Season Three
or, “It ain’t over yet, suckers”

In July of 2007, RHINELAND premiered at the St. Louis Filmmaker’s showcase, and totally blew the crowd away. We ended up with a new executive producer from Hollywood (whose name I won’t mention here) and at his urging, we went back out into the wilds of Missouri to re-shoot some critical scenes, plus add on couple of new ones.


March 1, 2008
Day 39
St. Clair, MO

Here we are, back at it again. Last weekend got trashed because of the snow; this weekend it’s supposed to hit 70. Go figure.

Today we have vehicles, tents, and re-enactors.

A lot of each.

Vehicle-wise, we have a tank, 3 half-tracks, 2 trucks and 1 jeep.

The set that we’re able to put together is the most impressive thing that we’ve done besides our bunker and trench system.

The running joke this time around is that this is “Rhineland, Season 3”.

That’s what it feels like.

Somebody said that this movie was like going to “Summer camp, only in the Winter”.

We have no production house, no transport other than a rented U-haul van, and precious little money.

The cinematographer, 1st AD and 1st AC are all in Los Angeles, so I had to shake things up a bit, move some people around, and bring in a new Camera Guy. They offered to come back, wanted to, in fact- but I opted to go with a local choice.

From a planning standpoint, it made more sense to me.

In any case, it took a few hours to shake the rust off and get back in the ‘Rhineland Groove’. One of the trucks broke down, one of the half-tracks split a track, and the tank had engine trouble, but eventually we got everything together and knocked out three scenes.


March 2, 2008
Day 40
St. Clair, MO

The DP and I ride down to the set together. We’re meeting at the actor’s house who lives on the property where we’re shooting.

Everything this morning is mass confusion.

German re-enactors are showing up today, and we still have to pick out where we exactly shooting our scene. Myself, the DP, a grip and the sound guy trudge off through the forest to find the valley where I want to shoot the German stuff. When that’s finally accomplished, we go back to the house to wrangle up some actors and additional crew to shoot a couple of inserts.

These require more walking, to the site of where we shot the Big Battle, well over a year ago. I had hoped that I’d seen the last of that hill. No such luck.

The DP had the great idea to bring out a laptop with a cut of the movie on it to watch for continuity purposes.

Of course, we left the damn thing at the house, so we had to have it brought to us via 4-wheeler.

Several hours later, our ‘quick inserts’ are done, so back we walk to the valley for our German scene.

This involves a track dolly and an ass-load of timing. We have a lot of trouble with the timing.

While we’re shooting the scene, a guy walks up to the set from over a hill. He happens to be the main film critic for the Post-Dispatch newspaper, Joe Williams.

I can only talk to him briefly, however, as I’m trying to make sure we get everything for the scene.

He takes a lot of photographs, then quietly slips away.

Shortly thereafter, we wrap for the day, and eventually I head home with one unlucky soul in tow to help me unload the U-Haul into my garage and basement.


March 9, 2008
Day 41
Desoto, MO

Ah, lovely Desoto. Where lead is in the air, and trouble grows on trees. Nearly the very first thing that happens is the Key grip and 2nd AD get their truck stuck in the mud.

Then comes the long trudge carrying gear and orange tubs full of wardrobe back down to the old cabin.

After a lovely stop at the outhouse, I’m ready to face the day.

We have a long, cold, walk through the muck to our set.

The Pinzgauer from “Season 1” is just a memory now.

When we finally get to the set and start laying down little wooden mines, a big, dumb dog comes running out of nowhere, knocks over half of the mines, and then proceeds to take a giant shit right in the middle of our set.

I swear to God, never have I smelt such a foul odor as what came out of that dog’s ass. As one, the entire cast and crew bailed, gagging, out of the area.

“Where the fuck did that dog come from?” I manage to choke out.

“Uh, yeah, he’s mine….” mumbles one of the actors. “I thought it’d be OK, to bring him, being the country and all.”

Sweet Christ.

After the actor cleans up his dog’s mess, we begin shooting. But since the dog whines throughout every take, back to the cabin he has to go.

The day goes relatively smoothly, except for the fact that our authentic German MG 34 Machine gun got broke in half.

It seems that I forgot one of the basic principles of filmmaking :

“Give an actor a prop, and he will break it.”

We finally wrap for the day, everyone shakes hands, hugs, and gives a ragged little cheer.

Are we done yet?

March 17, 2008
Day 42
Desoto, MO

I think this might just be it. The third “Last Day”.  Me and a grip drive all the way out to Desoto to get one final shot.

This involves filling in a foxhole to make a grave.

I mean, that feels like finality to me.

Of course, so did burning down the bunker set, and so did popping open a bottle of champagne after our very first “Last Day”.

We spend 45 minutes digging, and 5 minutes shooting.

Heh.

That’s filmmaking.

Everywhere I look, I see the movie. Here’s where the jeep scene was, there is where the explosions were.

I’m overwhelmed with memories as I walk along. The wind is blowing, a little chilly, but not too bad. I can almost hear peoples’ voices, if I close my eyes, I can almost see their faces.

I’ll never make another movie Like RHINELAND.

If I’m successful, I won’t have to.

If I fail, I won’t be able to.

This has been the best worst experience of my life.


Thanks for reading. Again.

Chris Grega
March 2008