Behind the scenes
tom’s Apartment, Hackney
Until the last two days of the shoot - because we were at at least one and sometimes more locations every day the most exhausting part of the shoot was loading the masses of equipment into the van and then unloading it, reloading it - however many times - and then unloading at the hotel again at night. So you can imagine how relieved we were to finally get to Hackney and not have to load and unload for the last two days.
It was always in the script that Tom was going to be wearing a kimono in the big Tom's flat scene. And so, when Sonnei and I finished passing out the letters to the residents of Gloucester Crescent to let them know that we would be filming (Yes, this is an indie. Our kind actors help with everything. We are not proud.) we went over to the Camden Market following a lead that someone had a stand with real kimonos. IF only I had made a video of the purchasing of the kimono - it was a true meeting of East and West imaginations - as we explained to the very Japanese owner that Sonnei would be undressed in this scene wearing just the kimono. It was an hilariously oo la la moment. Promising the full story at another time!
Mari Yamamura hired the most amazing camera team: Akhilesh Patel operator & genius steadicam, Courtney Andrews 1st AC/focus puller and Sarah Ronad 2nd AC and DIT.
Zoë Greenbaum and Akhilesh Patel in the garden behind the flat looking like they're getting ready to shoot a Bruce Lee movie.
The bedroom was shot on the last day, and as you can see, Zoë was definitely on her last legs. Thank you to everyone who was with us on this journey. It was a privilege to be surrounded by so many extraordinarily talented and gracious people.