Location, NOT Vacation . . .
In 1980-81, when we filmed "On Golden Pond" in New Hampshire, we literally lived on the pond for three months, which was the beautiful Squam Lake.
The film crew could not be lodged at a nearby hotel or inn. There was nothing large enough to accomodate a full feature film crew and our various needs and requirements.
Everybody on the crew was lodged in lakeside cottages, each with it's own dock and motor boat.
Each morning at 7am, we would leave our cozy little cottages, and motor across the lake to the other side, to a cove.
The house used in On Golden Pond, the one belonging to the characters played by Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepbern, was located back in the cove, constructed by the company a few months before we began filming. It was designed as a set, just as would be done on a sound stage. The walls were wild, which means removeable. If we change a camera angle, parts of the set can be removed to give us more room to move around. All the matters is what the camera sees, anything outside the lens frame is unimportant.
It was cool, my neighbor was the Key Grip, and he and I would ride across the lake every morning in our boat, and then return before sunset when we filming daytime exteriors.
What a beautiful place it was, and what a great film. It won multiple Oscars, Jane Fonda & Hepbern, Henry got a nomination. It was the "Best Picture" Academy Award winner that year. What incredible Hollywood talent were the Fonda's and Katherine Hepbern. I would sit off-camera after we were finished lighting, and watch them rehearse and run their lines. I'd watch closely as they performed. It was amazing. Brilliant. I learned a lot from the L.D., Rich Aquilar. Lighting legends on this major film, especially ladies who needed help, was done brilliantly. I learned from that experience, I watched closely, just as I did as a kid watching pro boxers train at the Main Street Gym.
I was thinking back on my film locations of past. Great films, great experiences, I watched history unfold, just as I had thru boxing.
I'll be out of town again soon, and this one won't be on a lake, and there will be no Hollywood legends among the cast.
I really don't know much yet. Tomorrow I'll get a script, then next week I'll spend a few days in Detroit scouting film locations.
My wife has never been on a film location, and in the old days, I'd have never brought her.
We used to burn the candle at both ends in the old days. Film people live hard lives, not so much today as in years past.
Some locations are a lot of fun, others not so much. One must remember, location is not vacation.
Today, I just want to go back to my room, clean up, write a bit and go to sleep.
The days of work and play are no longer. Things are much easier today on location, thanks to a good night's sleep
Monica wants to go on this one. I told her that Detroit might be a depressing place, hard times, sticky humid weather, dangerous place.
She reminds me she is from Brazil, and she loves humidity and misses it. She also reminds me that Brazil is one of the most dangerous places in the world..
I told her it gets freezing cold in the winter. She reminds me that most hotels and apartments come with a heating system.
I told her she might get bored. She tells me she's already bored.
You can see that I was trying to box with a boxer, and losing.
Monica asked where I would be staying, and I told her the "Motor City Casino".
She smiled, "A casino? This will be like one long vacation. You better take me."
I thought about telling her the old line that "location ain't vacation."
And I thought about telling her that Detroit isn't a place where many people go unless they have to.
Instead, I'll make it a fun time for both of us. I can do that (at least until the cold weather comes, then we'll see how much my Brazilian likes Detroit.
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