I have had the extreme pleasure of working in this movie with Tim Curry and Grace Jones, and I would like to extend to you a personal look at the adventures I had during the making of the film.
Nov.20/2000
Well, who would have thunk that my first trip to Europe would be because of landing a part in a movie?
OHHHH, life is strange…and good.
Today I begin my journey to Romania to perform and consult in a movie called “ Wolf Girl”. It is directed by Thom Fitzgerald, director of ‘The Hanging Garden’, and stars the all time cult figure…Tim Curry!!! Yes, I am preparing to work in a movie about sideshow with one of the largest underground pop-icons in the 20th century! This year is the 25th Anniversary of the ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ and during this very time…I will be meeting Tim Curry. Nobody could ask for better timing! Of course another source of amazement is performing in a film based on sideshow…. one hour from Dracula’s Castle! Damn! I still can’t believe it.
It hasn’t hit me yet and I’m at the airport. I depart Toronto in an hour and twenty minutes.
It’s surreal, right now I am in Toronto, Canada and in 14 hours I’ll be in Romania! To be exact ‘Bucharest’, the capital and hub of Romania.
I’m really goin to Europe. SHIT.
It’s 7:45 pm and I’m sitting on the plane.
Talk about strange luck, I’ve just met a character from the movie-“Fingers Finnian”… he is a dwarf named Jordan Prentace and has a great attitude. We are going to hang, while in Romania . Hey! He just moved to Toronto from London, Ontario.
It just seems to get better and better. Jordan and I are now sitting together and striking up quite a rapport, this is going to be one hell of an adventure!
It’s 10:40 pm…. do you know where your FREAKS are?
It’s 12:40am…. Jordan and I are now hanging out in the back with the flight attendants getting pleasantly smashed. Yeah, what service! The attendants were having so much fun they ended up drinking with us all the way there.
Nov.22/2000
Yesterday mid-afternoon I arrived in Bucharest.
It was like something out of a movie.
When we first got off the plane, the first thing we had to do was purchase a visa to enter the country. I went up to the visa booth- money in hand and was about to pay when I was informed that they would not take Canadian currency. I asked how I should exchange the money for American funds and they told me I had to go outside the building for that. But I couldn’t leave the building without a visa!
Sooo….. I’m approached by one of the airport police who informs me that if I make a purchase at the souvenir store… I can have my money exchanged there.
So I bought a map.
Bam.
Paid my for my visa and then… set off to find the driver to the hotel.
I finally found him; he was a tall, lanky, dread locked character out of a European fashion magazine.
He told me he couldn’t park near the door because of construction, so we walked 5 blocks (with our luggage) to a van that was waiting for us.
The drive was very surreal.
It was foggy and all of the buildings that we passed were old and dilapidated. Everything was gray with soot from the carbon coming off of all of the cars. As we slowly drove down the street we passed people that had a lost, beaten-down look in their eyes.
Some looked like concentration camp victims.
Everywhere I looked I saw armed police with automatic machine guns.
It felt like a Kosovo newsreel.
It is truly humbling to see how people live here.
There was certain hardness in the stare of everyone’s eyes, a definate throw back to when the country was communist 5 years ago. The journey became even stranger when my driver turned on the radio and blaring out of the car stereo was the song “Who Let The Dogs Out?”.
When we arrived at the hotel I was amazed at how opulent it was. Before I left Toronto I was given the impression that it was going to be below our standards ( I was even told to bring my own toilet paper for bartering), but this was truly a 4 star hotel.
It is called the Hotel Athenee Palace.
I have a beautiful hotel suite, with my own writing desk and comfortable surroundings.
Hey! I even had a complimentary food-basket and bottle of red wine waiting on my side table.
As I was unpacking, my phone rang and who should be on the other line but my friend Dov, he is a great young actor who is co-starring in this film (We had met 3 years ago while I was performing my show weekly at the Poor Alex Theater) Dov has been acting in film for a few years now.
He came down to my room and I introduced him to Jordan and we spent the evening hanging out and getting to know some of the other actors in the film.
Nov.23/2000
I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to tackle a BIG day.
I met with Thom Fitzgerald and Miles Dale, the producer last night and asked if it was OK to wear my white contact lenses and arthritic reticulator (the trademark look of my character in Carnival Diablo)
They said YES!!!
This meant, that although I am in a film, I am representing my show at the same time. Even the make-up was similar to the type I use on stage.
Well….. A couple of hours ago I actually met Tim Curry, he came into the make-up trailer, walked up to me and in a very innocent and non star like way introduced himself saying, “Hello, my names Tim.” I was tickled pink. He introduced himself as if I had no idea who he was. We ended up doing a scene together that was not my major scene and I look forward to working with him over the next few days.
I went down at night to check out a scene I wasn’t in, just to get a feel for the film. I walked up to Thom Fitzgerald and chatted with him for a while and then the co-director came up to Thom and said that Jordan was not on the set yet for the next scene.
So, Thom turned to me and asked if I would do the scene. I said YES! And now I’ve got a small speaking part with Tim Curry!!!
Tim has taken me under his wing and I have been learning a lot about acting during this film. Tim gave me some great pointers. He told me what the difference is between acting on the big stage and acting for a camera. “The secret” he said “Is to let the camera see what is going on behind the eyes, there is no need to project past that.” He had some great pointers for me and also told me some wonderful stories about his work in the stage version of Rocky Horror and how it differed from the film. He preferred the stage version.
( Trivia note#1- Tim was 27 when he did the movie “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”.)
I seem to be getting a lot of respect from the whole cast. This is truly a special experience. And the more of the movies story I see… the more I am convinced that it will be a classic.
Nov.24/2000
There are so many real characters here.
On my off time, when I’m not hanging with Jordan or Dov, I talk with another “little person”, named ‘Marcel’, he is also from Romania. Marcel is 3 ft. tall. I have never met anyone that has so closely resembled a character from a Fellini film.
You see… Marcel is a professional exotic dancer and gigolo. He is a real hoot to talk to and comes across like a character from “Roger Rabbit”. Marcel is our tour guide/freak that is in the movie with us. He is quite the celebrity here. Both him and Jordan go tearing up the town nightly, and drink half of the locals under the table!
(Trivia note#2- there were over a dozen dwarves and midgets working in this film!)
Today was the day they actually filmed my spot.
I was introduced by Tim’s character-‘Harley Dune’, as the Human Pincushion.
I performed the hatpin thru the arm. Before they filmed the act, Tim was telling me that he couldn’t watch me perform the feat…but he did. (he he he) . Many of the cast members and staff came around just to watch the scene.
I’ve gained the respect of many of the gypsies that are working in the film.
( Trivia note#3-all of the gypsies in the movie are the real thing)
They have set up a tent camp where they go to relax between takes. It is off limits to the crew and actors, but they have let me into their world. I’ve made good friends with two of them, Corrina and Daniel. They are owners of a Romanian Gypsy Circus…and all of the performers are orphans. They have dreams of coming to Canada, for our great country they feel is the perfect utopia.
( Trivia note#4-every Freak in this film except the ‘Wolf Girl’…is real!)
During the later afternoon I met again with Tim and we talked more about our lives as stage performers and how entertainment has changed over the past 2 decades. He also shed some light on his work in the film “Legend”, playing Lucifer himself. He would spend nine hours in a make-up chair just to be ready for a full day shoot…and he would sometimes be in the full make-up and costume for 14 hours straight! He is truly a man of class and charm. Every word that came from his mouth was quotable.
In the evening they shot another scene where a gunshot is heard and all of the freaks stop performing and go running towards the camp to see what has happened.
When we were done I met Grace Jones’s personal Make-up artist Tom Surprenant. He just finished doing make-up on the film “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, and was the chief make-up artist for the 3 Star Trek TV series, doing all of the Klingon make-up. We get along tremendously and he has offered to do a Klingon or Planet of the Apes make-up on me!
( Trivia note#5- in a scene when the teenage protagonists enter a freak show tent, they encounter deformed babies in jars of formaldehyde- these were also real and donated by the Romanian Museum of Natural History)
Nov.25/2000
We didn’t start shooting till 4 pm today.
I went out early and painted a picture of one of the streets in Bucharest. The architecture is amazing!
It was basically background scenes for me today, but on my breaks Tim Curry was gracious enough to sit for me while I painted his portrait. I have to say I have never met anyone in this industry so relaxed and willing to cooperate in whatever scheme is thrown at him. He sat for 2 hours while I painted.
Nov.26/2000
Well, I received a wake-up call from Jordan and we went and had breakfast in the lower area of the hotel. This was no ordinary breakfast, professional chefs cooked everything in front of us and the spread of culinary delights puts even our finest restaurants to shame. Every morning we were treated like royalty.
After gorging ourselves we went for a walk around the city.
It is eerily beautiful.
Today was our day off so we went with some of the crew to Ceausescu’s Palace.
OH MY GAWD!!!!
It was truly a humbling experience, and to think that it was only built in 1984!
Its brief history is a sad one, for all of the builders were basically slaves to the state.
We ended up taking the mini tour, because the full tour would have cost $25!
Words cannot describe the grandeur of this magnificent structure.
Later in the evening, Oleg, the scenic artist for the film took a few of the crew and I out to see a Romanian circus called ‘Circus Globas’. It was a traditional circus, with no big surprises, but the performances were polished.
Now I’m going to run a nice hot bath and soak…cuz tomorrow I’ve got to be on set at 6:15am.
Nov.28/2000
Today was my last shooting day.
Graces Jones was in a couple of scenes with me, and I must say she is every bit the Diva and drama queen that you would expect. A very interesting character study, being that she is the ultimate in decadent living.
In our first scene together, she sat down next to me and said ‘Scott we have never met…now you must kiss me full on the mouth’. And hey! I’m no fool, I did.
I accomplished everything I wanted to and I was even fortunate enough to retain the costumes they made for my character in the movie. I have made some fascinating new friends and created enough memories to last a lifetime.
I really feel I contributed to this film and I think because of my look and performance I have garnered some amazing screen time.
I look forward to seeing how this movie turns out.
And so ends my journey into the wonderful world of film…hmmm…or does it?
The movie ‘Wolf Girl’ premiered in the States
It has been released on DVD under the name of 'Blood Moon'.
Watch for updates on our website!
I am placing for the first time, my diary I had kept during the month of filming in Romania.
Enjoy!Nov.20/2000
Well, who would have thunk that my first trip to Europe would be because of landing a part in a movie?
OHHHH, life is strange…and good.
Today I begin my journey to Romania to perform and consult in a movie called “ Wolf Girl”. It is directed by Thom Fitzgerald, director of ‘The Hanging Garden’, and stars the all time cult figure…Tim Curry!!! Yes, I am preparing to work in a movie about sideshow with one of the largest underground pop-icons in the 20th century! This year is the 25th Anniversary of the ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ and during this very time…I will be meeting Tim Curry. Nobody could ask for better timing! Of course another source of amazement is performing in a film based on sideshow…. one hour from Dracula’s Castle! Damn! I still can’t believe it.
It hasn’t hit me yet and I’m at the airport. I depart Toronto in an hour and twenty minutes.
It’s surreal, right now I am in Toronto, Canada and in 14 hours I’ll be in Romania! To be exact ‘Bucharest’, the capital and hub of Romania.
I’m really goin to Europe. SHIT.
It’s 7:45 pm and I’m sitting on the plane.
Talk about strange luck, I’ve just met a character from the movie-“Fingers Finnian”… he is a dwarf named Jordan Prentace and has a great attitude. We are going to hang, while in Romania . Hey! He just moved to Toronto from London, Ontario.
It just seems to get better and better. Jordan and I are now sitting together and striking up quite a rapport, this is going to be one hell of an adventure!
It’s 10:40 pm…. do you know where your FREAKS are?
It’s 12:40am…. Jordan and I are now hanging out in the back with the flight attendants getting pleasantly smashed. Yeah, what service! The attendants were having so much fun they ended up drinking with us all the way there.
Nov.22/2000
Yesterday mid-afternoon I arrived in Bucharest.
It was like something out of a movie.
When we first got off the plane, the first thing we had to do was purchase a visa to enter the country. I went up to the visa booth- money in hand and was about to pay when I was informed that they would not take Canadian currency. I asked how I should exchange the money for American funds and they told me I had to go outside the building for that. But I couldn’t leave the building without a visa!
Sooo….. I’m approached by one of the airport police who informs me that if I make a purchase at the souvenir store… I can have my money exchanged there.
So I bought a map.
Bam.
Paid my for my visa and then… set off to find the driver to the hotel.
I finally found him; he was a tall, lanky, dread locked character out of a European fashion magazine.
He told me he couldn’t park near the door because of construction, so we walked 5 blocks (with our luggage) to a van that was waiting for us.
The drive was very surreal.
It was foggy and all of the buildings that we passed were old and dilapidated. Everything was gray with soot from the carbon coming off of all of the cars. As we slowly drove down the street we passed people that had a lost, beaten-down look in their eyes.
Some looked like concentration camp victims.
Everywhere I looked I saw armed police with automatic machine guns.
It felt like a Kosovo newsreel.
It is truly humbling to see how people live here.
There was certain hardness in the stare of everyone’s eyes, a definate throw back to when the country was communist 5 years ago. The journey became even stranger when my driver turned on the radio and blaring out of the car stereo was the song “Who Let The Dogs Out?”.
When we arrived at the hotel I was amazed at how opulent it was. Before I left Toronto I was given the impression that it was going to be below our standards ( I was even told to bring my own toilet paper for bartering), but this was truly a 4 star hotel.
It is called the Hotel Athenee Palace.
) Hotel Athenee Palace |
I have a beautiful hotel suite, with my own writing desk and comfortable surroundings.
Hey! I even had a complimentary food-basket and bottle of red wine waiting on my side table.
As I was unpacking, my phone rang and who should be on the other line but my friend Dov, he is a great young actor who is co-starring in this film (We had met 3 years ago while I was performing my show weekly at the Poor Alex Theater) Dov has been acting in film for a few years now.
He came down to my room and I introduced him to Jordan and we spent the evening hanging out and getting to know some of the other actors in the film.
Nov.23/2000
I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to tackle a BIG day.
I met with Thom Fitzgerald and Miles Dale, the producer last night and asked if it was OK to wear my white contact lenses and arthritic reticulator (the trademark look of my character in Carnival Diablo)
They said YES!!!
This meant, that although I am in a film, I am representing my show at the same time. Even the make-up was similar to the type I use on stage.
) Tim and Scott with Gypsy cast |
Well….. A couple of hours ago I actually met Tim Curry, he came into the make-up trailer, walked up to me and in a very innocent and non star like way introduced himself saying, “Hello, my names Tim.” I was tickled pink. He introduced himself as if I had no idea who he was. We ended up doing a scene together that was not my major scene and I look forward to working with him over the next few days.
I went down at night to check out a scene I wasn’t in, just to get a feel for the film. I walked up to Thom Fitzgerald and chatted with him for a while and then the co-director came up to Thom and said that Jordan was not on the set yet for the next scene.
So, Thom turned to me and asked if I would do the scene. I said YES! And now I’ve got a small speaking part with Tim Curry!!!
Tim has taken me under his wing and I have been learning a lot about acting during this film. Tim gave me some great pointers. He told me what the difference is between acting on the big stage and acting for a camera. “The secret” he said “Is to let the camera see what is going on behind the eyes, there is no need to project past that.” He had some great pointers for me and also told me some wonderful stories about his work in the stage version of Rocky Horror and how it differed from the film. He preferred the stage version.
( Trivia note#1- Tim was 27 when he did the movie “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”.)
I seem to be getting a lot of respect from the whole cast. This is truly a special experience. And the more of the movies story I see… the more I am convinced that it will be a classic.
Nov.24/2000
There are so many real characters here.
On my off time, when I’m not hanging with Jordan or Dov, I talk with another “little person”, named ‘Marcel’, he is also from Romania. Marcel is 3 ft. tall. I have never met anyone that has so closely resembled a character from a Fellini film.
You see… Marcel is a professional exotic dancer and gigolo. He is a real hoot to talk to and comes across like a character from “Roger Rabbit”. Marcel is our tour guide/freak that is in the movie with us. He is quite the celebrity here. Both him and Jordan go tearing up the town nightly, and drink half of the locals under the table!
(Trivia note#2- there were over a dozen dwarves and midgets working in this film!)
Today was the day they actually filmed my spot.
I was introduced by Tim’s character-‘Harley Dune’, as the Human Pincushion.
I performed the hatpin thru the arm. Before they filmed the act, Tim was telling me that he couldn’t watch me perform the feat…but he did. (he he he) . Many of the cast members and staff came around just to watch the scene.
I’ve gained the respect of many of the gypsies that are working in the film.
( Trivia note#3-all of the gypsies in the movie are the real thing)
They have set up a tent camp where they go to relax between takes. It is off limits to the crew and actors, but they have let me into their world. I’ve made good friends with two of them, Corrina and Daniel. They are owners of a Romanian Gypsy Circus…and all of the performers are orphans. They have dreams of coming to Canada, for our great country they feel is the perfect utopia.
) Buster the Crab Man |
( Trivia note#4-every Freak in this film except the ‘Wolf Girl’…is real!)
During the later afternoon I met again with Tim and we talked more about our lives as stage performers and how entertainment has changed over the past 2 decades. He also shed some light on his work in the film “Legend”, playing Lucifer himself. He would spend nine hours in a make-up chair just to be ready for a full day shoot…and he would sometimes be in the full make-up and costume for 14 hours straight! He is truly a man of class and charm. Every word that came from his mouth was quotable.
In the evening they shot another scene where a gunshot is heard and all of the freaks stop performing and go running towards the camp to see what has happened.
When we were done I met Grace Jones’s personal Make-up artist Tom Surprenant. He just finished doing make-up on the film “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, and was the chief make-up artist for the 3 Star Trek TV series, doing all of the Klingon make-up. We get along tremendously and he has offered to do a Klingon or Planet of the Apes make-up on me!
( Trivia note#5- in a scene when the teenage protagonists enter a freak show tent, they encounter deformed babies in jars of formaldehyde- these were also real and donated by the Romanian Museum of Natural History)
Nov.25/2000
We didn’t start shooting till 4 pm today.
I went out early and painted a picture of one of the streets in Bucharest. The architecture is amazing!
It was basically background scenes for me today, but on my breaks Tim Curry was gracious enough to sit for me while I painted his portrait. I have to say I have never met anyone in this industry so relaxed and willing to cooperate in whatever scheme is thrown at him. He sat for 2 hours while I painted.
Nov.26/2000
Well, I received a wake-up call from Jordan and we went and had breakfast in the lower area of the hotel. This was no ordinary breakfast, professional chefs cooked everything in front of us and the spread of culinary delights puts even our finest restaurants to shame. Every morning we were treated like royalty.
After gorging ourselves we went for a walk around the city.
It is eerily beautiful.
Today was our day off so we went with some of the crew to Ceausescu’s Palace.
OH MY GAWD!!!!
It was truly a humbling experience, and to think that it was only built in 1984!
Its brief history is a sad one, for all of the builders were basically slaves to the state.
We ended up taking the mini tour, because the full tour would have cost $25!
Words cannot describe the grandeur of this magnificent structure.
) Circus Globas Ticket |
Later in the evening, Oleg, the scenic artist for the film took a few of the crew and I out to see a Romanian circus called ‘Circus Globas’. It was a traditional circus, with no big surprises, but the performances were polished.
Now I’m going to run a nice hot bath and soak…cuz tomorrow I’ve got to be on set at 6:15am.
Nov.28/2000
Today was my last shooting day.
Graces Jones was in a couple of scenes with me, and I must say she is every bit the Diva and drama queen that you would expect. A very interesting character study, being that she is the ultimate in decadent living.
In our first scene together, she sat down next to me and said ‘Scott we have never met…now you must kiss me full on the mouth’. And hey! I’m no fool, I did.
I accomplished everything I wanted to and I was even fortunate enough to retain the costumes they made for my character in the movie. I have made some fascinating new friends and created enough memories to last a lifetime.
I really feel I contributed to this film and I think because of my look and performance I have garnered some amazing screen time.
I look forward to seeing how this movie turns out.
And so ends my journey into the wonderful world of film…hmmm…or does it?
The movie ‘Wolf Girl’ premiered in the States
on the USA Network on Oct.16th/2001.
It has been released on DVD under the name of 'Blood Moon'.Watch for updates on our website!
