(Pic by Matt Peters)
08/16/2014-This was my first day on set for filming on “Brackish” from Mad Angel Films. A little history first…
-This film is actually a remake from the very first feature film MAF made, oddly enough called “Brackish” 🙂 , back in 2007. This one has an all new cast and I believe some stuff has been added to the story. There was actually an actor set to play the role of “Merlock” , but he had to drop out unfortunately so MAF head honcho Matt Peters texted me and, after offering me a trilling “adventure of a lifetime”, I took on the role. 🙂
-The original film was done in Tahamus, NY so it was only natural that this version would be filmed there as well. After a very early start in Utica, we car pooled out to the secret camping location for many MAF projects, set up the tents and then car pooled for another 2-3 hours till we reached location. I use that time to power nap for the most part (operating on less than two hours sleep will do that to ya). We arrived at location and got ready for the first set of scenes, which involved me getting into sheriff’s gear.
-An interesting note. Originally, I envisioned “Merlock” to kind of have a gut hanging over his belt. While I’m not in prime shape (am I ever? 🙂 ) the effect wasn’t there while I was prepping at home. On location, the belt prop master Shawn Uebele gave me was, by chance, a good 2-3 inches smaller than what I normally wore. He said it’s suppose to be worn tight. It was definitely that 🙂 So I got the belly I wanted for the role after all 🙂 I was also, initially, suppose to be using chewing tobacco, but that didn’t happen so I just brought some toothpicks. Not the same I know, but it worked out regardless.
-Filming, for the most part, happened quickly. I was unfortunately working under par this day in terms of the amount of takes, but it was all good. With the day stuff done, we headed back to camp for dinner and then night filming. We arrived a little late for that. Then we had a little problem getting a fire started (although if you look at the pics, you can see that the grill had no such problems 🙂 ). The burgers weren’t even cooked yet when suddenly (from out of nowhere), it started raining-hard. Coincidentally, the rain started to come down just as Mark J. Peek opened his first can of beer-an act which caused Jay Covey to scream out “You have angered the Film Gods by not offering them a beer first-what have you done!!!? 🙂 So basically, if you wanted to eat, you had to get soaked for the most part. Matt did make sure that we were all fed before anything else. With no end to the rain in sight, the night filming was abandoned and half of us went to sleep-or tried to. The other half stayed up learning how to speak the language of Borat and other activities. 🙂 I was basically sleeping on top of uneven land which felt like I was lying on a stone 2×4 so it took me awhile to fall asleep-not to mention being wet and cold. I have to give major kudos to Matt & Jay for providing me with a place to sleep as well as a sleeping bag. I’m admittedly not much of a camper. My idea of camping is in a log cabin with AC, a microwave and modern plumbing. 🙂
-The next day brought to all of us the realization that filming couldn’t be done in the allotted time frame we had, so we basically packed up and headed home. Regardless of the weather, I had a good time (even the worse day acting is still better than the best day on a normal job IMO) and it was great working with some old friends as well as making and working with some new ones. I have one more weekend of filming currently scheduled, but that might change given what happened with the rain. Betcha the next MAF film will be done mostly indoors after this 🙂
-Pics are now up on my acting page on Facebook.
WAYNE W. JOHNSON 