A follow up post from Reine Margot
Well… a lot is happening, right? Last night Amy presented her directorial debut at the CineKink NYC festival, in New York. It went amazingly well. The audience loved the film and loved Amy, they had a million questions and she didn’t have the time to answer them all. She was also interviewed, she met a lot of interesting people and overall she had a lot of fun, however, this morning she was feeling down, all that tension prior to the screening just got to her.
The screening was a success and now we’re looking forward to more of those and to the distribution of the film through our stores. It should be out there in a week, more or less.
Oh Margot, you have no idea how much I’ve been waiting for an update from you. When I’ve been home, I’ve been checking this forum practically every damn hour for the last few days.
D. Santorum
The scene is looking amazing. And real marks and real tears you say? My head is about to spin completely off and smash into the ceiling.
I am sending shouts of “Thank you!” in your general direction. Amy’s too (since she is currently in the opposite direction). I patiently wait for more.
The scene does look amazing and I don’t tire of saying it. If Jac had had an entire week to shoot it, he would’ve done that, but he only had those three days for that location and a large number of scenes. He did everything he could think of and maybe more. Everyone is happy with how the scene turned out. The crew is very, very proud to be working on this movie, specially now when Sirwiñakuy is in a festival, Maleficarum is selling well and it’s censored here, … etc. So, the work in Dead But Dreaming is going pretty well and everyone is in awe, really. Amy’s performance in this movie is fantastic, to say the least.
Margot: You know, up until now I was mildly interested in Dead But Dreaming, but after seeing those caps… well, let’s just say you have my attention now. Amy looks fantastic! A mainstream film with a full-frontal whipping post scene…there’s not been too many of those in the history of movies, just check out the database. Definitely keep us updated on the goings-on of this one.
Ralphus
I’m glad we got your attention, you’re going to like this one. I’m sure. In fact you’re partly responsible for it. If it weren’t for your tremendous support to Maleficarum, both with a healthy infuse of cash and a great push with promotion, we would not be making this one now.
Our experience with Maleficarum is making possible to think bigger. Your example was followed, as you know, and that contribution of healthy cash is what made that public flogging scene possible.
You should’ve seen the faces of the people watching the making of it, the extras, actors, bystanders… museum visitors… it was priceless.
Maleficarum censored? Okay, they’ve cast the first stone, now’s the perfect time to get your Publicity Machine rolling. I’ve said before that submitting the film to theaters was a win-win situation. It’s a win if people go to the cineplex and check it out on their own. And it’s an even bigger win if you submit it and they say no. I would go to the local newspapers, the local TV news, radio station, everywhere you can…and tell them your film is being censored and the theater refuses to show it. Controversy! Banned in Theaters! People want to hear they’re not allowed to see something. Tell them they can’t go, and they’ll want to go even more. Even those who may have had no interest in the subject matter before will be intrigued. You definitely don’t want to take this quietly. Make some noise. They just gave you the best publicity your film could have, so use it.
Ralphus
We have an estrategy to follow. We’re going to use the letter we recieved, letterhead and all, to further the cause of the movie. It was censored at the Cinemateca only, so, we have other options in theaters, but the fact that the Cinemateca did it calls for a big debate on censorship and the role of that institution. Jac is going to call into question its existence.
We’re going to definitely raise hell with that and use it as promotion.
I would think and hope a public flogging is follow up by the dreadful visit to the dungeon for more torture fun aaa I mean horror for poor Amy and friend(s) including some fiery torture I hope. That scene of the public flogging looks much more elaborate with more actors and actresses and props than Maleficarum had so it looks like it could be a terrific movie. Even if there are no bats or fiery peril I will buy it IF it has dungeon torture delights aaa I mean horrors like Maleficarum had.
Bill K.
I look at that public flogging stage and crowded town square scenery I think now if Amy’s (Jane’s) Maleficarum bats scene had that look ??? (Hint for next Amy’s bats scene movie)
Dead But Dreaming has some very important elements going for it. One, more experience. Maleficarum was a springboard. We never worked in this kind of movie with a large group of actors. Martyr had two, or three who were not part of our ensemble, but they were French.
In Maleficarum Jac had a large number of actors but they did not witness a large bloody event, only a few of them, like the priest, the soldiers, etc. But shooting that film made Jac more confident in what he can ask from people. Originally it was intended to have more people witness the burning at the stake. But the fact is that to move that many people to a distant location, feed them, make them wait and so on takes a lot of money.
Another problem is to build a proper burning pyre in a distant location. The scaffold for Dead But Dreaming was built by a carpenter who took a week or so to prepare the materials and took them to the location and assemble it there one day before we had to shoot the scene. If the location had been outside of the city, like in Maleficarum, we would not have that scaffold now.
Having a location that is a museum, that has doors and locks, helps. We could also leave all the heavy equipment like lights, and all those bags of costumes, etc, at the location. No problem. The problem is that we can’t burn anything in the middle of the city, it was hard enough to burn the coals for the roasting scene.
Another element that Dead But Dreaming has is more money. Not just because of the healthy contribution of cash, but because Maleficarum made back the money that we invested in it and we can invest it again in a new movie… and not just what we spent in Maleficarum, but more than double.
But you never know, we may have another BATS scene in this or other movie and we might have the money to take a lot of people to a distant location, have them stay in a hotel nearby where they could change, put make up, eat and drink and use the bathroom while our hard working crew prepares the pyre.
Dead but Dreaming Nice to see Amy with a new hair color, but once the clothes come off there is no hiding the true color. Nothing better than a blond with a black bush.
mr bush
Actually, there was a change there too… you just need to look closer.
And so, that’s that. I’m going back to work tomorrow and I don’t think I’ll be able to post for some time, again, unless I hear tomorrow that there are some changes in our schedule and find myself with some free time.
Last night we had a big celebration with lots of drinking, lots. So bye now…
