Quote of the day: Ashling sent me the quote of the day from Ged earlier on and as much as I like it, I don’t think I should put up a quote with such ‘colourful’ language. So instead, here’s another one: “John, seriously, stop making me laugh! I can’t breathe as it is!!!”
Coincidences can be funny things. It is often said that films (or any dramatic pieces for that matter) should not rely on coincidences to serve the story. Today’s scene involved the antagonists and the protagonists being at the same hospital at the same time; the ensuing confrontation setting off the third act. Some may say it’s a bit too convenient that they should be there at the same time, but something else happened today to make me believe that coincidences occur a lot more than you think in real life and so in theory should not be so off putting in films.
As regular readers will know, my health has not been great this week. The allergies and head cold culminated this morning with my first asthma attack in over ten years. My airways got very narrow and towards the end I was struggling to breathe. Had we been filming out in Gyles Quay, as we were yesterday, I could have done some awful damage to myself. However, life being full of coincidences, we were shooting in the Louth Hospital this morning so when my breathing was unbearable, Jen only had to bring me a short distance to the A&E, where they looked after me very promptly. I would like to take this opportunity to praise the staff of the Louth Hospital to the highest level. They were absolutely marvelous and I really hope the <angry political rant removed by me>. Thank you to all who helped me today, including the doctors, nurses, cast and crew. And a particular thank you to Jen who stayed with me though it all. I think we lost count of the amount of times the nurses told us to stop gossiping and let me breathe in the gas for my lungs!
Anywho, back to the shoot. We shot all the hospital scenes today and as I was only present for two actual scenes, Dave has assured me they went very well. Ashling Graham took over DoP duties for the day and I don’t think I’ve trusted anybody so much with a job for a long time. We also had two camera assistants on today, Ged Murray and David Ryan, who I’m told were both very helpful when I was off in A&E. Funny, their presence also backs up my coincidence theory – it’s usually just been myself and Ashling on the two cameras and the pure chance that we had the two guys there today to man the cameras when I was gone is slightly unbelievable. It all worked out well in the end though and that’s the main thing.
I really want to talk about the Lowry family, but I’ve droned on long enough in this entry, so I think I’ll just discuss one character today. Ruth McIntyre is playing the character of Margaret Bell, the biological mother of Sarah and Brian. Daughter of a wealthy southern businessman, the pretty, idealistic young woman joined a cult in her mid twenties and was eventually rescued from it by another character in the film. However, the cult’s brainwashing left it’s mark on Margaret and she was sent to an asylum after her children were given up for adoption. The years were not kind to her however. Echoes of the past will haunt her to the end…
Well, that’s it for today. I’m feeling much better than earlier and I’m going to have a nice rest tomorrow as our next scheduled shooting day is Monday. Have a nice weekend everyone!
