Click Here For Part One!!! and now on to part 2...

Sean’s love interest (of sorts) in the film is Lauren, played by James’s opposite in many ways, Shannyn Sossamon. If you have not yet seen her performance in "A Knights Tale" you owe it to yourself to check it out. On the surface this role might seem kind of normal and unimpressive, but then again "A Knights Tale" is the kind of film that looks like one thing on the surface, but has so much more layered in it’s depths. Her performance is the same way in it. First off Shannyn is nothing like Jocelyn. She is quiet, shy, reserved. Every word she speaks, every sentence, seems carefully crafted as if she’d mulled it over in her shy silence. But she is in every way adorable. A sweet, kind girl, unsure of her place in the early stages of her career.

When I first met her I shared with her my love for "A Knights Tale." Now this is a film that certainly wasn’t in my top ten of 2001, but definitely is one of my most watched favorites of last year. It’s fun and had a lot going on, and when I visited the set, the DVD had just come out the day before. I had secured a copy two weeks in advance and had watched it in my video store near a dozen times by the time I met her. I told her I was a fan of her work in the film, but she seemed very hesitant to accept that, as well you know how the cliché goes "Big Fan." But as we talked Eric Stoltz interjected, having not yet himself had the chance to watch the DVD. He asked me a few questions about it and as I shared my joy over the deleted scenes and discussed with him certain aspects of the film, it obviously became clear to her that I really had enjoyed and watched the film as many times as I claimed, and she began to become much more at ease with me.

This role is a complete 180 from Jocelyn. There’s no fluff to this character. This isn’t a strong woman bent on finding the right, noble man. This is a very messed up girl, feeling constant pressure from her peers (namely her slutty roommate played by Jessica Beil) to finally give up her virginity, despite her overwhelming fear of losing it to the wrong person. She thinks she’s found the right person in Sean Bateman, but then things begin to go horribly wrong. At times just plain wrong.

Shannyn’s approach to acting was quite the opposite of Van Der Beek’s. She would step off alone before the scene, pace around and when Roger called for her, all traces of Shannyn were gone. She had become Lauren. Her Facial features seemed to change before my eyes. The innocence in Shannyn’s eyes that seemed to sparkle when you looked into them had dimmed to a downtrodden expression of forced angst (Lauren’s not Shannyn’s). Her lips stiffened and there was an acid to her speech that seemed off-putting, the kind of speech men dread when they speak to a girl. She carried with her a look of solemn indifference. There was no Shannyn left visibly in Lauren. None at all.

Lauren is not an easy character to play. There’s so much subtlety required for the role that it could have easily been botched with the wrong casting. Roger knew this. I asked him about how he had come to choose Shannyn, as early rumors had placed Rachel Leigh Cook in the role. He told me that due to some early problems that had stalled production, they were given ample time to shop around for the right cast. He was happy about everyone he had gotten, saying that he had managed to get almost everyone he wanted (the exception being Christian Bale who refused to reprise the role of Patrick Bateman stating that he had left that character behind and wanted to move on. Fair enough I guess. I still agree with Harry and Roger that it would have been REALLY FUCKING COOL.) Roger was especially thrilled with Shannyn, who he said very luckily fell into their laps in the last days of pre-production in which it would have been Go or No Go if they hadn’t cast Lauren.

Lauren is the Lynch Pin of this film. While Sean is obviously the catalyst to the entirety of the film, Lauren is the sympathetic girl trying to find herself amid a storm of sexual confusion. Shannyn nails it. From the dailies I saw and the scenes with her I witnessed firsthand, she has shown through and through her ability and potential to be a powerhouse on the scene in the years to come. Roger told me on the set, as well as recently, that he WILL work with her again. Although he has yet to decide on his next film (rumors of a confirmed project are false, as although he has several waiting in the wings, he’s putting 100% into the completion and perfection of this film before he even thinks about another), he knows that he wants Shannyn to be somehow involved. He was just that impressed, as was I.

The third main character in the film was Ian Somerhalder, with whom I was not able to spend much time. On the set he seemed all business, more so than the rest of the cast, although he was not unapproachable. His portrayal of Paul is definitely solid, a good strong performance from someone to watch over the next few years.

The supporting cast is just a great group of folks. A who’s who, if you will, of this generations up and coming actors. People you will be hearing a lot about in the next few years no doubt. When I met the cast there was an overwhelming feeling of family within it, like they’d all worked on a dozen pictures together before. Between takes no one went to their trailers, they sat out on the lawn together, chatting with each other and the extras, just having a great time being there. They even showed up on their days off, as Quint mentioned Clifton Collins Jr. had done during our visit, just to hang out and see how things were going. Everyone’s personalities complimented one another and no few among them hung out exclusively with each other.

Even Eric Stoltz, a long time veteran (of nearly 80 films! At his fairly young age) and a full generation older than most of the cast, could be found hanging out with everyone. He was simply amazing, one of the most fun guys to hang out with I’ve ever met. One Universal rep I talked with at a Junket (when he asked who I’d met on my set visit) said of Eric when he came up "Eric’s the sage. He’s the great healer on set. There’s just no one like him." I had to quote that because I can’t find better words myself to nail down as succinctly what type of man Eric is. He is simply everything you’ve ever seen him on the screen when he’s his most likeable.

There was a single moment that really personified the kind of guy he is and the feeling there was on the set for me. While setting up for a shot, Eric was chatting with some of the extras sitting at the lunch tables. He asked one of the guys sitting in front of him how he felt and the guy replied that he was getting a sore throat. Eric stopped the set up and called for a medic. Then he told the kid "You let me know how you’re doing later." Quint and I were floored. Now this wasn’t a speaking extra or a featured extra, just some guy in the background. He didn’t say, "Oh, you should see the medic about that" or "I’m sorry". He called for the medic himself and held up the shot. And none of the crew was upset about the delay. That’s just how it was on set.

When I had the chance to talk with him between shots and at lunch he asked me more questions than I had the chance to ask him. He was legitimately interested about meeting and getting to know everyone around him. His questions had questions. When he found out I was engaged and that my fiancé was a big fan of his, he insisted we call her and have some fun with her. "Hey this is Eric. Yeah, I’m here with your fiancé, Massa something or other. Wyrm? What kind of name is that? Anyhow, the cast and I are sitting here at lunch and we were all wondering: What the hell are you doing with this guy? I mean - you know he works at a video store, right? Wouldn’t you rather be with someone who could fly you out to L.A., someone like, I don’t know, Eric Stoltz? So what are you wearing? Really? One piece or two?" After having his way with my fiancé he went to hand the phone back to me, only Van Der Beek intercepted. "Hey, this is James. Yeah. So I’ve got to hear this too. What are you doing with this guy again? Uh-hu. And what are you wearing? Really? You’re out by the pool? One piece or two? Nice." The rest of the cast were sitting with us at the table and were having a hell of a time at my expense. Shannyn Sossamon tapped her wrist on mine to get my attention (a quirky, silly little act that really gave me a sense of how she’s just a little off center from the norm, but comfortable about that. You know those little, strange moments you have with people that stick out in your memory, despite their seeming unimportance? This was one of those.) "She’s gonna kill you." She smiled. "Yeah, probably."

The afternoon after that lunch is when I really got to sit down and pick the brains of the supporting cast. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, so between set ups and during scenes where the background wasn’t necessary everyone relaxed on the lawn outside on blankets. One group read the Sunday Times, passing sections back and forth like a family over breakfast. There was a shared group discussion over that weeks worst dressed list, as Tara Reid had made it on with the caption "Would you be caught dead wearing this?" Some regarded with sympathy, "Oh, poor Tara." Others giggled stating that in fact No, they would not be caught dead wearing that.

One of the guys’ who’s really stuck out in my memory was Thomas Ian Nicholas. We first got to talking after he returned from a round of interviews by members of the press (it was foreign press day.) He was visibly upset and several of the cast came over to see what was wrong. Apparently, some abhorrent woman had decided that rather than ask about the film and his feelings on it, she would instead ask, "So I hear you still live at home with your mother." He answered, "Yes, I do." "Well, don’t you think you’re a little old to still be living with your mom? Isn’t it time you moved out?" This moment above all else is what marked Thomas in my memory because he kept his cool and answered "Well, my mom lives with me, in the house I bought and paid for. I really only have a few years left that I’ll be able to spend with her like this and when I feel its time to move out and start my own family, my mother will own a house of her own. And I’ll know she’ll never have to worry about that." That sentiment really sums Thomas up. He’s a family man. After talking with him for near two solid hours I found just how deep his roots with family go.

Thomas is the type of guy Fathers’ dream of for their daughters. Polite, charming and dedicated to his family. Aside from all the projects he did as a child, which most of us have seen (Rookie of the year, Kid in King Arthur’s Court, ect.), and his more adult ventures like Rules of Attraction, American Pie 1 and 2 and the upcoming Halloween 8 (or Halloween 2k1 as he said Jamie Lee Curtis like to call it), he’s also got a band (T.I.N.) and is working on a couple of screenplays. I managed to get a hold of one that he wrote with a buddy of his, which was a lot of fun to read. This kids got a lot of talent in a lot of different areas and it will be interesting to see where he takes his career from here.

Sitting with him that afternoon was Clare Kramer, who played Courtney in "Bring it On" and some evil goddess type on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Unfortunately her parts during the filming I attended were all non-speaking so I really didn’t get a sense of her performance. However, she was party to my most surreal encounter in LA. While out chatting on the lawn, Thomas asked if I’d seen her spread in FHM that month. I cocked my eyebrow at his word choice then shook my head. He retrieved a copy rather quickly and opened it up to page 32. There was Clare, the beautiful woman lying beside me on a blanket: half naked and wrapped in a snake. It was an interview complete with a photo shoot in all its’ glossy splendor. If you have not seen this spread, you have missed out. Sexy, stunning, unbelievable. I looked at the pictures, then over at Clare, the pictures, Clare, the pictures, Clare. I cleared the lump from my throat. "Wow, you look, uh, really beautiful." "Thank you." She smiled. There was just nothing else I could bring myself to say.

Later, once I’d regained my composure, I asked her what her biggest challenge with her previous roles had been. "Everyone thinks I’m a bitch." She replied. "Both of my big roles have been bitches, so everyone I meet thinks I’m really that way." Well, I can tell you straight up, she’s not. She’s really a sweet, down-home, midwestern, girl-next-door who just happens to look like the model next door. We chatted for a while and she told me how I just had to meet her best friend Eliza Dushku. Uh, yeah, like I have to be told that twice. But I was, as everyone else chimed in with "Oh, yeah, she rules." And some of the guys confided to me (quietly) that she was simply the most beautiful woman any of them had met. When I returned home from the trip I’d looked of several of the actors I’d met on the web and found that Clare had a website under construction. Where, you might ask? elizadushku.cc.

Also on set was the Goddess among women, God’s gift to us all, the unbelievably amiable, undeniably adorable, image of perfection (and my vote for newest upcoming ‘It Girl’) Kate Bosworth. You’ll remember her as Berteir’s lovely girlfriend from "Remember the Titans" (the one who couldn’t accept her boyfriend hanging around with his black teammates) or perhaps from her three aired episodes of the WB’s "Young Americans". There is something absolutely divine about this woman. She is quite possibly the most adorable creature god ever put on this earth; she’s a solid actress and she has a 4.0 at the Ivy League school she attends. She’s taken a year off to pursue her career, but will be returning in the fall to finish up her degree. In the meantime she’s done this film and is currently in Hawaii shooting a romantic comedy called "Surf Girls" starring herself, Faizon Love ("Made" and "The Replacements") and local Texas girl Michelle Rodriguez ("Girlfight" and "Fast and the Furious"). I don’t know much about "Surf Girls" so I’m not sure what market it’s aimed for (I’m assuming it’s teen oriented by the material I’ve seen, but don’t quote me on that) but strap a rocket to my ass and call me Superman if I won’t be there to see Kate as a romantic lead.

As I chatted with her out on the lawn, I couldn’t resist flirting with her, I mean, how many chances in your life do you get to have some fun flirting (innocently) with a girl like this. Jay Baruchel (Fox’s "Undeclared" and the Led Zeppelin freak from "Almost Famous") sat with us, giving me an odd look for flirting with her. "Don’t you have a fiancé?" he asked (Cockblocking bastard) "Fiancé?" Kate asked musically. To this Jay sounded a resounding dramatic "Dun Dun Dun!" At this Kate began to have a lot of fun with me, following up my every comment with a "Now, now, now. What would your fiancé think?" Jay Baruchel will die by my hands; I swear it. Heh heh.

Later that day, Jay, Thomas and myself sat in on her scene approaching James with Clare, in which she tries to make a hook up with him for later on at a party. Now, Kate is the type of girl who speaks sweetly and exudes innocence from every fiber of her being. She’s the type of girl you’d cock an eyebrow to if you ever heard her swear. Well, in her scene, her character (a loose party-girl) is trying her damndest to score with Sean again (they have a surreal love scene that has already taken place in the timeline, although if memory serves it occurs later in the movie. Playing around with time is a large element to the brilliant storytelling method of this film.) Well, we heard the foulest, sexiest, dirty things spill out of her mouth during this scene as she ad-libbed different ways to get a reaction out of Sean’s cohorts.

As a director, Avary likes to have real honest to god reactions just as much as he likes well constructed, perfectly acted ones. This shot sequence’s purpose was to get hilarious reactions out of the guys sitting at Sean’s table. Kate would do things like stroll up with Clare, hit on Sean a little then say things like "You gonna fuck us both later?" At that particular moment, Jay, Thomas and myself looked around at each other, our tongues having fallen out of our astonished mouths so far they were practically licking the table in front of us as stunned looked of utter dismay were washing over our faces. The images that phrase had put into our heads were of things not to be shared with anybody but your buddies in a locker room. Kate shared them with us all at that moment. But the guys at Sean’s table weren’t buying it. Roger just wasn’t getting the reaction from them he had solicited from every other guy on the set. Kate was running out of ideas.

Between shots she made her way over to me and in her sweetest, most innocent tone begged me to come up with some perverted idea to obliterate these guys’ senses. Now why she pegged me for the most perverted guy on the set I’ll never know. Okay, so maybe I know why but I’ll argue to my grave that Roger and I are neck and neck in that department. Anyhow, I whispered a few ideas to her, to some of which her eyes grew wide and she playfully hit me on the arm saying, "I’m not doing THAT!" She tried a few of my ideas, but the guys were still relatively stone-faced to them. Then she had a stroke of brilliance. She pulled out a stick of gum while delivering her lines then offered it to Clare…between her teeth. They both chewed at the ends, slowly working in to the center leading to an almost kiss. Um yeah…that did the trick. Roger got his shot. Since the camera was on the guys and not Kate and Clare, you won’t be seeing that in the movie, so that image that’s in your heads now is my gift to you as it was Kate and Clare’s gift to us. Relish it for a moment. Let it roll around your noggin. There, now isn’t that nice?

Then of course there’s Joel Michaely who is just one hell of a funny guy. You’ll remember him as X-phile #2 from "Can’t Hardly Wait" and from the modern indie classics "But I’m a Cheerleader" and "Ghost World". He plays one of Paul’s (Ian’s) out and proud friends. So dead on and charming was he in the role that someone on the set I was chatting with was surprised to hear he was straight. Watching Joel and Jay play off each other with Ian was a delight. A real treat.

Joel is just an all around great guy and one of only two cast members I spent time with off set. He gave me a lift home from the set since he lived a few blocks from my hotel and gave me a mini tour of L.A. We even checked out a flick together and had a great time deconstructing it. He has a cool list of films under his belt, including a recent indie called L.A.X. which I rather enjoyed, and of course I’m really interested to see what he’s got lined up next.

And of course how could I get away with not mentioning the lovely and talented Jessica Beil. She was a riot. Feisty, straightforward and blunt as all hell, she’s the type of woman who would just scare the hell out of most timid men. But as I am far from timid I found her hilarious and fun to be around. She seemed very cautious around me however, with good reason. She’d just taken a battering in the press over 7th Heaven and a photo shoot she’d done and I very much understood her being somewhat reserved around me. But it was very clear that she shared a bond with everyone else on the film and really belonged in the ‘family’.

But her performance will no doubt become a thing of legend among certain circles as she takes the role of the slutty roommate and plays it with panache. Now, this is a role that is traditionally weak in most college films. The slutty girl is always the catalyst to events that gets her just desserts in the end when our heroine finally finds true love. But as I said before, this isn’t your average college film and Avary uses this role to its fullest. Jessica is simply funny as hell in this. The foulness that spills from her mouth is highly focused and brilliantly cutting. Not only is Avary’s dialog for this character just right on and funny as hell, but the very way Jessica formulates that dialog, well, it dances right off her tongue and no doubt soon it will make its way onto thousands of hard drives the world over, sounding off at any sign of critical errors or the opening of Windows. And then there’s the hallway scene Quint spoke of, one of the funniest damn things I’ve seen in years. This should open up a whole new world of adult roles for this young woman.

Now with this cast, Roger’s direction and the material Roger had to work with when adapting this, one could assume that as long as the camera was pointed straight and didn’t shake when it wasn’t supposed to, that this could turn out to be a pretty good movie. But as anyone who’s seen "Killing Zoe" knows, Roger has a strong sense of visual style and there is no way he’s gonna cheese out on the visuals. So he brought in Robert Brinkmann, the genius D.P. behind the camera of "Sugar and Spice" and "The Cable Guy". Now regardless of what you think of these films, you have to admit that their visual style leaves an indelible mark on your mind’s eye and in my opinion, they are the strongest element of both films. Although he has done several films, many of which I know you’ve seen, he is best when given dark or edgy material to work with. Here of course he shines, with beautiful indoor tracking shots and creative camera placement framing everything to perfection.

"Roger tells me what to shoot and I shoot it. I have the easy job." He confided to me in his thick, melodic German accent. Roger disagreed, shaking his head, putting complete faith in his cinematographer. Many people on set regarded him as brilliant, and from everything I saw, I’d have to agree. He’s a complete perfectionist, but like Roger, in such a laid back way that he defies, rather than personifies, the notion of the perfectionist D.P. Just look at those screenshots posted in Quint’s article. Those aren’t production stills; those are screen captures. Once you see the teaser trailer, you’ll know what I’m talking about. His work is stunning, crisp, gorgeous. Almost surreal. And on top of all that, he is hands down the sweetest man I’ve ever met. Many times he offered me his chair behind the monitors to watch the action from his point of view. His attention to detail is marvelous. As I sat there, watching the monitors, he would point out the very small details. The framing of objects, the usage of space. And if it wasn’t right, he would leave and come back only when everything was perfectly where he wanted it to be.

Robert was very happy with the filming. "I’ve worked on films with budgets 3 times this and I could never get what I needed. Here, with only $5 million, I’ve gotten everything I’ve wanted." Roger spoke very highly of Robert, flat out calling him a "genius". When asked if he would work with him again Avary said "Oh, Definitely. I’ll always go to Robert first." He then went on to say, "He has a way of giving [the film] a big movie feel and yet it still feels intimate. If that makes any sense."

Which of course leads us to the art direction. This is probably the biggest deviation from the material, as the film is set in present day with current fashions rather than in the 80’s when the book was set. It’s very stylized and has a cutting edge look of cool without being trendy or feeling like a two-hour gap commercial. I asked Roger specifically about his use of color and he noted that since the film takes place primarily indoors, yet occurs over the course of different seasons, that he wanted to convey the changing seasons through colors. It shows in the paint, the color of clothing. Everything I saw that was scene related had a sense of the time it was taking place. The rich hues just ring out sharply in every shot, without overpowering the scene itself. There’s no doubt in my mind that this film will be a feast for the eyes.

Roger has just recently finished his director’s cut and is very proud of it. He’s still doing a little tweaking or as he referred to it "a few nips and tucks" on what he hopes to be his final product. Of course this is before the MPAA has gotten their hands on it and as I have not yet seen it, I can’t even begin to speculate what they’ll want done to it, if anything to garner the "R" rating Avary is contractually obligated to bring this film in under. I know that there were many ‘questionable’ scenes in the film, like the "Dressed to get screwed party" that Roger referred to as "…what Eyes Wide Shut should have been." However, it’s all in the editing. What Avary and his team do there is what will separate what hits theatres and what we may have to wait for the Director’s cut DVD to see.

My final analysis? This film looks to have all the makings of a great indie masterpiece. A visionary, proven director. A cinematographer with a killer eye. A remarkable cast. A terrific script. There just are no weak links in the film. It’s all about the editing now. If the editing of the teaser is any indication, that department is sewn up nice and tight as well. Once you see it, you’ll know what I’m talking about. You will share my burning desire to see this film.

I have high hopes for this. Everything I was privy to see made me want so badly to have it up on the screen in it’s fullest form immediately. I don’t want to wait. I want this now. Alas, wait I shall. "Rules of Attraction" is tentatively scheduled for a late May early June release, which of course hinges on post MPAA editing and the timing and placement of other films. While the wait is unbearable, it’s a pleasure to know that we’ll have what one hopes to be a stellar freaking tour de force as a summer film. Think about that; let it swim around in your gourd. A new Roger Avary film, in the summer. The same summer in which we get new Raimi, new Rodriguez, new del Toro. Here’s to hoping that if Spider-Man and Episode 2 leave us wanting, Roger Avary can top us off with a work of genius.

So without further ado, and for those of you (bastards) that skipped through 10,000 words that you thought were oh so boring, here, in all it’s glory, is the Quicktime teaser which you can download here Click Here!!!

Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em. I know I will.

Mail Me A 23" Rubber Phallus Stuffed With Chocolate Flavored Tobacco Leaf!!!