Master Fred Waters Jr. was a featured guest at Armed Forces Day on City Island in Harrisburg this past Saturday. He demonstrated hand-to-hand combat and disarming weapons for the military. Master Waters played Bartimaeus and was Fight Choreographer on No Sanctuary. He is the president of the Institute of Self Defense. A fighting style he created. Check out the press release HERE.
I am working on a new entry for the Focus on an Actor series. This time around I will feature, Master Fred Waters Jr. [Bartimaeus]. I am halfway through the post. I will publish it as soon as it is complete.
Also be sure to subscribe to the email list for No Sanctuary. I will soon be sending exclusive sneak peeks of the film ONLY to those on the official list. Sign up on the right…
Over the last several weeks I have been working to add additional content and some interesting features to the blog. Please take a moment to check them out.
That is all for now citizens. If you have suggestions or feedback, please contact the production.
Recently I added some additional info to the No Sanctuary movie listing on IMDB.com. Check it out here. Many new crew listings are included. I also added the new tagline, “Stand and Deliver Us!”.
Currently I am working with graphic artist, Dustin Bennett on the one sheet that will be used for the film’s release. Dustin has created a mockup that looks very promising. It features an image that I have created from production stills. That image is posted on the temporary home page of the official website. [It is an iconic shot of Deacon composited with Bartimaeus, Tanner, and Lucy.] When it is complete, 4″X6″ magnets of the poster will be produced and offered for sale for a nominal fee. This is a small part of a new initiative to raise some additional financing or “completion funds” for the film.
For those of you who haven’t seen the original preview poster by Rich Johnson, please click HERE.
In the next few weeks I will be working to redesign the blog and website. I appreciate your patience. Feel free to contribute requests, design ideas, and comments.
Going through some early notes for the No Sanctuary screenplay, I found a list of possible names for the antagonist, the Captain of the Highwaymen, the man ultimately known as Midnight Jack. [Note: I experimented with many variations. Not all were great. Several I omitted from this post because they were way off the mark.]
Looking back I am pleased with the choice of “Midnight Jack”. I couldn’t imagine that character known as anything else. Although I still kind of dig the name “Gideon O’ the Road”. It would be interesting to hear your opinion.
The new No Sanctuary trailer is online! For background on this video check out the previous post New Trailer to be Released Soon! I have decided to leave the Preview Trailer online for now as well. I posted the video on two sites. The video embeded here is the best quality if you connect to this link and hit watch in high quality as soon as the page loads. I also placed the video on Revver.com if you want to check out the encoding quality on that site.
While casting No Sanctuary, I had a very clear vision of the character of Tanner. Both her “look” and her personality were strong elements in my imagination as I wrote the screenplay. The trouble was casting an actress that could live up to those expectations. I placed an ad on Mandy.com. The question was… Should I focus the description on exactly what I was looking for in the character or post a more general description and hope for the best? I chose the latter to receive the most submissions possible and allow for some traits that I may not have envisioned, but would complement the character. I received a huge amount of submissions and headshots. All electronically, I might add, as email attachments. There were many talented and capable actresses. A few I even separated from the rest as possible candidates. But I still hadn’t found the ideal one. I had only so much time in preproduction and I was about to make a decision, when I received a submission in the mail. It was the only submission to arrive by postal carrier. I was impressed with the professionalism and class that a hand prepared letter implied. I held my breath and opened the package. Providence smiled once again. Melissa Dunphy matched my vision of Tanner! We promptly set up a meeting. I was immediately drawn to Melissa’s energy and charm. Not to mention her passion for the project. [This is an unwritten prerequisite for all my cast and crew.] She exceeded my expectations for the character of Tanner. I remember that she asked if she needed to inflect an American accent for the role. [She has a very cool Australian accent.] I promptly said, “Not a chance.” The accent only added to the character. Melissa graciously agreed to the role.
Working with Melissa was a pleasure. She was professional, engaging, and fun to be around. She was always prompt and very gracious. She was never difficult or demanding. I would definitely be honored to work with her again.
Melissa has a very strong acting ability. I didn’t have to take multiple takes of any one performance, she knew every line, and she gave “life” to the character. Two strong memories on the set: We were often treated to her practicing music in between takes. She often had an instrument with her. And she also had the uncanny ability to sleep in between takes, sometimes in less than comfortable places, then immediately rise and go right into her performance without even a pause… [And still look great doing it.]
There was one very important lesson I learned from Melissa Dunphy: As director never say that you are “sorry”. This was a very painful lesson for me personally. [I was promptly slugged or given a look that shouted, "I am going to kick your ass!" by said actress.] Early in the production I had a habit of saying this seemingly innocent phrase when I was putting my actors through a particularly physical, emotion, or just plain uncomfortable scene. [I believe I may have been apprehensive due to the fact that I was asking them to work for deferred payment and credit. A necessity on our low budget production.] Melissa absolutely hated it. It didn’t sink in for me personally until she explained that if she didn’t trust me or believe in the project, that she would not have taken the role. Each cast and crew member of No Sanctuary wanted to be on set, working on this picture. She was absolutely correct in this regard. Thank you, Melissa. I am deeply grateful. [And not at all sorry...]
As the post production team works toward “picture lock”, new trailers are being produced featuring different characters and moments in the film. The Preview Trailer currently available on YouTube and the No Sanctuary Website will be taken down once the first trailer has been uploaded. [Last time for you to check out that version!] The first trailer features the blood feud between Deacon and Midnight Jack. It plays out as Deacon recites the Prayer of St. Michael. There are glimpses of Highwaymen, Lucy, Tanner, and Bartimaeus as well. Look for it soon. I am also experimenting with better compression methods, so that it is the best visual quality possible.
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