Saturday, December 23, 2006

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Ten Inch Heroes, Out and About (Part 2)

The latest issue of Sci Fi magazine (the official magazine of the Sci Fi channel) names Jensen Ackles (Priestly) as one of the sexiest sci-fi stars of 2007.

Jensen gets a full page article, where they talk about Ten Inch Hero, have some fun with the title (obligatory), and even mention Priestly by name. Very cool.

If you see Ten Inch Hero mentioned in the press, please let us know at TenInchHero@gmail.com.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Ten Inch Heroes, Out and About

While you're frantically shopping for last minute holiday supplies this week, don't forget to pick up a copy of In Touch Weekly, which has an article on Danneel Harris (Tish) and her Hollywood Hills home.

It's the issue with Britney, Nicole, and Jen on the front (oh wait, that's EVERY issue! It's the December 25th issue, specifically.::wink::)

And if you happen to be near Boston for New Years Eve, be sure to catch John Doe (Trucker) performing at First Night. Should be a rocking good time.

We have time for a few quick questions:

Cynthia Boris mentioned that some of the actors in Ten Inch Hero brought their dogs to the set. Can you tell us more?

Danneel had a very cute puppy named Kismet, which you can see in some of the photos in In Touch Weekly. Elisabeth Harnois (Piper) also has a small dog, which she held in her lap in some scenes.

And Sean Patrick Flanery's (Noah) dog is roughly the size of a small horse.

The format--friends working in a subshop--sounds like a fun TV show. Is there any chance Ten Inch Hero will spin off into a TV series?

Oh sure, we've talked about a TV series from time to time because, you're right, the premise lends itself to lots of possibilities. But that's REALLY jumping the gun, since we're still finishing up the film! There's just no way to even guess what will happen down the road.

Thanks for all your questions. We will get to them all eventually. If you have a question for the Ten Inch Hero gang, email it to TenInchHero@gmail.com.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

A Day on the Set of Ten Inch Hero (Part 2)

Our special guest blogger Cynthia Boris tells us more about a typical day on the set of Ten Inch Hero.

When we ended Part 1, the crew was getting hungry after a long morning. We pick up there:

Finally, it's time to break for lunch. Most of the crew goes back to basecamp to eat a hot meal whipped up by the catering truck, while others treat themselves to lunch at the local restaurants. If you'd been eating in town that week, you might have lunch at the next table over from Jensen, Danneel, Elisabeth and Clea!

An hour later, everyone is back at work. The actors are on set and make-up and wardrobe get "last looks," a chance to do quick touch-ups before the cameras roll again.

You know the old song, "second verse, same as the first?" Rehearse, shoot, shoot, turn the cameras and shoot again. It would be easy to fall into a slump, particularly after lunch, but the actors are pros and they keep their energy up just like it was the first take of the morning!

As long and hard (and hot) as the days were, the cast and crew of Ten Inch Hero still found the time to laugh and keep things fun. One day, the hair and makeup department really did a number on the actors!

Elisabeth channeled her inner Madonna with a leopard print bra on top of her shirt, strands of pearls and funky, chunky black glasses.

Clea went for street tough in a muscle tee, kooky visor and fake tattoos on her arms.

Danneel looked like something from a Dr. Seuss book with an eight-inch high bucket hat balanced on her head, blue and red striped fingerless gloves, slip-on pink plastic fingernails and a t-shirt that said, Hi Mom!


And who's that other pretty girl with the long brown hair, tiara and glamorous make-up? Yikes! It's Jensen. . . well, the left half of him anyway! Turn him to the right and he's still punked-out Priestly. Yep, half man/half woman -- and all hysterically funny.

The cast also had some fun telling the videographer tall tales while filming behind the scenes interviews (but don't worry, she caught them telling true tales, too!).

Since it was summer, night didn't fall until after eight o'clock and boy do movie set lights look bright after dark! Evening scenes are shot, and slowly, one-by-one, the actors are "wrapped." They head back to basecamp to change back into themselves then head home to catch a few hours sleep before turning around to do it all again.

With the actors gone, the crew closes up shop. To motivate us, our next-door-neighbor cooked us some delicious barbeque as a midnight snack.

Lights are broken down, props collected, director's chairs folded up and packed away. A runner takes the days film to the developer and the 2nd AD hands out "call sheets," the schedule for the next day. It'll likely be midnight when the last of us is done and drives away.

All in all, this is a very typical day on the set of Ten Inch Hero. I hope you'll think of everything that went into the making when you see the movie in the future!

Note from Betsy: Thanks very much, Cynthia!

Sunday, December 10, 2006

New Pic!

There's a new pic of Clea DuVall over on the website. Very nice shot of her!

Saturday, December 09, 2006

A Day on the Set of Ten Inch Hero

This week, we have a special guest blogger: Cynthia Boris!

Cynthia worked on the Ten Inch set, and she agreed to talk to us about what a typical day on the set was like. Part 1 of her story follows:

This past summer, I worked as a Production Assistant (PA) on the film Ten Inch Hero. It was a lot of hard work and great fun all at the same time! So when they asked me if I would contribute to the blog, I decided I'd take you on a (virtual) tour of a typical day on the set. Wear your good sneakers, because we've got fourteen hours ahead of us.

The crew arrives at "basecamp" at 8 am. I hand out walkie-talkies while the catering truck begins firing up breakfast. The wardrobe girls place the day's costumes in the actors' trailers and the 2nd AD (Assistant Director) drops off "sides" (little mini-scripts of what we're going to film that day). When the actors arrive, it's off to hair and make-up. We had three lovely ladies on the shoot but the joke was that, because of the tattoos and the mohawk, Jensen Ackles spent more time in hair and make-up than the three ladies put together!

Since we were shooting on location in the city, our actual set was a few blocks away from basecamp, which meant having vans to drive everyone to and from the set. While the actors were getting all dolled up, the crew headed to the sub shop set to get ready for the first shot of the day. Cameras, lights, props and set decorations all have to be put in place and it's quite a big job.

Next the actors arrive on set and are sent to "holding" -- in our case, a tented area a block up from the sub shop. This is where they hang out when they aren't in front of the cameras. Some actors spent quite a few hours in holding, passing the time by reading, doing crossword puzzles, and chatting.

Sean Patrick Flanery did his part by raiding the local 7-11 for yummy treats and magazines, which he dropped off for everyone to enjoy. Sean Wing amused us with his talent for water bottle juggling while Peter Dennis fascinated everyone with his repertoire of British accents (who knew there were so many?!). Jensen spent some of his time studying the season opener script for Supernatural and it took every ounce of strength I had not to peek! (But I didn't).

When everything is ready, the actors are called "to set," the director (David Mackay) does a "blocking" rehearsal (tells them where to stand and when to move), and then they're ready to shoot. Most scenes are short, less than five minutes and once they do it, they go "back to one" and do it again. When the director is happy with a "take", he sends the actors back to holding while they reverse the camera angle. If they started off shooting over Danneel Harris's shoulder looking at Clea DuVall, they have to flip the cameras around to shoot over Clea's shoulder looking at Danneel! This means moving all the lights and sometimes even the furniture and this can take awhile.

Since the actors spend so much time waiting between scenes, several of them brought their best friends along for company. The four-legged kind! Elisabeth Harnois, Danneel and Sean Patrick all arrived with their pets in tow and Jensen turned puppy photographer. (He always has his camera with him so he can shoot pictures of his co-workers between takes!).

Ready to shoot again? It's back to the set to do the same scene they already did. If there are four or five people in a scene there might be four camera setups and three to five takes each time! That's why it sometimes takes hours just to get one five-minute scene in the can. Everyone loves when the 1st AD calls, "moving on." That means the scene is over and it's on to the next.

Since movies are shot out of order (for a variety of reasons), a new scene often means a costume change for the actors. If it's a new day in the script, everyone has to have a different outfit on (among other things!). The actors get transported back to basecamp to change and have their hair and makeup touched up. Time is money and getting everyone where they need to be and back again is always rush, rush, rush. (The expression "hurry up and wait" comes to mind).

As if this wasn't enough to deal with, add to it one of California's worst heat waves (temps over 100 degrees and humid!), and the fact that we were shooting on a public street. We had some interesting visitors, some of whom looked like they had just walked right out of the movie!

And let's not even talk about the traffic when filming scenes that involved crossing the street! Yikes!

Join us later in the week for Part 2 of Cynthia's story!

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Happy December

Crazy times, as we prepare for the holidays and continue post-production on the film.

If you're looking to catch your Ten Inch Heroes on TV, you have lots of choices this week:

* Sean Wing (Tadd) will be on "What About Brian" either tomorrow or next Monday (conflicting reports!). He plays a surfer dude named Sven.

* Clea DuVall (Jen) is back on Heroes tomorrow.

* A very young Elisabeth Harnois (Piper) can be seen in reruns of "One Magic Christmas" for those of you who want to get into the holiday spirit.

* And we have new episodes of Supernatural and One Tree Hill. Yay! Looks like much will be revealed in Supernatural this week.

There's a new picture of Danneel over on the website.

And we have time for a few quick questions:

Will Ten Inch Hero have any advanced screenings or be shown in any film festivals?

I know I sound like a broken record (or is that a "corrupted mp3" these days?), but it's still too early to comment. We just don't want to speculate, and then be wrong.

Be assured, any upcoming screenings will be announced both here and on the website.


I've heard people compare Ten Inch Hero to Empire Records. Is that a favourable comparison?

Yeah, I think Jensen commented about that early on, and it's made its way around the net. A few other actors who auditioned also made the comparison.

I gotta be honest. I've never seen Empire Records. (::Betsy is embarrassed::)

But I'll tell you what...I'll put it at the top of my queue and watch it over the holidays, then I'll let you know.

I do know Empire Records has some very dedicated fans--that's certainly something we plan to ask Santa to bring us!

Have a question? Email the Ten Inch Hero crew at teninchhero@gmail.com.