June 29, 2006
Radiographer (Perry Blake Now Owes Me $156)
My final was yesterday, orientation for the next semester is tomorrow, and today, with no plans, I sat around and was bored, that is, until I read a review of the Adam Sandler film “Click”. Memories started flooding me from my old life in Hollywood. I had to see the film because there were a few things I had to know.
For one, I was intrigued by the film because the review in the Village Voice was unusual. The writer oddly praised the film for having the cojones to set up the audience for goofy fun and then deliver a rabbit punch of unexpected misery. That’s good times.
But the real reason I saw “Clicked” was that I remembered that I had a chance to work in the Art Department on this film, specifically in Set Decoration. I remembered the Set Decorator from a commercial a while back. He was a totally cool, normal older guy. Full of stories about the mob and land deals and interesting things that didn’t involve films. His completely earnest advice to me - whatever you do, don’t do what I’m doing. Try editing. Yeah, editing, that has to be better than this crap. I read later that he worked on Apocalypse Now. Maybe working on Sandler retard movies was a step down?
And then there was the Production Designer, Perry Blake. He was in his 50s but dressed like someone who just spent too much money at Urban Outfitters. On that commercial I remember driving around town constantly doing errands. About halfway through the commercial I realized that I was doing work for a different show. He and his Art Director partner Al were too cheap to hire someone on their own to do their side work. After the commercial ended I was stuck doing one last run for these guys. I remember waiting in Burbank for 3 hours for Perry to pull up so I could give him some mysterious package. I was told I would be paid on the next gig. What a joke. I regret not holding his production hostage, or outright throwing away this mysterious package.
In the film there’s a bad scene with some low brow humor at the expense of an Asian family. I almost didn’t catch it but Al was playing the bumbling Asian father. I wasn’t sure if I should laugh at him or feel sorry for him for having to play such a ridiculous stereotype.
So that’s it. There’s no point in carrying this further. Perry Blake owes me $150 for an unpaid day of work. And now after having seen the film I could have worked on, I’d say he owes me $156.