Greensboro News & Record - 07/16/1996
About 150 hams and movie fans turned out last
weekend for a casting call and a chance to win a small part in the $2.6 million
movie that will be shot at Magder Studios' sound stage and at sites across
Caswell County. The "extras" will play background roles in a wedding scene
and other parts of "Last Lives," which is scheduled to begin filming next
Monday.
Magder Studios describes "Last Lives" as a
science-fiction action movie about a psychic prisoner from a parallel universe who
kidnaps a woman from the regular universe during her wedding. The
victim's would-be husband has to find and rescue her.
"Last Lives" will star C. Thomas Howell, whose career
has taken a bit of an obscure turn since "The Outsiders" and "Red Dawn."
Howell will share top billing with Jennifer Rubin ("The Crush" and
"Screamers") and Billy Wirth ("The Lost Boys" and "Boys on the Side").
Greensboro News & Record - 08/17/1996
The sunshine streaking through the stained-glass
window
illuminates the
radiant bride.
"I had the most horrible dream," she says, staring at
her
lacy, white dress
in a mirror in a church anteroom. "I just don't know
what's
happening to
me."
Her sympathetic bridesmaid drapes a necklace over
the
bride's neck. "It's
just a case of cold feet, that's all," she says.
Then, just as you expect to hear a heavenly pipe organ,
the
tune "Turkey in
the Straw" rings thorough the building. An ice cream
truck,
innocent of the
demands of moviemaking, is making its normal rounds
outside.
The illusion is shattered.
A closer look reveals the bride's wedding dress hangs
no
further than her
waist. Below that, she's wearing blue jeans.
And the sunshine isn't sunshine. It's a studio light atop
a
hydraulic crane
outside the window. Even the stained-glass window is
a
fake.
After several more takes, the bride - actor Jennifer
Rubin
- strolls from the
room for a break, twirling the dummy engagement ring
on her
finger, and
lights up a cigarette.
"I need to get a mint, or mouthwash or something," she
informs a
production assistant.
Here's the scene: Co-star Billy Wirth , who's been
hobbled
but not killed by
the bomb blast, has to crawl across gravel and mud,
scream
"No!" and
cradle the lifeless Rubin in his arms.
The camera, loaded onto a metal track for a dolly shot,
will shadow Wirth
as he drags himself on the ground.
"Roll cameras, please," assistant director John Richard
yells.
Director Keeter, plopped on a personalized director's
chair, sees something
he doesn't like.
"Whoa, whoa, wait. I've got a lot of dry gravel in the
shot. Is there any rain
on Billy?" he says.
"He'll be wet in a second," Richard says without
missing a
beat.
Makeup man Jones appears with a spray bottle and
begins the
Windex
treatment on Wirth's shirt.
Three takes later, Keeter is satisfied. By the third take,
Rubin and Wirth are
soaking wet, plastered with mud and bits of dry leaves.
Looking uncomfortably wet, Wirth and Rubin tramp off
to
their trailers to
clean themselves up for the next scene, which,
thankfully,
will be filmed
indoors.
By Cindi Andrews
YANCEYVILLE GOES HOLLYWOOD
By James Thorner
COMING SOON: PLANET YANCEYVILLE
When you're part of the cast and crew of "Last Lives" in
Yanceyville, don't
expect the full Hollywood treatment.
cg 11/05