In this movie, there really are zombies!!!!!!

One of the things about "Blaming George Romero," that people didn't really know until they saw the movie was that it isn't really a zombie movie. There are zombies in some parts of the movie, but it isn't a zombie movie. That was one of the points of the movie, but I can understand if anyone was expecting zombies how they might be disappointed. 

"Red Scare," however, is a zombie movie (although we lean towards the funny over the scares). In the pictures below, you will see yesterday's gathering of zombies. It was our largest zombie day yet, but it isn't the largest zombie day of the entire shoot. 

This time around, Loarina has been doing all of the zombie makeup (with the exception of Aaron's Pieter as he prefers doing it himself) and she has been getting better every time. The results are below. 

In the script for Red Scare, I wrote one child zombie into the movie. You don't often see child zombies, so I thought it would be a little bit original. Then, some of our donors asked if they could bring their kids to also participate. They seemed excited, and we need the bodies, so I agreed. And the kids have a blast! They get to put on makeup and act like a monster. It's cool, it's fun, I get that... On the other hand, when you think about a kid zombie, you really just have a dead kid, which I find profoundly disturbing. I'm not saying we're going to censor ourselves, or anything like that. It's a movie... Zombies aren't dead kids, because zombies don't exist. But if you follow the line of thinking like I did for the first time yesterday, I wouldn't blame you if you get weirded out a bit. But! The kids are alive, and they have fun, which is what it's all about. 

I gotta thank all of our zombies from yesterday that came on set, and were incredibly patient as we set up our shots. I know its not always easy to wait around, but everyone was really great about it. So, big thanks for that. 

More to come, more to come... 

Stay tuned!

Sam 

Actor, Writer, Producer

Red Scare

On Locations and Happy Coincidences

 I worry. It's what I do. As a producer, I have found that worrying is just part of the job. Last night's location was a beautiful location. It was a park on Washington Street in Jersey City overlooking NY. It is a great location. I decided to use it for this scene about two weeks ago, but as with all outdoor locations, there were risks involved. You have to worry about people interfering with shots (unfortunately, we aren't at the budget level where we can close off public places), and you have to worry about losing light (among other things). 

So, we got to location and thankfully it was a beautiful day. Unfortunately, people like being outdoors on beautiful days... with their kids... and their dogs. There were also a LOT of planes, helicopters, and boats going by making noise. When we first got there, the place I wanted to use was empty. Perfect! As we waited for the rest of the cast, though, people started making their way to the place I wanted. And more dogs came out. And kids with water guns. Fortunately for us, they kind of went away when we started to shoot. And no one really bothered us. (Although there was this one lady who took her bird for a walk...)

So, the shoot went smooth. The location worked out really well, and we knocked the day out in 90 minutes. I chalk this up to the great cast and crew I always mention.

Speaking of casts, in addition to our zombies and victim, yesterday's cast comprised of three talented actors who all are playing the roles they are because of happy coincidences.

Bobby was always going to be in the movie, but when I was initially developing the teaser pre-BGR screening, I was going to have him and Tony (Pineiro) be a comedic beatnik/hippy duo. Things shifted around in my head, I asked him if he could do a Russian accent and now he is the villain of the movie... Which is good. Because Bob is a very cruel person who beats small puppies and takes candy from orphans. A perfect fit!

When we were shooting the teaser trailer, we were supposed to have another Russian zombie, but he never showed up to set. Luckily for us, we were shooting outside Aaron Visco's house. I asked him if he wanted to shoot something real quick, and he was game. He is now Pieter, and is scarily dedicated to the role. Things could not have worked better for this role.

Early this year, Dan (Gregory) was making a movie called "Mesada" that I am in. Originally, Loarina was in the movie as well, but she had to drop out. Megan Bussiere replaced her, and filmed Mesada. Through that production, she found out about "Red Scare" auditions, auditioned, and now we have our Sasha!

So, there you have it. If even a minor thing didn't happen the way it did, Red Scare would be a completely different movie. We may be getting by, by nothing more than luck and coincidence (if you believe in coincidence), but getting by we are.

For a behind the scenes look at the first few weeks of shooting, check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMgTV2VJlfw. There will be more behind the scenes looks at the movie as we move on.

Stay tuned!

Sam
Actor, Writer, Producer
Red Scare

Would a drought be too much to ask for?

Here is a fun fact. Last year on BGR, I believe the 13th shoot was supposed to be the cemetery zombie shoot. The rain preempted that shoot. This past Friday was supposed to be our 13th shoot, and we got stopped by rain. Would a little northern NJ drought be too much to ask for? I can deal with the heat. But the rain has just got to stop. At least when we are filming outdoors. 

But even though the rain kept us from shooting on Friday, we had an incredibly good shoot on Wednesday. We had the great fortune to be able to shoot at my barbershop (Frank's Barber Shop, 884 Broadway, Bayonne, NJ) and we knocked out a great shoot in 2 hours!!! We had trouble casting the zombie for this scene (we cast two amazing people but they had to drop out for valid reasons well before the shoot), but we did get the great Augie Caamano to (finally) be a zombie for us. He did a great job, and even had his wife and baby watching. I was a little nervous about having a baby on set. Don't get me wrong, I love kids, but its hard enough getting a cast and crew quiet on set sometimes. Amazingly, Augie's son was incredible for us. He was quiet the whole time.

Anyways, pictures from that shoot are below. I would show pictures from Friday's non-shoot but I don't feel like showing pictures of me weeping. Just kidding...no one was taking pictures as I sobbed. 

Before those pictures, however, I would like to direct your attention to the below photo. If you donate (or donated) $50 or more to www.indiegogo.com/red-scare you will be receiving an autographed copy of it very shortly. It's a really great picture of some really great people... and Bobby Lise. =) Give what you can. Share the link with people. Etc. etc. etc.

 

Photos from Day 12: 

Stay tuned!

Sam
Actor, Writer, Producer

Red Scare