Mail: How did the cast entertain themselves on the set?

Another question from the mailbox!

What did the cast like to do "between shots" on the set of Ten Inch Hero?

Well, Director David Mackay is quick to point out that there's isn't much time between shots on an independent film. The pace is pretty grueling! Still, not everyone is in every shot, so there is SOME downtime.

So how did everyone unwind? We asked PA Cynthia Boris, whose primary responsibility was keeping track of the actors at all times. We figured if anyone knew, she would. And she did!

Cynthia Boris says:

Shopping was a popular way to pass the time between takes. Danneel Harris, Elisabeth Harnois, Clea DuVall, and Judith Drake all enjoyed shopping in the vintage clothing stores that lined the street where we were shooting.

One of our more crafty neighbors was selling hand-painted surfboards and he convinced Jensen Ackles to buy one. While shooting at Port o'Call, the actors stopped to check out rows and rows of colorful and sugary Mexican candies.

Next to shopping, coffee runs were tops on the list! Even though it was over 100 degrees out, all of the actors took time to dash up 6th Street to the coffee house for a pick-me-up and a few minutes of quiet time with the newspaper.

Short breaks were mostly filled with chatter. The actors swapped stories, passed around magazines, worked crossword puzzles, and listened to music. John Doe is a famous singer (both with X the Band and on his own) so he entertained the group on the van rides with a CD of his latest tunes.

The actors also got a lot of mileage out of toys they found in the local 99 Cent Store. The light up spacemen ray guns were particularly popular.

Sean Wing battled to be the champion chess player. Our youngest star Adair Tishler played games with her set teacher to pass the time; she doubly enjoyed hanging with the movie's canine star.

Once production was moved to the beach, Clea and Sean Patrick Flanery took advantage of some meditation time by the ocean. When the sun went down, Jensen and the girls would play a fast round of pick-up basketball.

David Mackay adds:

Just wanted to add that that Jensen, Clea, Danneel, and Elizabeth bought me one of the full size surfboards from that shop. A beautiful present! It is actually designed to hang on the wall, and it's a huge amazing oldstyle wooden board. It's really a piece of art that holds many large photographs, which I am filling with stills from the shoot!

It was an awesome present and I LOVE it!

Feel free to send in your questions...either to the gmail account or on myspace!

Digging Deep in the Mailbox

This week, we thought we'd dig deep and answer some of those questions that have been sitting in the mail box for a while. So here ya go:

WC Fields advised film-makers to never work with animals or children, but Ten Inch Hero has both! How was that?

Director David Mackay answers:

The reason WC Fields said that is because it's time-consuming and can be frustrating, trying to give direction to things that typically don't take direction!

Fortunately, we had no problems, with either the children OR the pets.

Adair Tishler (Julia), who was 9 years old at the time (but was playing 8), was GREAT! She goes to a performing arts school and is trained as an actress. She is VERY good at learning her lines and understanding the blocking. She also takes direction very well.

I am so proud of Adair's performance...she did all this and had to study for school between scenes!

We were very lucky in the animal department. Lucille (Judith Drake) carries a chihuahua in her bag, called Bam-Bam, in the movie. The pup was very well behaved, and would even yelp on cue.

The dog came with his own wardrobe! We changed his outfit every day too, but for some reason no one noticed it quite the same way they noticed Priestly's ever-changing assortment of t-shirts. Our big regret is that we forgot to put Bam-Bam in his little tux for the final scene of the movie.


John Doe...man, I've been listening to him forever. Did he talk about his music on the set?

Sure! John had a CD coming out shortly after filming, so he played cuts from it to entertain the cast and crew.

As for getting him to play on the set, well, David has a funny story about that:

TIH has one scene that takes place at Trucker's (John's Character) pad. So I asked the art department to put a guitar in the living room...thinking that maybe Trucker--a 60's child--would play the guitar.

I was also just hoping that John might pick it up and jam between takes.

So, when I saw John find the guitar and sit down with it, I got excited and anticipated that he might just break out into an X song! So I walked over to him, and he said "You sure I would have this in my house?" I asked why, and he replied "Well, it's the kind of guitar you'd give your kid."

I wish the art department had been able to find a real Fender!

Grab Bag o' Stuff

We put a slide show up on the myspace with shots from Newport Beach and Santa Cruz. I'll move the pics to the album soon, but for now, it's a public slideshow so even you guys who hate myspace should be able to get through it without too much pain.

The web site has been updated with the latest pics.

Be sure to catch TIH's adorable Adair Tishler (Julia) on Heroes next week.

We had a wonderful time in Santa Cruz. Thank you to Jane and all the terrific film fest volunteers who work so hard. Special thanks to all the fans and friends who came to see us. We are especially proud to win the Festival's award for best soundtrack.