Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Cooking With Cody LIVE is in the can, 2 down, 7 to go.

So on Sunday, we went to shoot our comedic short "Cooking with Cody LIVE" which is the brain child of our director Greg TeGantvoort. Very funny script in which I play Cody, a whacked out meth cook with his own public access TV cooking show. So we get to the house where we start setting up the lights and whatnot. The house belongs to a guy named Tyler, and his girlfriend (who I'm sorry to say I've forgotten her name). They're friends of Adrian. Adrian is part of our Comedy Sketch Round Table who is co-starring in the sketch with me. Before we got to the house, Greg thought it would be a good idea to get into character by purchasing 3 over-sized Red Bulls and drinking them as fast as I could. I in fact thought this was a good idea as well. So we stopped at a gas station and stocked up on energy drinks. The only things I was in charge of, was bringing a certain number of props, and remembering my lines. I failed miserably on the line memorization, which I've never been good at, unless I really dedicate the time and energy needed, which I've also never been good at. Take after take I would forget parts, or get lines wrong, and the scene is basically one continuous shot. So I felt extra shitty keeping everyone there due the fact I couldn't get my head right. Also I believe the Red Bulls backfired on me, making my stomach uneasy, filled with bubbles and regret. I was getting frustrated with myself and self-destructing. I think Greg could see that, so he called for a break while he loaded up the footage to Adrian's hard-drive. I got to lay on the cold tile and relish in the fact that I was no longer under the 5 hot lights that cooked my ass like a Thanksgiving Turkey. Taking the time-out to brush up on lines and try not to suck, we started watching the footage that we had already shot. It looked so amazingly good. Like an actual cooking show could be shot in this kitchen. My wardrobe was trashy without being too trashy. There was a subtle elegance to the blue dew rag, white tank top, and yellow latex dish washing gloves. After seeing how good it looked, and how I could single-handedly bring it down with my shitty acting, I decided to nut up and give it my all. It wasn't like the end of a movie where the hero is automatically awesome, and starts kicking ass. It took me a few tries, but I do believe I came through in the clutch. I'm thankful for Greg, Adrian, Joseph, and Oliver having the patience to sweat it out with me. Those guys are troopers.