Unnecessary Risk

So we're hired to do seven days of second-unit reshoots on a poor man's "Fast and the Furious" racing movie called "Redline." My guys and I are on a commercial for the first two days so I bring in a whole new crew to replace us for those days and then we come in on "Redline" on Day 3 after the machine is already up and running.

The stage is up by Magic Mountain Parkway but us lowly second-uniters have other things to do this morning--that is, launching the producer's $250,000 Porsche off a cliff and filming it. Five cameras. Two crash cameras at various stages up the cliff, two cameras at the top filming the launch, and one camera below, my camera, right below, far below, but right in the line of fire. A wheel is rigged to pop off during the crash; who knows where that will end up?

The second-unit director is a short Italian stuntman named Johnny with a slicked-back pompadour. The second-unit DP is also short and Italian, and though there is far less back-slapping machismo coming from the DP, he seems willing to go along with Johnny's persistent need to push the boundaries of safety.

I turn around and gesture at the assistant director, who (with the neophyte key grip) is supposed to be in charge of safety on set. The AD makes a feeble comment to the director, who glares defensively. The DP looks at me directly and asks if I'm willing to do the shot from the bottom of the cliff. It seems clear that he is telegraphing me to be the bad guy here and say no for all of us, so, having nothing to lose, I do. "I'll be more than happy to roll the camera and then walk away and have the camera get crushed, but I'm not manning that camera."

The director storms off, cursing me under his breath (this is about 3 minutes after I've met him for the first time). The DP glares at me, as if to say, "What are you doing? Why are you jeopardizing my relationship with this director?"

And so it goes for the next five days, with the stuntman/director putting us in jeopardy. We're out in the middle of the street, where three cars drift around a corner, fishtail, then split the camera on either side. Or they strap the DP to the hood of a car with a ratchet strap around his waist and no helmet. The DP is excited to have this job; it is a giant step up from the low-low-low budget movies he is used to doing. He is going to do whatever the director asks him to do, and the director, since (as a stuntman) he is used to taking unnecessary risks, expects everyone to do the same.

So everyone thinks I'm a pussy. But whatever. I hate this environment where speaking out and standing up for one's personal safety is seen as the most treasonous thing in the world. Take the job. Do the shot even if it's unsafe. If you say anything, you'll never be hired again. Terrible. I'll probably never work with these people again. But that's okay...it's not really too big of a deal.

But the whole situation reminds me of Haskell Wexler's documentary, Who Needs Sleep? which takes on Hollywood and its abusive 80 hour workweeks that cause people to fall asleep on freeways. There are an infinite number of people who are willing to work these hours, hazardous as they may be, and if you try to change anything then you're gonna be canned and someone will fill your spot. It's medieval.

On the last day of the shoot I rear-ended this guy while driving to work. It's been really busy and we've been working long long days out in the sun every day and I was spacy but awake and looked away for a second..enough time for traffic to stop so I could crush the guy in front of me. My car had been out of the body shop for less than a week. My hood is all pushed up and my grill and bumper are demolished, but the car was still drivable. I made it to work and we worked all night and when we finished at 5AM, I couldn't make the 20-minute drive from downtown to my place in west Hollywood. I kept falling asleep and running off the freeway on the 101 and no amount of windows-down, radio-up, face-slapping, singing-as-loud-as-I-could would keep me awake. I exited on Sunset and pulled into a gas station and slept for a few hours.

So I actually feel lucky that I rear-ended that guy, when the alternative is much much worse.

This is a picture of two of the ridiculous cars in "Redline." The orange car in the foreground is a Saleen and gets 3 mpg.



This is a picture of the 2nd Unit DP, strapped to the hood of the car with a handheld Eyemo. No helmet.



This is a picture of the set medic, treating the DPs wounds after completing the hood-strapped, car-to-car shot.



This is a picture of the stunt coordinator mapping out a motorcycle stunt with leaves, twigs, rocks, and little squares of black tape.



This is a picture of Surly E.



This is a picture of the Corvette that got trashed in the course of shooting.



This is a picture of my newly scarred car after the last day of shooting.