A few things I learned while shooting films at Wellesley with Chris (Mr. Chris), Brian (B-Flo), and Jeff (Jeff), who heroically subbed for Joe at the last minute, because Joe’s wife was really, really heroically giving birth to a meltingly beautiful girl:
Young people are still reading Tocqueville! At least at Wellesley.
Brian would like the 11-item seafood platter, please.
For five years after aspiring hipsters move to New York, every other place on Earth is not-New-York. “Sweden was cool, but it’s not New York.”
Later in September, 10,000 Maniacs (without Natalie Merchant) are playing in the lounge of the suburban hotel where we stayed. Tickets still available, I believe.
The Panavision is the best camera ever made.
After filming Wellesley’s soccer team for two afternoons, you totally want to be a soccer player. Chris actually signed up for a league back in New York.
Road To Perdition is an overlooked masterpiece. You could take any shot in that movie, put it in a frame, hang it on your wall, and you’d have art.
It’s simultaneously invigorating and depressing to be checking out of a hotel at 7:45 a.m. with Heart’s “Barracuda” on the sound system.
You can’t get a decent, well-made $7 sandwich in the hipper parts of Brooklyn. You can get a cheap, pre-made sandwich at a bodega; or you can get a hand-brined, wood-planked, locally sourced, craft-cured artisinal dagwood for $20.
Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit is the death knell of modern cinema. You can tell after five minutes.
Filming an activites fair at high noon in an open field under clear skies with temperatures in the mid-90s and what feels like 100% humidity is a task best left to heroes.