Wrap Party

My buddy Harold brought me to the wrap party for Refuge From The Storm, the faith based feature he did a scene in back in November. All of the following is description without judgement:

We rolled up to a barn in the hills of Vista, CA which had been built specifically for the production. The barn was on the property of the executive producer, and it served as soundstage, editing station, and makeshift club for the wrap party. The film is the first of 5 proposed faith based features. There were tuxedoed attendants checking in all the cars and giving parking directions. A red carpet was waiting outside to lead you into the barn to find a photographer waiting to snap a photo of your glamorous arrival. There were hors d'oeuvres, a full bar (stocked with well liquors and wines which cost $2/bottle). I went for water, disappointed that there was no club soda available.

In the crowd of cast and crew, I felt tall. Most movie people are short. The rest of the crowd was largely older, along with a mess of children. A few tuxedos on the men, all of the women were well dressed, and then a number of crew people that looked like they just walked in from a skateboarding competition. Met the director, who is Dominican. The film is scheduled to premier at the Santo Domingo film festival later this year. He is scheduled to direct the rest of the features in the series, and kept telling me about my look and how he could "see it." A few of the other people in the crowd reacted similarly to me, but most people talked about praying and church. Most of the crew, and I'm sure much of the funding, came from the members of the church (which I did not discover the name of). The star of the movie is Michael Madsen who, unsurprisingly, was not in attendance tonight. From the 30 minute long slide show of the production, shooting lasted five weeks. Michael Madsen shot all his scenes in week 5. One of the women Harold and I were talking to was excited that she, and the rest of the cast, got to pray with Michael. She said he remarked, "I've never been around people like this before." She responded that, "that's because you're in Hollywood. We're all grounded, we have faith." From all reports, Madsen was a nice guy.

After the slide show, the crew made speeches. This began with the producer and director, and then extended into spouses and, my favorite (okay, judgement here), an associate producer/intern who praised the entire cast and crew for the togetherness and unity they all shared. Singling out one her inspirational colleagues she said, "I mean it was just like you said, um, I can't remember your name, it was like we were a family! Everyone was so respectful and worked together!"

Interesting night, definitely fun.

Today's cleanse menu:
Steel cut oats, honey, cayenne, blackberries.

Smoothie with rice milk, honey, banana, barley yeast, protein and, somehow, 4 staples (mercifully, no staples were ingested).

Sauteed chicken, black beans, onions, peppers and parsley with cayenne pepper in a spinach wrap.

Chocolate soy milk.