I don’t remember exactly how this all came about. Awhile back I was contacted by a man named Michael
Fassbender and asked if I was interested in being a part of a paid film studio
internship.
I don’t know what put my name on the radar; maybe my
technical theater and creative writing on my Macalester College transcript; or
the manuscript I had submitted to various publishers over the last two years;
or hell, even this blog and my YouTube channel.
Regardless, my name, portfolio, and passion for film and story creation
caught their attention.
Fassbender had been casted by a well known director by the
name of Ridley Scott (responsible for such films as Alien, Gladiator, and Blade Runner)
for a new project. You probably know
Michael best as Magneto from X-men: First
Class. With this new film, Ridley Scott
had a program he wanted to implement wherein several interns would be brought
onboard to learn the many facets of film making - be it on set, postproduction,
or even onscreen. How cool is that?
Mike was put in charge of selecting interns. Despite the pit in my stomach, when Mike
asked if I wanted to be a part of the project, I jumped on it immediately.
I flew out to California, where the studio was gathering everyone before we boarded the private planes bound for Iceland. It wasn’t until were airborne that I realized just how intimate of an experience this was going to be. The core group of people I would be involved with was no more than fifteen people or so. We were going to be set up in a lodge outside Vatnajokull National Park. After a full day of work, it would be just our small group hanging out together, which by the way was an amazing experience.
It wasn’t all fun and games though either. Sometimes we were looking at 16 hour days. All of us were given a cell phone, which we
primarily used as a pager. At any given
moment it could go off, requiring that we meet Mike down in the lobby for the
next session of our internship, or something unexpected pertaining to the
production at hand. Some days I wanted
to smash the damn thing. I was never in
the army, but it was a schedule I imagine new recruits suffered, where constant
drills kept sleep just out of reach at all times.
The first day of the internship, we were actually at
Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England.
Technical departments were already set up, building small hydraulic equipment
that would be used to animate alien creatures as they ripped out of the actors’
chests...
I suppose I should mention that Ridley Scott was intending
to revitalize the Alien franchise. This
movie, Prometheus, was to be the
first of several prequels. I loved the
movies… well the first three anyways, but let’s remember that I’m a
chicken-shit. Mike and I didn’t go on
the set that morning, but he did bring me by the security monitors, where I
could see the steam vents spilling fog into the moist, black corridors of the
alien world that we would be performing in.
That’s right, “we.” Along with getting to help behind the camera, I was
also casted in a supporting role.
I’m sure Mike watched me go pale; he probably expected, too,
because at that point he gave me the “blue pill / red pill” speech: This was
what it was all about, how scary it would be, how stressful and intense. He was offering me the experience of my
lifetime, but I had to decide then and there if I was onboard for the whole
thing or not.
I knew I was going to be plagued with nightmares, that I would suffer honest-to-god fear as I walked on the set and confronted creatures that scared the crap out of me when they were just on the TV screen; this time it would be in person! I honestly didn’t know if I could push away all defense instincts, much less my self-doubt at participating in something this far out of my league amongst a team of veterans and professionals. Still, I said yes, and maybe that’s what makes the difference between the people who make and the people who don’t.
During Mike’s downtime between sets he was introducing me to
people assigned to different aspects of the movie - lighting, sound, blocking,
acting, story boarding, timing, organization, whatever. It was the most rewarding experience an
aspiring movie maker could hope have. You
learn so much, and become connected with so many passionate and supportive
people.
It’s a part of my life that I could only have hoped to dream
of…
Which is exactly what it was, because halfway through
production I woke up to realize none of that had happened.
Boy, that blog must have been a letdown for you to read…
Yeah, just imagine how I feel…
There’s nothing like starting a day by getting up in time to
watch a good portion of your soul writhe in a fractured dream and die…
Do you go back to sleep then, or just make yourself a pot of
coffee and get the day over with?
--
On a related note, I can’t wait to see Prometheus when it comes out June 8th! I’m curious to see how well it turned out
without me.
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