh)

Matthew Jure 30/06/08

“Cool…I mean, er…groovy…?”

http://matthewjure.net

http://thetriumvirate.com/starlight

…that was some journey!

I suppose I should have known that several drinks in a London pub with the lovely Livia on Saturday night were probably a worse idea than packing for my 9am flight to Detroit the following morning. Ho hum.

After walking home from The Effra in Brixton, I stood surveying the stuff I was hoping to be able to cram into a suitcase and a couple of bags. Fast forward an hour and I’m still revising what should and shouldn’t come with me. A cup of tea is required (chamomile, if you must know).

And then, somehow, it’s 2 am.

Aware that I’ll need to check in at Heathrow not long after 7 o’clock, I remind myself that 5 o’clock - half past at the very latest - is when I should be getting up.

Ah. That’s about three hours from now. And then an ‘if-I-go-to-bed-now-I-might-sleep-through-my-alarm-so-maybe-I-should-just-stay-up-and-kip-on-the-plane-but-then-I’ll-feel-bloody-awful-but-at-least-I-won’t-be-snoring-in-Brixton-as-my-plane-takes-off-at-Heathrow’ conversation starts up in my head. You know the kind I mean?

By the time this internal duologue’s played itself out (aided by a couple more chamomiles), it’s 4 o’fucking clock. Game over.

I sit, wired and nervous (let’s face it, the nerves are the reason I couldn’t stop thinking or start sleeping in the first place), and watch the minutes count down to 5 o’clock.

So, why am I so nervous? Well, two reasons: 1) I’m about to work in America for the first time, with filmmakers I’ve only spoken to remotely and in a city whose name I only know because of Motown and Bowie and 2) ‘Starlight and Superfish’ will be my first feature film. (’Tied’ was intended to be a short feature, but - like ‘Undertow’ - it seems destined to run at about half an hour.)

This film, then, is a big deal for me.

But if the tube takes much longer to get to Heathrow, the beginning of this adventure’s going to be more ‘Mission Impossible’ than astro-aquatic. (I’m about 99.9% sure I’ve made up that word). I get onto the plane with minutes to spare. And we sit. And wait. And sit and wait some more.

Finally, the plane takes off and, despite my lack of sleep, it’s a very pleasant flight. I watch the remake of ‘Solaris’. Great film. (Natascha McElhone’s eyes are too big, though. I find myself wondering if an actor with Julia Roberts’ mouth, Gerald Depardieu’s nose and Natascha McElhone’s eyes would have any luck in Hollywood.)

Touch down in Detroit! I then wait for what feels like most of my life for my luggage to appear on the carousel. It doesn’t. 

Bastards.

Having been reassured that my suitcase is just delayed, not lost (”Your bag will be on the very next flight from Heathrow, sir”) I find myself wandering, bleary-eyed, out into the airport car park. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to get through to the ‘Starlight’ producer, I finally manage to speak to him and, within minutes, I’m in the passenger seat of his car heading along the freeway to downtown Detroit.

At least, that was the plan.

Danny Mooney (who, I now realise, will answer to pretty much anything from ‘Mooneye’ to ‘Moondog’ or, simply, ‘Moves’ [it's a long story]) is the bearded producer of ‘Starlight and Superfish’. He’s only 23 and his big (but not McElhone big) brown eyes and frequent cheeky grins make him seem even younger at times. But when he tells me about some of the projects he’s working/worked on, I quickly realise that this is someone who already has a very mature approach to surviving in the notoriously difficult entertainment industry. As well as producing ‘Starlight’, Danny’s shooting and editing a promotional DVD for a Michigan university; he’s recently returned from a stint in Russia, where he acted in an English-language Chekhov adaptation at a Moscow theatre festival; he co-starred in and directed a film called ‘Fingers’ (a great story, which also stars Hayes [Hargrove, who plays Nick Lutea, the lead in 'Starlight'] and Tim [Brennen, Nick's father - Tim's been in some good stuff, including 'Desperate Housewives', 'Arrested Development' and 'Curb Your Enthusiasm']).

Danny, then, has a fair few strings to his bow.

Faultless navigation, however, doesn’t appear to be one of them. To be fair, though, the sign was misleading. I seem to remember it saying, ‘Towards Bridge To Canada’. And ‘towards’ means ‘in the general direction of’, doesn’t it? After missing a turning on our way from Detroit Airport, Danny had realised something was wrong and decided to use his common sense to resolve the problem.

The Detroit River - which, according to Steve (Sholtes, the sound recordist on ‘Starlight’), isn’t strictly a river (it’s a waterway connecting two larger bodies of water [but don't ask me which ones]) - separates Detroit, USA, and Windsor, Canada (the land of my errant father [now that really is a long story]). Knowing that The Riverfront Condominium is on…well…the riverfront, Danny figures that a road heading towards the bridge that crosses the river will probably take us to the general area we’re headed. Right?

Wrong. Because the sign that read ‘Towards Bridge To Canada’ really meant ‘Beginning Of Bridge To Canada’ in that, once we were on it, there were no turn-offs…just a big old bridge creeping ever closer up ahead.

Well, I’d had no sleep for a looooooooong time by this point, Danny and I had been nattering away in the car and my jetlagged head was pretty scrambled. So when we realised that we had no choice but to cross the bridge to Canada and then turn around and re-enter the US I remember thinking, “Hey, this might be kind of fun!”…

…the reality, however: me being a foreigner (and a strung-out one at that); Danny not having his passport with him (well, he hadn’t planned on leaving the country, had he?) and US Homeland Security being very, erm…thorough…was pretty nerve-wracking.

After the car had been searched, we agreed that, yes, we were both idiots for going to Canada (by mistake, I mean) and looked suitably sheepish for being movie types with no sense of direction. I promised I wasn’t bringing any seeds, livestock or weapons into the country and, eventually, they let us go.

Finally arriving in Detroit, eight hours after I’d landed, Danny and I met Steve (Kopera, the director of ‘Starlight’) and Hayes at a bar and explained our mammoth detour. They sipped their beers and nodded incredulously.

Danny headed off and Steve, Hayes and I had a couple more drinks (after which I was truly a dizzy wreck). Steve dropped Hayes and me at the Riverfront, wishing us goodnight and saying he’d see us both on set in the morning.

As I stood wobbling at my eighth floor window (like my alter ego - glam rocker Rex Redding - after a heavy night), I looked out at Canada on the far bank of the moonlit river and had a growing sense that, however the ‘Starlight and Superfish’ experience turned out, one thing it certainly wasn’t going to be was boring.

Matthew Jure 29/06/08

“Yes. This is my actual, genuine, real hair…”

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http://thetriumvirate.com/starlight