We wrapped principal photography on Sunday at about 9 pm. At the end of the last shot Wolf very kindly reminded us to say the magic words, "That's a wrap!" Wolf's good with things like that. It was a completely exhausing but utterly fulfilling weekend where we basically shot the whole end sequence of the movie. Somehow my best friend from high school stumbled onto the location looking to use a restroom and ended up being in our big slumber party scene. There were a lot of things like that on set, where something bizarre happened but you didn't have time to think about how weird or funny it was because something always has to be done very urgently. It's kind of a good antidote to the usually over-contemplated lifestyle.
...It's exciting to be able to re-enter life a little after a period of intense artistic self-obsession. I mean, I don't even know who's still running for President. I'm still riding a little exhausted euphoria from the knowledge that somewhere in these 37-odd DVCAM tapes is a way cool 2-hour movie, and doubly high from the fact that I managed to get the raw footage without dying, (seriously) injuring anyone else, or going into monstrous credit card debt that would require me to eat rice gruel for the next year.
...Of course we still have a bit more to shoot, pickups and exteriors and whatnot, and a whole mess of post-production to do. So keep those checks and contributions of free telecine stations flowing in. The really really painfully trying part, however, is done, and it feels great.