Posted by Kevin at 64.167.84.14 on February 27, 2001 at 00:55:00:
Last week looked hellish on paper, but actually turned into one of the best and most fun weeks on the show thus far.
We shot Ben as Holden on all of Tuesday, with about twenty four set-ups. As always, it was a delight having the Fifteen Million Dollar Boy back before the ultra-fast-picture-taking machine. And as exhausted as he was (indeed, he had come from NYC where he was shooting 'Changing Lanes' with Sam Jackson, then did pick-ups on 'Pearl Harbor', followed by three days on 'The Sum of All Fears' - all before showing up for our little dick and fart joke picture), he still managed to turn in a wonderful and funny performance. God, I love that man.
On Wednesday, we shot Ben and Matt together. Very, very funny stuff, that. Kudos, too, go out to Master Damon, as he found a window in his 'Oceans 11' schedule to roll up on us and turn in a pretty hysterical cameo.
Thursday saw us finishing up some odds and ends from their scene that didn't involve Ben and Matt, and Friday and Saturday kicked off the seemingly interminable 'BluntCave' sequence - a real gem of a scene, due largely to two factors...
Mark and Hammil.
Wait'll you see this stuff. You won't believe I directed it, it looks so fucking good.
Today, it was more 'BluntCave' action, that also saw the end of Mark's stuff. Good Lord, was he fun to have around. He's a real sweetheart of a guy who doesn't play up the fact that he's a living, American icon. He'll be missed.
Will and the girls are back as well, and Wednesday, it's all-Lee action.
I swear - this may very well be our finest hour in a weird way.
In other news, I was informed by the good folks at DC Comics that they've sold out of their entire first printing run of 101,000 copies of 'Green Arrow' - before it even hit the stands. Initial orders from comic book stores had us ranking as the sixth best seller of the month, with 83,000 copies pre-sold, and DC overprinted, hoping the additional 18,000 would eventually sell. But comics retailers (God bless 'em) kept re-ordering to the point that DC is already sold out of the first printing, and heading back to press for another large run of the book. So congrats to DC, Bob Schreck, Phil Hester, Ande Parks, Sean Konot, Guy Major, Matt Wagner... and me, I guess.
The book goes on sale Wednesday. Pick it up and let me know what you think.