Pinewood Studios Diary 4

So. Filming is underway.

The set is a hive of activity, full of busy people with jobs to do. Apart from me, who's job, for the most part, is done. I spent a few days hovering in the background, watching various takes on monitors, chatting to the actors between set-ups before realising that I was a spare part.

I was warned I would get bored. I was warned that it was pointless to stay. I scoffed at this idea. How could I ever tire of watch things I had invented come alive? But you see ten takes of the same set of lines from various angles and you're looking for the fast forward button.

Either you spend the days biting your fingernails and whispering in the director's ear until you drive him insane and you get forcibly removed from set, or you gracefully accept your redundancy and stroll off whistling. I chose the whistling option.

However I will return to watch some juicy scenes being done. There are some corkers that I have to be there for. And I really can't moan about the level of involvement I've had upto this stage. I've been hands on for most of the rehearsals and had input to some degree or other in every aspect of the production. I know it's all in very safe hands.

We're making a movie! Whoo hoo!

I'll be in my trailer if you need me.

Film Publicity

I'm chuckling to myself as I watch the ripples of publicity spread across the net. Errors being copied, reworded and becoming the new truth.

At the moment there are only two original sources; The Hollywood Reporter and Empire, but The Reporter has misspelled Marc Wootton's name as "Wootan", an error which is popping up like mushrooms elsewhere, making it quite easy to see who is simply rearranging the words from this story.

And sometimes in the reinterpretation, meaning is lost, such as Virgin Movie's assertion that "The 'Scary Movie' actress will play the role of one of three misfits who try to figure out the complexities of chronological time travel while drinking in the pub."

Come on guys. Do the maths. Or "math", if you're in the US, which is kind of appropriate as there is one less letter than there should be.

We have three blokes and one girl from the future. Which is why we name three male actors and one female. Anna is not one of the three misfit blokes.

This doesn't stop the pure speculation of filmstalker: "The story sounds a bit like a British Bill and Ted. Two guys are sitting in the pub discussing how time travel could really happen and what the issues of paradoxes are when suddenly Faris appears as a time traveller herself"

Wow. It's like he read the script. For some other film.

But a couple of sites have complemented the title, such as Cinema Blend and Slashfilm, who call it "The most interesting movie title in years"

Hooray, my first positive review!

Then they ruin it all by saying that the "plot doesn't sound as interesting as the title".

Boo! They give with one hand and they take with the other.

The moral of the story: Never read reviews. Even of the one line announcements of your films.

Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel

The news is out about my film;

From the The Hollywood Reporter:

"Anna Faris is toplining "Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel," a farcical sci-fi comedy that also will star British comic actors Chris O'Dowd, Marc Wootan and Dean Lennox Kelly.

Gareth Carrivick is directing the movie, which will be a Picturehouse release in association with BBC Films and HBO Films.

The script, written by Jamie Mathieson, follows three social outcasts -- two geeks and a cynic -- as they attempt to navigate a time-travel conundrum in the middle of a British pub. Faris plays a girl from the future who sets the adventure in motion.

Neil Peplow and Justin Smith are producing via Dog Lamp Films Ltd.

Shooting is due to start next week in the U.K."

From Empire:

"Continuing the healthy flow of American actors heading to work in Britain, Anna Faris has agreed to star in Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel, a decidedly Brit-centric geekfest.

It sees three misfits – two nerds and their sarcastic, cynical mate – trying to figure out the paradoxes and problems of chronological travel in (where else) the pub. Faris will appear as a woman from the future who sets them on the path to adventure.

Also starring in the film are three rising UK comic types – The IT Crowd’s Chris O’Dowd, Shameless’ Dean Lennox Kelly and Shirley Ghostman’s Marc Wootton.

Working from a script by Jamie Matheson, Gareth Carrivick will start calling the shots next week."

The Screenwriter's Prayer

“God, grant me the humility to accept the notes that will help the script, the courage to fight the notes that will damage the script,
and the wisdom to know the difference.”

- Jamie Mathieson (after Reinhold Niebuhr)