Previously Discussed: Refining a script and working with animals

Today: Production Disasters and Performances

Sixteen hours before the production began the film was faced with a rather large disaster. Every tenant in the building whose apartment was going to be used pulled out. Jim Mickel, director/co-writer of Mulberry Street, comments, “If it was film school, then it would have been, ‘Oh no! The shoot’s falling apart. It’s a nightmare and we’ve got to wrap up.’ But there was such a good kind of momentum that everyone was like, ‘alright [lets pull though]’. It was actually pretty calm.”

Nick Dimici (actor/co-writer) and production designer with Beth Mickel and the rest of the crew set about changing Dimici’s apartment into the lost locations. Fortunately the Comedy Central show Stella had just wrapped and Mickel was able to acquire what was left of the sets. They repainted and refurnished Dimici’s apartment three times, finally converting it back to its original state to pass as four different locations in the film. Dimici explains two years later, “I’m still pulling paint off the sealing and finding stuff. I’ve still got two light polls in my closet.”

In addition to Dimici’s apartment being used, the other primary location was his girlfriend’s bar, which also acted as a holding space. His brother, Leonard, loaned his truck, and his father, who had no acting experience, played one of the old tenants. Dimici refers to it as a completely “family/friend-made movie.”

With a cast made up of many amateur actors and only a three week shoot you would expect that the cast felt the pressure. But, Dimici is adamant in denying it. He claims that since the script was tailored around many of the individuals involved, it was simply a matter of being as real as possible.

Even with the short shooting schedule the production was fairly relaxed compared to other productions. Mickel says, “Somehow we never went over 12 hour days, which is kind of really the standard in film and usually you’re all over the place. Especially in an action movie packed into a really short amount of time.”

Mickel credits this largely to the versatile lighting of cinematographer Ryan Samuel. Instead of setting up the lighting specifically for each scene and then taking hours to change it as the shot changed Samuel’s set up ensured that the crew could quickly shoot from different angles and keep things productive.

Mickel himself has changed his approach to working with actors. Talking about a previous film he says, “Everything about it was very composed and really kind of pre-planned to a‘t.’ And you can feel it in the movie... it’s like watching a painting.” On Mulberry Street he learned to trust his actors more, “Most of the time I’d just make them feel comfortable so that they can do what they want to do and not feel that they are strapped down to these exact lines. Especially with people like [Nick’s dad]... whatever the hell came out of his mouth was more amazing then anything we could have tried to write for him.” Or as Dimici sums up, “He’s a hands-off director, which is the best as far as I am concerned.”

Next: Solving Cinematography and Guerrilla Shooting