My film trivia -- director's notes

Random trivia about THE FAREWELL WAKE.

• The video diaries are filmed in my basement office. Yes, I went to UCLA -- but I took down a Cal Tech pennant, where I also went.
  
• The two statuettes -- only one is visible on TV, the screen cropped more -- are 2 of the 3 Willies I won for Best New Play in the 1980s.
  
• Tom Strah, playing my roommate Michael, actually retired and unexpectedly visited during the filming -- so I cast him. Tom played the lead in my very first produced play (at the Univ of Oregon), a one-act called ABOVE THE FIRE, that went on to place 3rd in a national competition and launch my playwriting career. It later got published in Dramatics Magazine.
  
• Gerry, the actor playing the IRS agent, has a home and land in Newberg, which we used as a location when he visits Steph, a sequence that gets cut in the shorter preferred version.
  
• For me, a highlight of the film is the piano music, which I was able to download free from a Piano Society site. I spent a lot of time going through dozens, if not 100s, of pieces, finding the right ones.
  
• When I cast, I had no idea that Rick, playing CD, rode a motorcycle. We ended up taking advantage of it in several ways.
  
• I noted during filming that Rick wore his wedding band, so I figured I had to cover this -- hence the scene about his wearing it to keep women away. In the director's cut, I cut his last line, "Get it?", because I think his statement is stronger without it.
  
• We filmed a great deal more footage between the granddaughter and boyfriend but 90% of it got cut in both versions. In the director's cut, I added one bit as the granddaughter is texting him, I show his response.
  
• Rick actually did take a motorcycle trip on Rt 66, so I decided to use it. The high school earlier trip was added and covered with MY journal of an actual 1959 cross-country hitchhiking trip that I took. The passage he reads about the old tattooed woman is real and something that blew me away in 1959! The photos from the 2nd trip in the story are Rick's from his actual trip.
  
• At the premiere showing, there was laughter at the photos of the folks affected by the closing of Rt 66. I have no idea why. This happens. An audience laughs at unexpected places.
  
• After Rick's monologue about Rt 66 being like him, old, he said, "Where did that come from?" There was only one take with such a sequence, and it's the one I used.
  
• I only used about 1/3 of the footage of the IRS agent's visit to CD's house and maybe this is still a tad too much.
  
• I cut two comic cameos by Steve G and Dr. Johnny Wow! for the director's cut, even though they are good and got laughs at the premiere. But they slow down the narrative and there are plenty of cameos to come. I wanted to make the film as tight as possible. Wow's sent video, by the way, actually was an hour long! It was very funny stuff but belonged in its own movie.
  
• CD's visit to his accountant was cut to the quick. The challenge was to reveal that his daughter died of cancer, which was revealed in this scene, so I finally had to cover it in narration just before the start of the wake.
  
• There were two Skype cameos but I cut one in both versions and kept the best, which happened to be by Harriet.
  
• I cut Terry's scene as the poet to the quick, mainly keeping his fine poem.
  
• I had a lot of footage of Luke and Julie but ended up using only a very short statement from each.
  
• John, the cuckold, sent his footage from England, answering an invitation I posted on a video forum I belong to. He used a green screen. I kept it as sent.
  
• The dance by Kate that begins her sequence as the dancer actually was a last minute addition. I decided I wanted something with her wearing a mask, and she suggested dancing. Later I found the piano music to match the dance. After folks bad-mouthing CD, Kate starts making the opposite case. I insisted on this balance.
  
• Martha as Prof. Snow says her critical commentary was unprepared in advance, completely off the top. She blows me away, she's so convincing. We shot in her home office.
  
• Robert and Lois as the couple talking at the same time do a wonderful job. My only direction was that she wants to go, he doesn't, and they talk non-stop at the same time. All the content is theirs. The ending, talking in unison, developed after several takes as we figured out how to end the scene.
  
• The scene with wife #3 is key to my character. I knew I needed such a scene, it was a matter of choosing the other person in the scene. As shot, there was a lot including her son but unfortunately the impression was left that the kid was CD's and I definitely didn't want this distraction, so I cut the kid entirely, although he does appear at the wake.
  
• Before the breaking news of the hostage, I cut about 6 minutes for the shorter version, the entire sequence of the IRS agent visiting the accountant, then visiting Steph. This entire narrative line was removed from the director's cut. It remains in the full version but I find it totally irrelevant and distracting from the main narrative. At this point, we need to get to the wake as soon as possible.
  
• I cut a lot from John's monologue as the crazy old retired prof. Again, I think the details get distracting and slow down the narrative.
  
• The scene with Jayne as almost wife #5 is critical because we learn CD had cancer, which leads to revealing he lost a daughter to cancer, and then directly to the wake event.
  
• I knew when I shot the wake that I'd use black-and-white still sequences to move from one moment to another. Much more footage was shot than used as a result. The wonderful moment of Amy as Han Soo lighting the cigarette was her idea, not mine. This happened often, actors creatively adding great bits.
  
• John, CD's son, was supposed to be in the bar scene after the wake but the actor went to the wrong location! Rather than rescheduling (we'd already had to do that once), we just winged it without him, putting John in the john.
  
• The flashback foaming at the mouth scene happened because John, the actor, suggested really doing this in my film! Completely the wrong tone but I liked the idea of showing this, so figured a way to use it.
  
• In the director's cut, I add a couple seconds of black screen after the bar scene, which makes the transition to returning to retirement less abrupt, I think. The snow footage was something I had taken a few years ago and stored for possible future use. I do a lot of that. The summer sequence originally included a very artsy montage of clips I got from ArtBeats but I finally decided, as pretty and artsy as it was, this sequence was just artsy jacking off and slowed the narrative. Only the humming bird remains.
  
• The ghost of the wife idea came very late to me, and adding Earth Angel later still. Both are inspired.
  
• Originally Robt Projansky was going to be the voice of the radio philosopher but he got lost coming here to tape it. Rather than reschedule I taped the voice myself, then tampered with it to make it unrecognizable (I hope).
  
• I cut Andrew as the first ex-student for the director's cut, thinking I needed only one -- and Penny's line in her scene gets echoed through the ending, so she was the one to keep. The interruption of the phone call was real -- but Claire, the actor, kept in character, so I was able to use it.
  
• The flight to Guam sequence includes my footage of flying out of Portland with YouTube stuff I found of flying into Guam.
  
• The Guam scene between the brothers was the last thing we shot. I was getting over a bad cold and still had a cough but didn't want to postpone finishing up. My dad was stationed in Guam after WWII and he did send home 8mm film showing topless native ladies in grass skirts. I think this scene is very strong, carried by Rick's incredible performance.
  
• Very early on, I had an image near the end of the film of the brothers talking intimately, each filming the other with a Flip. I'm not sure we set it up right but the image remained and was used.
  
• I had to fix a problem of clothing continuity when my character returns home, which is handled in the director's cut but left unfixed in the full version.
  
• A typo in the credits remains in the DVDs of both versions but is fixed in the online director's cut.