Behind the scenes
at The water rats
The opening scene was filmed on the first day. Originally when we were thinking about the schedule we thought let's shoot the band scenes on the last day and give everyone a chance to warm up, but we ended up having to shoot at the beginning of the week because - even during covid - the clubs are less busy on a Monday or a Tuesday than on a Saturday.
Both Sonnei and Zachary had huge challenges with these roles. The role of Sky was written for Zach. Zoë was distressed that he hadn't gotten the acknowledgment that she felt he deserved and so she decided to write him a "star " vehicle. And that's this film: We Art Bleach.
Sonnei had played drums in high school, but it wasn't part of his current agenda. And even though he was not being recorded live on the drums, he basically had to do the same thing as lip-synching but drum-synching. All of Sonnei's sweaters and costumes were made by the fabulous fiber artist, Anabel Simotas.
And then there was the constant specter of COVID. If we got shut down we would lose everything. There was a lot of terror and a lot of prayer.
Zach - who is nether a singer nor a dancer - gave it his all every time and it was exhausting.
There were times when we were all really worried about him. His heart was pounding. We bought him a fantastic pair of silver shoes in a charity shop in Dalston that went with his incredible Freda costume, but he stamped so hard for so long that the shoe completely fell apart, and Raphael had to run to a shoemaker to get it quickly repaired!
After lunch - thank you, Water Rats for helping to make this so civilized - we shot the last scene of the film. The costumes for all of the performance scenes, including the jumpsuit that Zach wears in the rehearsal at the Dublin Castle were designed in Taiwan by the award winning young designer Tsai-Feng Chou AKA Freda.
Zoë had a very clear idea of the kind of clothes that Tom would wear and we went shopping during the summer at Beacon in Brooklyn to get some of his stuff with designer Anabel Simotas. Anabel is a fiber artist and she knit this, as well as another sweater for Sonnei's costumes. Tom's not exactly a fiber artist but he does crochet, and you will see him crocheting in the film It turns out, btw, that Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand also crochets. Must be a rock star thing. :-)
Having Jimi Gardner on set changed the world of the film. As Zoë aptly said, Jimi is a guitar angel. Whenever there were 4 seconds of silence on set, Jimi was playing. Grateful.
Truth be told, Sonnei loved being Tom. He loved his make-up and his snazzy clothes and his black nail polish. Life in NYC is way less groovy.
Quite the way to take a break on the first day, listening to Damien Smiler and Jimi Gardner performing Mr. Nobody. Everyone on the film crew was super jazzed about the script, but the set became something even more magical thanks to Damien and Jimi. A privilege to share with you. Click on the picture to hear the song.