Ok folks some of you may remember that I went out to Los Angeles a few weeks back to visit the set of THE GREEN MILE.
Pictures by Ralph Nelson
How did I get to go?
That’s a good question, and technically I never asked it. But I think it probably came because they (whoever ‘they’ are) thought that I was an ally.
Where the hell did they get that idea?
Well, months and months back I did a review of THE GREEN MILE script by Frank Darabont, and started screaming about how I felt it was brilliant, how if they got the right cast... it could be a great film. At that time, it was known that Tom Hanks was involved. I instantly began advocating for MICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN from ARMAGEDDON, not because he ‘befriended’ me on that set. In fact we said perhaps two sentences to one another, and I was sure he didn’t remember me. But rather, I was doing it because A) I thought he was perfect. B) Warner Brothers has worked with Shaquille O’Neill in the past. C) I have a deep rooted fear that everything Shaq touches in film will turn to shit. Soooo, I screamed as often as I could that ‘Bear’ was born to play Coffey, the death row behemoth.
Months after I started this, the announcement finally came. I began screaming with joy. Ya see, he was now joining Michael Jeter (Del), Harry Dean Stanton (Toots), David Morse (Brutal), Bonnie Hunt (Jan Edgecomb), James Cromwell (Warden), Barry Pepper (Dean Stanton), Sam Rockwell (Wild Bill), etc. Knowing this, I predicted that very night that THE GREEN MILE would win Best Picture come March of 2000.
How much was I paid for that?
Nothing. I did it because the script knocked the wind out of me. Moreso even than the books. To me THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION was a great movie, but the one flaw I had with it, came from the base material. It was a story written by someone that had watched a whole bunch of Warner Brothers PRISON films from the thirties, forties and fifties. I’ve seen them too, and if you have too, you probably picked up on it. To me, that wasn’t a flaw, but to perhaps some older Academy members... well perhaps it was a bit of a minus, ever so slight though. That was a tough year. People still scream at each other over GUMP, PULP or SHAWSHANK. I happened to have been one of them weirdoes that enjoyed all 3.
So there I went screaming that a Warner Brothers product, albeit through CASTLE ROCK, would be a Best Picture in two years. Hahahaha. Right. Believe me, I know good in well, there are those of you that wrote that on a piece of paper and superglued it to the base of your computer screen, just so if March 2000 comes along and THE GREEN MILE doesn’t win... well you can send me “I told ya so” emails till my server crashes. But I’m not worried.
So why did they bring me? I guess it was to show me that they weren’t fucking it up. That’s fairly simple, but really, it was Frank Darabont that brought me in. He wanted me on set that day. He wanted to make sure I was betting on the right horse.
That was pretty cool. They flew me out. I got up at 4:30am my time, and caught a 6am flight to Los Angeles. I reread GREEN MILE on the way out there. And I also read STITCH IN TIME, a fantastic script that Darabont wrote a while back, which would be perfect for RUSSELL CROWE... HINT HINT!!!
The scripts read fast and sharp. One thing immediately evident by a Darabont script is his love for vintage film. It is seeped into every scene. He loves movies. This I had decided while flying over Phoenix.
Right as I got off the plane, the Limo dude picked me up and took me to the set. This was WARNER BROTHERS HOLLYWOOD, not the more commonly known Water Tower place. When we arrive, I am let out inside, I’m carrying my bags, and wow... This is where they shot the live action scenes for YOU OUGHT TO BE IN PICTURES, that classic live-action animation Porky Pig and Daffy Duck cartoon I showed at the Smithsonian. I begin realizing what was shot here... THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD... my favorite film ever.
I sat down for a bit, I closed my eyes and opened them with the memories of black and white news reels I’ve seen. The ‘merry men’ walked over there, and Errol Flynn drove into frame by the commissary. Michael Curtiz walked this pavement, as did John Huston, Busby Berkeley, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart. Tears welled up in me. At that point I was so entrenched in the history of this place, that my reason for being there was gone.
I try to remember where I was supposed to go, but I can’t. I’m walking around asking people, trying to get instructions. You see, I’m supposed to go to the Unit Publicist’s office, but I can’t find it. Finally a kind soul from the AUSTIN POWERS 2 unit helps me.
Once I get to the chap’s office he has me leave my bags there, and takes me to the stage that THE GREEN MILE was filming. Now, probably noone on the film knew this, but the door then entered to go on set, was the same one that Porky Pig opened up in YOU OUGHT TO BE IN PICTURES. And the stage was one of Busby Berkeley’s. Specifically he shot the column dance scene from WONDERBAR here. I’ve been in this building since I was a two year old. I went in with Porky. I wish Porky were here.
As we walk in those memories begin fading, or at least being put in the back corner of my brain. My brain started reformatting my state of existence. My brain was telling me I was on the set of the future Academy Award winning GREEN MILE set. That, twenty years from now, I could watch this movie I could say, I walked the mile, I sat in Old Sparky, Coffey touched me.
It was early morning, and the set was semi dead. It was caked in darkness, but as I stepped over the cords and gear, I began to see the mile.
As I stepped in, I was at the end of Death Row. Coffey’s cell was on my right. The paint was grazing, peeling up. The Row was a miserable place to live, I thought. The floor was the color of my old 1978 pale mint green Cadillac, my first car. I believe there were 8 cells, four on either side of me. At the end of the row was a desk, the one you’ll see in the picture way down at the end of the report. Old light fixtures hung from above. Cages at the top of the cells separate the prisoners from the lights. The walls of the cells were used. Urine stains, living stains, roach specs, etc... The publicist was talking, I probably mumbled some affirmatives back at him, but really... really I was in the script. I was watching Delacroix play with Mr Jingles. I was watching Wild Bill fighting with the guards. Shadows from my mind’s eye with a set to play upon.
The publicist ushers me into another room. In here, the second unit is shooting. I believe the man’s name was Charlie Gibson. He’s been doing effects work forever, and he is overseeing all the MR JINGLES work. Here we have the floor of Del’s cell, and the mouse. As I round the corner, my eyes immediately find the video monitors. They are beginning a take.
The shot is straight on of MR JINGLES. He has the little wooden spool in front of him. He pushes if straight into the camera, about 2 feet or so... Perfectly on cue. My mouth hit the floor. I shit you not, I was stunned. I mean, that friggin mouse just pushed that spool directly at the camera perfect, the first take. That was not natural. This unit’s entire job in life is to get MR JINGLES to be the smart little sucker we all know and love. I stand mystified watching this little bugger do the trick take after take. They have this cool periscope style lens on the camera to get right down on that furry fart. Every single teeny tiny hair comes into focus.
I could have stood there all day, but publicist dude says “Food” or at least that’s what I heard. SO, we go grab a burrito or two. We go sit and eat. While there various people come up and talk and sit for a bit. Barry Pepper comes up, the still photographer, etc. I get nice little introductions, but then we all begin talking films. BLADE had just opened and people were having fun with it. AVENGERS had also just opened. We enter a theoretical bet about how much AVENGERS was going to drop in it’s second week. I said 68-70%, I’m told no more than 50%. I was proven correct a week later. Ha Ha!
Then we begin to head back to set. Now it is alive. The set is teeming with activity. Lights, Cameras and Action all around. That’s when DAVID VALDEZ came up talking to me. He instantly popped down to his knees bowing before me. THIS WAS FUCKING WEIRD OK! I mean that’s strange. I immediate think. Ok, a psycho. But then he stands up and we begin talking. Turns out he loves Austin, he’s filmed a couple of films down there, and has about 5 projects in the works that he’s contemplating using Austin for. He and I begin talking about Augie Meyer, Doug Sahm and the Austin Music Scene. I’ve grown up at the ARMADILLO WORLD HEADQUARTERS, SOAP CREEK SALOON, etc , so I know all this stuff. My father was in charge of the light shows for Janis Joplin and ZZ TOP in Austin in the early seventies, so I’m real up on this. He’s really taken back by this. We begin talking about the Texas Film Commission and well... I realize he’s a pretty real guy. I don’t hold that bowing thing against him, so I know think... “This guy likes Augie Meyer... Cool!”
Then I head over to the green mile. I’m standing in back of the monitors, watching Darabont watching the video screens. First impression.
He was holding his chin with his right hand, that elbow was on his right knee and he was sitting up in his Director’s Chair. After about 10 seconds of sitting he would get up and run over to talk with David Tattersall, the director of photography on THE GREEN MILE and a small indie called EPISODE ONE.
The shot that was being done had to do with the first instance of everything not being what it seemed to be. If you know the novel, and you remember Edgecombe’s pissing problem... it’s that sequence. Well, Hanks is all spiffed out in his Death Row Uniform. (You can see a pic at the bottom of the page)
All of a sudden, I’m looking at Hanks, my gaze leaving Darabont. Hanks is walking back and forth talking with various crew members. Then he spots me and begins heading over towards me. Oh shit.
I’ve been a fan of Hanks from back in his BOSOM BUDDIES and that one red shoe flick. But here in the last few years... well he’s been on a streak of great films that is stunning. Back to Back OSCARS. And I just like his ‘media’ personality. Now as if to add to the intimidation, well he’s wearing a Death Row Guard Uniform. Plus he’s really really really tall. He comes up and shakes hands like we’re ol buddies. It turns out he has been reading the site a while. He’s referencing stories from way back. In my brain I begin wondering who the hell else out there reads the site that I don’t know about. My mouth continues moving and answering back, he laughs, it musta been good, I’m looking at all of this in the third person. I mean it’s not everyday you are hanging in a 1930’s death row with Tom Hanks. But as we talk, I begin reentry into my body. He’s ragging on the NRG and saying anyone that raises the blood pressure on Joe Farrell is a friend of his. Hey, Tom Hanks is one of the good guys, he’s talking about Farrell with a slightly negative slant. Cool. We begin talking about THAT THING YOU DO, I’m complaining about how I still can’t get the song out of my head. That film is one of them flicks that I think a lot of people watch when noone else is around. I really like it. But it seems that there was this... expectation that it should’ve made a mint, but I really felt it was a small film. Hanks gets called back over to the camera.
Whew, Hanks is cool. I’ve always heard good things about him, but you know how sometimes image control changes the way it is. Well, Hanks is genuinely human. His eyes adjusted normally under different lighting conditions, he was able to perform complicated urinary ailments. He and Michael Jeter were joking around a lot.
Around this time Darabont notices me, and we begin talking. He seemed very happy to have me on set. I get embarrassed by those sorts of things, cause really, I’m not used to that sort of thing. The concept of a director happy to have me on set. Especially someone I know only by their work. With Rodriguez, it’s different cause well we’ve painted Models, watched HEAVY METAL and Carpenter’s THE THING. We’ve pigged out together, Christmas shopped together, and spent innumerable hours on the phone. It’s different when someone else that you haven’t had those sorts of experiences with acts genuinely pleased with your presence.
I did some research on Darabont before coming to set, and I knew he liked models, and that he hung out with Robert when Robert lived out in this area of the world. I knew Frank loved old Universal Horror films, and I knew not to bring up Branagh’s FRANKENSTEIN. So we talked very briefly, but mainly he was focused on filming, and that was fine by me because I was here to observe, not converse. Something the Publicity guy learned quickly and left me to my own devices.
You want to know what type of director FRANK DARABONT is...
Ok. Now I was only on set for 1 day, I was there the entire shoot. I went into dailies with him. Saw effects tests in his trailer with him. We sung Gabby’s song from GULLIVER’S TRAVELS while Charles Gibson argued that Fleischer Features weren’t that good. Frank and I vehemently argued for HOPPITY GOES TO TOWN (aka Mr Bug Goes To Town) and I kept talking about the muscling in that Disney did during the War years. But that... that stuff doesn’t mean a damn thing.
I would often sit upon the green floor and watch Frank work. At one point the camera was on tracks, and the shot was supposed to be a P.O.V. of Hanks walking with a hesitance to his step. After watching a test, he went over saying in a calm voice, “no no no no nooooo. That was too smooth. You have to pace it like Tom’s gonna walk it. He’s walking like this,” he imitates Hanks’ walk, “pauses here, looks at Del, then continues on.” He made sure, before film began rolling that the camera people had the right movement speed and pauses. At the same time he would talk extensively to his actors, making sure they were in the right state of mind. He’d be talking to the lighting people about consistency. He’d talk with his continuity person obsessively, not wanting to be caught in Premiere’s Gaffe page, He never said that, but I got the idea he really cares about all the details.
While Rodriguez was seemingly in control of every aspect of his film by actually doing a lot of it. Darabont was in complete control by his rapport with the different skill people. Always communicating, never locking himself away. Constantly asking for more, yet never stepping on toes to do it. And he had that look in his eye. That, “I’ve seen this movie, and that shot wasn’t in it. Do it more like this” type of look. He had a clear vision, and was able to take that vision from his mind’s eye, and communicate it to the others around him.
So far of all the directors I have seen and watched, I got the feeling of old style Hollywood from him. I got the sense of a great old time director. Rodriguez is something else, he’s a new type of director. Someone that wants to do everything but act in his films. Frank seemed completely happy to let everyone do their part, but only so far as it helps to put his vision on screen.
The look of this film is gorgeous. I saw that in dailies. I can not wait to see Tattersall’s work on Episode One. As I said above Frank took me to his trailer to show me some make up effects tests from KNB for the electrocution of one of the prisoners. My god it was cool. It shook and reacted just like a real live person who was about to not be. Darabont was sooooo geeky about this. He was giddy as a boy with his Red Ryder BB Gun With The Compass In The Stock. He went into a bit of the ol, “I can’t believe I get to play with toys like this” phase. Later I went through with him, the head shots of older actors that they were considering to play the older Edgecombe. They had done some make up tests with Tom, and they loved it, but well they weren’t sure which direction they would be going.
I suggested that they look up Douglas Fairbanks Jr. They had everyone from pics of Hal Holbrook to Hume Cronyn. As far as I know, I haven’t heard if a decision was reached.
At this point I’m completely unsupervised. I wander the set. I come to Old Sparky. The Electric Chair. Now the rational side of my brain tells me, “Harry, there is no electrical current running to this chair!” However, the other side of my brain, the one that wrote the Urban Legend review a couple of days ago says, “If you sit there, Terry Semel is gonna coming running out to lock you in place, and electrocute you!!!” I sat in the chair. The cold metal plates chill the underside of your arms. God, I wish I had a camera. Sigh. Terrible terrible things are going to happen in this chair. Things, that will haunt memories for quite some time. Things that will leave people shaking as though they sat in it.
As the day wore on into night and night into the witching hour, I realized I had been awake for 32 hours, that I needed to get to my room and meet up with some spies that were bringing me... items. Very very cool items. So as I... shit, I didn’t describe Coffey.
Before I leave this report let me describe this.
When I saw Michael Clarke Duncan in his Coffey role... I shed tears. Why? Because it was perfect. Exactly as I imagined. He was battered. Big terrible scars marked his arms, chest, shoulders and back. His feet were torn up, damaged. He had a profound look of sadness upon his brow. His voice sent chills through me. It was so incredibly wonderful to see that big guy in the role he was born to play. People will remember his and Hank’s characters and their interaction for a very very very long time. Towering over Hanks, making Hanks look short (that’s no easy task). He was the behemoth I imagined.
I tell you, they are doing this exactly perfect. This film will be magic. I know that’s a big bold statement, but they don’t have any other choice. They have to make this film perfect, because the script was. A perfect adaptation of King’s story. A film that learns everything from the prison films from this very studio, but grows out from their shadow instead of staying in it. Was WHITE HEAT shot here? What about DEAD END or ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES? I don’t know, but I’ll never forget being on that stage. Knowing the history of the rafters, sensing the past, and always having a black and white perspective on it all... well it left me amazed at where I was.
In a couple of years, it’ll seem all so unreal. Hell, it already feels that way, but damn I’m anxious to see this film. It comes out the third week of July. You’ll have seen WILD WILD WEST two weeks before. You’ll of seen EPISODE ONE 30 some odd times. And this film will knock you out. I have faith.
Pics by Ralph Nelson
