A Pit & Pendulum On-Set Tidbit

We were shooting a moment where I am mostly in profile. So, before each take, Jason Chua, the cinematographer, would ask “Danny, could you look into the lens?” to get me to squarely face the camera so he could make sure the focus was correct before we called action.

By the third take and the third time I heard “Danny, could you look into the lens?” I turned to face the camera and gave it my best Dwayne The Rock Johnson smolder.

It got a laugh in the midst of a grueling day on set shooting yet more of Poe inspired horrors.

I’ve just spent two weeks pouring through all the footage of our 10 day shoot. Lots and lots of hours of many many takes of me enduring one or another of the several circles of hell Poe invented for the hero/victim of his fiendish short story. Or one or another of the horrors I imposed upon myself (director torturing the actor) on top of Poe’s infernal inspirations.

This moment caught by the camera before we called action during the 7th day of shooting reminds me that it actually also was fun …