On Location
(Monday, July 31st)

Kathi and I were up at 4 am to get ready to meet Mario at his hotel for his 6:30 am pick-up. Despite the early hour, Mario gave us a cheery welcome and we all piled into the waiting van.

We traded stories of our weekend: Kathi's and my sightseeing and Mario's negotiations over a possible movie to be made in Czechoslovakia next year. Mario and his colleague had talked while driving up to scenic Whistler. Mario described this route as "the most beautiful drive in North America."

Our ride was taking us to an area in North Vancouver - just across the Second Narrows Bridge from the city of Vancouver. Once over the bridge, Mario pointed to a florescent orange "HLNDR" marker, bearing an arrow, mounted on a street pole. An advance team puts these up so the guest actors and extras can find their way to the location. Sure enough, at every turn, there was a traffic cone on the ground with a ribbon strung between it and the coded sign on the pole. The sign of a well-run operation. <BG>

The script called for three kinds of locations (for *example* a golf course, greenhouses, and shopping mall) and it just so happened that the very items existed in close proximity to each other. The circus (Honey Wagon, Star Wagon, Prop Truck, Cable Truck, etc) was set up in one of the parking lots and each location was actually walking distance from there, but vans shuttled folks around. We pulled into the parking lot to find breakfast in full swing.

Monday's locations: the graveyard (North Vancouver Cemetery), the kennel and "Seacouver State University" (Capilano College).

By the time I figured out the breakfast system (with Tish recommending a breakfast sandwich), ordered from the catering truck, and was served, it was 8:00 am and everyone suddenly piled into vans to the first location. Todd (3rd AD) called out, "We're on the clock, everyone!" and they were off. [The announcement, I gathered, is for the benefit of union members to alert them that if filming takes them past 8 pm, they are entitled to major overtime.]

Despite a moment of panic and gulping my sandwich down, there was no need to fear - the vans kept driving back and forth.

We arrived on the set moments later to find the crew in full swing. The track for the camera was being laid and shims were used to keep it level. Chairs for the actors and directors were set up, cable was unwound, and various pieces of equipment were unloaded from the trucks. Craft Services set up a cart bearing continental breakfast items. But I most enjoyed watching the props come off the truck. These items *looked* real heavy, but were actually made of a light material which allowed them to be carried single-handedly. Mario gave a hand in deciding where some of them should go.
The first location on Monday was the cemetery. This was the exact same spot which Mario had used in RITE OF PASSAGE for Michelle's funeral. Since he knew he was going to be shooting there again, he thought it would be fun to put Michelle's headstone into the scene and see if the fans would notice it. This was the surprise which I had mentioned earlier and I was really looking forward to seeing this scene. I was greatly disappointed, though, when this little part was edited out.

The main opening to the scene where Duncan first encounters Kanis had the camera follow Duncan's walk from right to left, with the camera tracking parallel to Duncan. This sequence started with a peek of the first dog sitting in front of Michelle's headstone and moving in sync with Duncan until he stopped by Kanis. The shot which they finally used, with Duncan entering from the background, was one of the extra shots when they reshot the scene from opposite perspectives.
The heavy-looking props which I mentioned were additional fake headstones. They were so realistic looking that Kathi got fooled by them. As I had watched the props guys and set decorators haul the fake headstones off the truck, Kathi had been getting a cappuccino from a food truck with Bob Crone. Later, she looked around the graveyard and came back to exclaim how old the cemetery must be, as the date on one of the headstones was from the turn of the century. Turned out it was one of the fake ones. :)

While these preparations were underway, Mario introduced us to Justin Louis, the VOTW. I'm going to have a hard time watching him as a bad guy because Justin is very friendly, open and fun in person. His list of credits includes "Urban Angels." In this upcoming season, he'll be part of the ensemble cast in Fox's "Friends" knock-off called "Local Heroes" as the "geek" character. (I'll be watching. ;j)

Phil Hersee, the Still Photographer, showed up and Kathi and I had a great time talking with him. Still photographs are mostly used in connection with publicity, but all the (Vancouver) stills you see on screen - a portrait of Tessa, the CD rom - come from him as well. If you're in the market for an attractive guidebook of Vancouver, try to buy his "The Magic of Greater Vancouver." (Kathi did. <g>)

Adrian consulted with Mario about a line in the script for a later scene. Now, I knew about the high level of input which Adrian has with the show, but I was very impressed with his concern for detail and accuracy. The line gave an historical reference and Adrian wanted it pinpointed more precisely. This required some phone calls back to the office to put the researching wheels in motion. The reference they later came up with is apparently a blending of two, slightly varying accounts.

The historical reference which Adrian worked on was for one of the lines in the graduate seminar scene. As the crew got the graveyard ready, Adrian sat in his chair with his script binder on his knees and made calls from his cellular phone. I later learned at the convention that those calls were made all the way to the scriptwriters in LA.

The original lines were:

Julie: How'd they stand it?

MacLeod: They didn't. Twenty thousand armed Crusaders left Nicaea for Jerusalem. A thousand miles across Syria in 90 degree heat....

Adrian felt that the line would imply that the Crusaders only had one battle. He wanted the writers to give him a date; something like, "For instance, in 10xx, the crusaders blah, blah." The team in LA dug up some documentary accounts, compromised on a date, and in the end you got to hear Duncan say, "In 1097, for instance..." In case you didn't know, the story about the mares and the stallions is an actual historical event.

Once the props were in place, Don came over to where Kathi and I were standing with Phil and quickly put us in stitches with his delightful humor. [I can now report that you can see Don in the blooper reel. That's him with the long, blond hair pushing singing Adrian on the gurney.] Don has been with the show since early in the first season. He's the one who hands Adrian the sword - ASA's (Awkward Sword Appearances), as he refers to them. (Remember, all such statements only apply to when the production is in Vancouver.) That made him a celebrity with us. ;j Don delighted in voicing his support for ASA's, discussing the differences between the first season antique store set and the one seen briefly during the second season, and saying how much all the crew adored working with Alexandra Vandernoot.

Tish overheard me ask Don about getting permission to take pictures and she went to speak to Kevin (2nd AD) on my behalf. Kevin, in turn, consulted with Adrian and Erica Beringer (Production Manager) and got the OK. The rules: no flash, no pictures while they're filming, and no requests for posing.

This scene required the cooperation of three Rottweilers: two to pose just so and a third to run on cue. Dog number one had a trainer dodging the moving camera giving hand signals for him or her to stay. Dog number two, posed loyally in front of his immortal master, had a tough time emoting loyalty. Even with two trainers waving wildly trying to get him or her to at least look forward, this dog was more interested in looking back at the main trainer who sat off to the left waiting to call the third dog to run. Needless to say, it took several takes just to get the dogs' actions to comply with the script.

More on the dogs: Since LotP aired, people keep asking whether the Rotties belonged to Adrian. I hope I've made it quite clear that these were professional acting dogs. What *I* had fun discovering later was that the Immie we saw in the opening teaser scene of the show - the one being hunted down by Kanis' dogs, was one of the dog handlers.

This told me a lot right there. It meant that the dogs were enough of a threat that they didn't use a regular actor for that scene. Later when we see Duncan being attacked by the dogs, not only is it a stunt double who comes in contact with them, but they even used substitute dogs. Mario explained that this is done because of insurance reasons which prohibits an actor from being exposed no matter how much an actor wants to do a stunt.

Justin Louis hated the dogs; not just Rottweilers - *all* dogs. It became a running joke on the set throughout his time there. Justin didn't hesitate to tell everyone and anyone how much he wanted to get away from them, explaining that he had had a traumatic experience as a child with a dog which required a trip to the hospital. He didn't know when Mario offered him the part that it would entail being close to dogs. But Justin and Mario are good friends and kept teasing each other the whole time about it, with Mario saying, "Go ahead, Justin, get closer!" (from his director's chair twenty feet away) and Justin grumbling, "I'm going to get you for this, Mario!" (BTW, I didn't include this in the original report because it seemed rather personal, but Mario willingly told of Justin's hatred of dogs during the formal CompuServe chat.)

A second camera was not needed for this scene, so we also got to chat with Bob Crone, who also operates the steadicam when one is needed. Unfortunately, one was never needed while we were there, so I never got to see what this contraption looks like that David described in his set report from Paris.

Bob has been in this business for many years and Mario referred to him affectionately as "Uncle Bob." It's a title which suits him well because Bob is the kind of person who goes out of his way to help others on the set. He even offered to buy Kathi and I some cappuccinos from a visiting vendor.

Steve Wasstrom (who would be playing the part of "Billy") and his mom showed up at this location even though he wasn't needed until the next one. It was nice to have another mom to talk to and she was happy to tell me all about Stevey.

Copyright 1995, Janine Shahinian
Photographs (c) 1995, Janine Shahinian -- Do Not Reproduce!