Paul Hills’ weekly post production blog
Weekly Blog 13 (February 2nd February)
Another week of waiting for Williams draws to a close with some progress. He didn’t show Sunday and couldn’t do Monday. I met him on Tuesday and got a second third of the receipts. Only a final third is now outstanding. He told me that he wanted to order them properly so that there are as few as possible queries. Along with him getting Salmonella and then feeling generally un-motivated those were the reasons for the twelve week delay. The need to order them perfectly is in some ways a bit paranoia but I am happy they will be ordered well as it is a nightmare to go through a mountain of receipts.
Anyway, I haven’t been able to get hold of him again for the last two days but I STILL hope to get it sorted before we go to Berlin Film Festival and the European Film Market on Wednesday. The last time I went was after making Boston Kickout in 1997. I remember there was snow on the ground and the place was seriously cold. The opposite to Cannes. In recent years the film market in Berlin has started to rival and complement it’s more illustrious rival. This will only be my second time in attendance.
The poster for Berlin was finalised on Tuesday and is now being printed. Monday coming we will also finalise the new trailer. Myself and Jonnie have been chasing up contracts and doing the accounts this week. Kylie also raised some more money for the film which is much needed.
The high point of the week, though, must be seeing “There Will be Blood”. The performance of Daniel Day Lewis I found amazing. It must be one of the most powerful performances I‘ve seen since DeNiro or Brando in their prime. The last scene I nearly stood up to applaud!! If Day Lewis doesn’t win both the Bafta and the Oscar it would be criminal.
I have not been able to venture into the cutting room and the last 13 scenes lie there still for me to view with Caroline. I should do that Monday and Tuesday. Caroline is now poised to finally start the first assembly. The process I assume will take about 4 weeks. In my mind I look forward to thinking about her shaping the raw footage while I am away trudging up and down the strasse, she is breathing life back into the fragmented work, creating narrative and a kind of life from the separate pieces.
It will also be my first time back in Germany since I made the ill fated “The Poet” and afterwards toured it round the country with born again Christian rock siren who performed the title track. We spent hours talking about the meaning of Balaam’s Ass from the bible!
That whole experience on “The Poet” is the worst I’ve had by far on the 17 shorts and 4 features I have made. An experience thankfully eradicated from my psyche by making DEP. Almost certainly fate will decree that I will bump into the German producer of that film. Maybe we will even agree on something now!
Pity I’ll not be visiting Bavaria. I love the weisswurste…