Earrings: Pre-Production Part 1

For the past several weeks, I’ve spoken to many of my friends around the blogosphere about the film I’m making next month. I’ve been hesitant to discuss the movie on my blog for a few reasons: 1.) Because the last thing I want is to come across with any shred of a oh-look-at-me-I’m-making-a-movie douchebag mentality, and 2.) Because for four and a half years, And So it Begins has been about movie watching, not movie making. But, because of the fervent support I’ve received from many friends (bloggers and drinking buddies alike), I figured what the hell, let’s rock ‘n’ roll.

In exactly two weeks, I’m flying to Los Angeles to shoot Earrings, a film I wrote last September. Earrings is a short that will be part of an assumed anthology. I’ve spent the past two years writing and reworking 10 short films that are (very) loosely connected. Earrings is just first in line. I’m going to spend as long as it takes filming all 10 shorts, and eventually release them together. But until then, Earrings will stand as its own film.

I’m not going to describe in detail what Earrings is about, because I still want some piss to be in this thing by the time you see it. But know that it concerns a young woman who is lost in her grief. It’s going to be dark and brutal and (hopefully) not very hopeful, which is exactly what I’m going for.

Enter Catherine.

photo by David Muller

Catherine and I have been good friends for a number of years, and when we met, we both had separate dreams of moving to LA and making it – her for acting, me for writing and/or directing. She has much larger balls than I do, which is why she’s been out there for two and half years already. I’m close to moving, but not quite ready. Earrings could change that.

It’s funny, in my original script for Earrings, I had a male as the lead. When Catherine showed interest in the project, I spent a month rewriting the film so it could star a female. Catherine and I have very similar outlooks on art. We thrive on the bleak, we embrace the darkness. For example, the second I walked out of Fincher’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I texted her and said, “You could do that.”

(Soon after casting, I sent Catherine this picture, and told her that the emotional and physical darkness of her Earrings character will be similar to…)

Catherine and I have been developing and tightening Earrings since December, and on April 14, we finally begin shooting. Pre-production has, thus far, been a complete blast. In addition to prepping for acting, Catherine has been essential in making sure the LA side of this projects runs smoothly. This means hiring supporting actors, putting together a small technical crew, scouting locations, and on and on.

I live visually, as if everything I see could be manipulated better if it was on the screen. Because of this, the best way I know how to direct an actor is through visually comparison, which is why I always rattle off a list of movies every actor should see before we begin filming. 

So, to give a little perspective on the type of character Catherine will be playing, last month I sent her Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Blue, 

Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers 

and Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar – all films based around the sufferings of women. 

And it’s tweets like these, in which Catherine and I discused Juliette Binoche’s character in Blue, that are perfect evidence as to why I cast her:

To sum up this inaugural post, I’m extremely excited about this project. I am humbled and honored that so many of you have shown interest in it; it has only made the pre-production process that much more memorable.

I’ll be posting about Earrings often, at least twice a week. The posts will always show up on this main page, but I’ll continue to store them in the "EARRINGS" tab directly under the header on the top of this page.

If you have questions about the film, PLEASE ASK. If it’s story related, I may not be able to answer, but anything else is fair game. I’m overwhelmed with excitement to go on this journey and I’m grateful that I have such supportive friends who are willing to go on it with me. Thanks again.