“DARE” Production Diary – Day 5

By CJ on October 23, 2007

First of all, let me say: 5 DAYS OF PRODUCTION!! Outside of a mainstream film, I’ve never shot so many days on a single movie. Wow!

I awoke, showered, dressed and packed my things into the car, then went to motel office and checked out. I ran into cameraman LEIF GOBO there, who was perusing the slim breakfast choices and joined him by picking a bagel with cream cheese. He told me he thought the shoot was going very well and that I was a “dream to work with.” Sweet of him.

After the bagel, I jumped in my car and left for the location, telling JAMES the Lighting Guru that if anyone asked, I was going to the set early to check out the parking area to see if it could be used for any of the road scenes that I needed to get without going on the actual road. It was already hotter than a rubber daddy’s armpit, and I needed something to drink…badly. When I get that overheated, there’s only one thing that will cool down my internal temperature, and when I saw a 7/11, I made a U-turn and pulled into the parking lot to get a cherry & coke slurpee.

It was almost sucked dry by the time I got to the Four-Aces (and NO brain-freeze, thank you very much). I drove to the parking area. It was all gravel, and would work well if we shot in the afternoon sun.

I returned to the location and parked just as the Falcon convoy was arriving. Today was the motel room sex scene with BRAXTON BOND and RILEY BURKE. We were shooting it first. The set was lit, the air conditioning was hosed in, and we were ready to go by 1pm.

The room had a very large mirror, which Leif was concerned would limit shots. I agreed, but told him that he should consider it a creative challenge. lol. Everyone got in place, and the scene began.

But not well. I noticed that Braxton was having hardon trouble, and the energy just wasn’t there. After a few minutes, I stopped the filming and asked that the set be cleared. Riley asked if he could go check himself for cleanliness again, and I said fine. When it was just Braxton and me, I asked him what the problem was.

Now, let me back up…all the way to the first day of filming. As I said, the crew all knew each other and were great friends. There was kidding and name-calling and general familiarity. And camp. Lots of camp. Everyone was calling each other “girl” and “sister”, and there were more “snaps” than in a Kellogg cereal. It was fun and continued on throughout the shoot. But it was taking its toll, and Braxton (and as a direct result, my scene) was its first victim.

“It’s off-putting,” Braxton told me. “I’m trying to have passionate sex with another man, and I just keep hearing ‘girlfriend’ running through my head. It’s distracting.”

I told him I’d take care of it, and he went to check his cleanliness, too, since the scene was a flip-flop. Leif and COLBY TAYLOR came back onto the set, and I explained the situation to them. “So from now until the end of the scene,” I said, “there is a ban on the word ‘girl’. We’re shooting gay porn, and we need a conducive atmosphere, so it’s time to be butch.” This was relayed to the rest of the crew when they returned. “A five dollar fine will be levied against anyone who can’t control themselves,” I said. “All accrued monies will be used toward sending said offenders for a weekend course in Mr. Manners’ Butch Camp.” With a couple of exceptions, everyone held their tongues.

The scene with Braxton and Riley was amazing from that point onward. A spoon position with Braxton fucking Riley halfway on top of him was boner-making (virgin Riley took it like a champ), and the final scene of Braxton bottoming in the missionary position will give the dead wood.

After the sex, the guys cleaned up while the grips and p.a.s struck the set. I grabbed Braxton and Riley, who were back in wardrobe, and with my cameramen, we raced over to the parking area to shoot the scenes where Wood picks up Drew hitchhiking. The Four-Aces manager barreled after us in his pick-up, apparently making sure that we weren’t doing anything we weren’t supposed to be doing, but once he saw that we weren’t, he waved and returned to the set. The sun was going down, and I got the rest of my dialogue. I wanted pickup shots of Braxton’s eyes in the rear view mirror and of the cherries air freshener that dangle from said mirror in a couple of close-ups, but the car needed to be moving. I told Leif to get in the back seat of the convertible and for the guys to drive the car back to the set, which had to be done anyway. If Leif felt like getting those shots on his own accord while they were returning to the set, that was his business. lol.

Still photographer MICK HICKS wanted some shots of Braxton and Riley in front of the car against the motel sign, and they looked great. Soon, it was dark and everyone was packing up. ADAM the producer told me to get the guys together and go to my house to do the campfire scene. Leif said he wanted to stop at the motel first and shower, which was totally understandable. Colby asked Adam if they could stay at a motel near my house instead of driving back, but he said no. I realized that from the motel to my house was only 45 minutes, and that it wouldn’t be the killer drive that at first we thought.

Leif, Colby, Braxton, Riley and LOU CASS arrived at my house at 9:30pm. CVK was already in bed. Looking at the back patio, we realized that the picnic table set had to be moved, which we did, then the fire pit was put in the vacated position. There was a Duraflame log in it already, with 2 more just in case. Leif started up his camera and looked around. “It’s not going to work,” he said. “The log can’t possibly put off enough light. And if it does, the background will be seen.” I have a redwood fence running around the yard.

Braxton, Riley and Lou took their positions, and I lit the log. Leif focused on Riley as the flames grew brighter. “Well, what do you know?” he grinned. “I can see them just fine, and the background falls off to black. They look great with that light!” I patted him on the back and we began shooting the scene.

It wasn’t too long before the next problem reared its head. I live near the landing path for Burbank airport, and at that time of night, a plane lands every 60 seconds. I told the guys that THIS is one of the reasons I insist they memorize their lines, because everytime they trip up, the time before the next plane comes into hearing range is significantly shortened. So we had to shoot the scene in 45-second chunks, which can be easily edited, but it was a bit frustrating to film.

The truth or dare game part came next, and Braxton shed his clothes and ran in circles around the guys and the fire before squatting in his place. I had given the guys beers for props for this part, but I warned them not to drink it. “It’s skunked,” I told them.

“What’s ‘skunked?’” Braxton asked.

“Take a sip and find out,” I answered. He did, then said it tasted fine, other than the fact that it was warm.

Next, we shot the part where Riley wakes up and sees Wood fucking Psycho Sam. I had Lou get on his hands and knees and pushed his shirt and jacket up to his shoulders. Next, Lou shoved his pants to his ankles, and a naked Braxton got behind him.

Now, I had not talked to Lou specifically about this scene. It was the closest thing to a porn sex scene he had done in 17 years, and I didn’t know how comfortable he’d be doing it. My fears were compounded when I saw him get back into a doggie position with his pants down but his white briefs still in place.

“Lou,” I said, standing next to Braxton, “you have to have your underwear down, too. He can’t be fucking you through your tighty-whities.”

“What?!” Lou exclaimed. “We never discussed this!”

Was he joking? Was he serious? I wasn’t sure by the tone of his voice, and I didn’t want to ask him, in case he said he WAS serious, so I just grabbed his underwear by the waistband and slid them down to his knees, exposing that ex-porn star ass, glowing lily-white in the pale moonlight.

“Hey!” he yelled.

“Roll cameras!” I shouted.

Braxton began to slam his body against Lou, hard. I told them to slow down. “I want a nice, gentle rocking and grinding,” I said.

A few seconds later, it was done, and we were wrapped. Braxton gave me a big hug, then drove to his home in L.A. I gave XXX’s and OOO’s to everyone else, and waved goodbye as they packed themselves into the convertible and drove back to the motel in Palmdale.

I went inside, locked the front door, then went out on the back patio and put out the fire. One hot shower later, I was in bed next to a snoring CVK (who would ask me later if everyone came home with me last night, lol, he’s such a heavy sleeper) and right before I nodded off, I had two thoughts:

1. Production was not over. Not really. Even though the convertible was being returned the next day and everyone was leaving to go back to San Francisco, we were lacking a few bits from the script: the game of chicken with the car, Wood’s reveal shot, also in the car, and the all-important subway scene where we meet Psycho Sam and the whole backpack/Teddy Bear story thread is set up.

I was almost asleep when the 2nd thought struck me.

2. Lou Cass still has a very nice ass.

To be continued…

JBK