On Sunday night Nov 27 the GMC channel will exclusively air the movie that was created from my rant about “Christmas vs Halloween” that was sampled on the GoFish song “Christmas with a Capital C.”
The movie is called Christmas with a capital C as well and so I thought I would revisit a blog I wrote awhile back as I was making the film on location. Enjoy.
So I sit in a hotel in Seward Alaska minding my own business when suddenly it dawns on me… I am making a movie! Fun you say? How quaint, says you? Well let me take a moment to examine this and see what we find.
First off, my part is that of one of two brothers who own Reed Alaskan Adventures. We fly people around amazing mountain landscapes on sightseeing tours; we also have boats for fishing and sightseeing and snow machine tours. (I found out in Alaska they are called snow “machines” as opposed to “mobiles” which is another California term too never let us forget how stuck up they are.)
My “brother” in the film is an actor by the name of Ted McGinley. You certainly have seen Ted’s work as he was on the last few seasons of Happy Days (the jump the shark years), then he was the photographer in the last few years of Love Boat (he never brings that up) then on Married with Children and Faith and Hope. Oh and not to mention Revenge of the Nerds. Not only has he been a working actor for 30 years but he always played the handsome hunk guy because, well, he is I say in the most confident straight male manner I can muster; So me playing his brother kind of puts me in the category of Lenny in “Of Mice and Men” if you get my drift. We have had some wonderful late night discussions about God, and family and life. He’s a good man.
The “antagonist” (normal people not of the Hollywood ilk refer to it as the “bad guy”) is played by Daniel Baldwin. Daniel has been in over 90 films and is the brother that looks and sounds almost exactly like Alec, which is a little unnerving when in a scene with him. We have talked about his career and his brothers and some “interesting” stories of arrogance by some “movie stars”. Then there’s me. As I seem to have done with all my pursuits I am starting my “Film career” late. This film, entitled Christmas with a Capital C is my 4th feature film. The first three were on location in basically LA whereas this time I’m in Seward Alaska. The scenery is breathtaking, the cold is as well.
As much as I would never consider comparing movie making to construction when it comes to hard work it does have its own challenges at times when at least in construction when your tired or cold or cranky or having a bad hair day it isn’t recorded for all posterity to view for eternity. I have to hold my own against some wonderfully skilled and experienced actors and I really don’t want to screw it up for them or the film. At least I’m the comic relief of sorts (as we have established already I’m not the leading man type). I must say I started this column with the intention of finding some funny about the late nights and pressure of making a film well. But the truth is I can’t. I am absolutely grateful to God for giving me the opportunity to do something I love, something I wanted to be involved with my whole life and now I get to tell stories I believe in using the comedic gift of communication He gave me for His purpose. Forget the smirky aren’t I clever schpiel. This is a blast Father…thanks.