Polk Theatre Rolls Out the Red Carpet for the Lakeland Premiere of ENDURE

Endure, a crime thriller locally produced and filmed is set to make its Lakeland debut April 16th at the Polk Theatre. Coming off sold-out shows in Tampa and Sarasota, the film is scheduled for one showing at the historic downtown Lakeland theater.

Written and produced by the local production company, Nfocus. the story revolves around a young woman abducted and tied to a tree in the middle of an isolated swamp in central Florida. The only person who knows her location is dead. Called from the bedside of his ailing wife to unravel the mystery, veteran detective Emory Lane teams with new partner detective Zeth Arnold. As the men sift the clues they come to a startling revelation; they're not the only ones looking for the woman.

Filmed in Lakeland neighborhoods, the Green Swamp and in Bartow last spring, Endure stars Judd Nelson, Devon Sawa, Tom Arnold and Joey Lauren Adams. Endure received the Best Florida Production award at the 2010 Gasparilla International Film Festival. It is scheduled to appear at the prestigious Sarasota Film Festival April 12 and 13 as well as the Nashville Film Festival April 18 and 19.

Lakelanders can order tickets for the exclusive run at http://www.polktheatre.org. The film's writer/director, Joe O'Brien, editor Jim Carleton, and producer Rob Tritton will attend a question and answer session immediately following the film.

Endure Featured in Article on Technology Used to Make Film

There are some amazing technology tools used to make independent films like Endure. We are the subject of an article on how we used RED cameras and the Assimilate digital workflow tool. Take a look, the article isn't just for the technonerd...

http://bit.ly/ahXclZ leads to a PDF of the article. Enjoy.

That's A Wrap

Endure has finished principal photography. After last night's Wrap party, the cast and crew have moved on to other jobs. Except for Executive Producer Jim Carleton, who changes hats and starts editing the film. He'll put together a cut and then work with Writer/Director Joe O'Brien on a final cut.

Don't expect many changes from the Editor's cut. Carleton said he and O'Brien have worked together for a long time. That familiarity enables him to look at the raw footage and see the scene O'Brien filmed.

Over the next few weeks we'll continue to post articles and tweets from the film. Expect more "thank you" posts for all the organizations and people who've helped and are still helping make this movie a reality.

We'll also post some crew information, behind the scenes photos, and technical aspects about the film.

This story isn't over until the NFocus guys start production on the next film...

Mister Fish

Last Tuesday, the Endure cast and crew had the pleasure of filming at one of Lakeland's best known locations: Mister Fish. Using a crane for the shots outside the eatery, Director Joe O'Brien made sure to get one nice shot of the familiar Mister Fish sign. Let's hope it makes the cut.

Lakeland residents make the small corner restaurant a busy place during lunch. Add the public library, a film crew, and dozens of onlookers and Palmetto was a very busy street. The crew barricaded the street -- with permission of course -- to allow our drivers to portray background traffic.

We'd like to thank Mister Fish for letting us interrupt their day, the Lakeland Public Library and the Polk Museum of Art for loaning us a sizable portion of their parking lot, and all the businesses and homes for letting us inconvenience them to make Endure.

After the end of filming, we'll have longer thank you for all those who've helped with sets, street closings, and other inconveniences. Tonight we have to hide away in a basement.

Yes, there are basements in Florida. Here it is...

Looking On

For the first week of production, we had very few onlookers. The first few days were on a relatively busy street in the South Lake Morton district, but the scenes were indoors. A few cars slowed down, and we had more reporters than residents stopping to take a look.

That changed Monday. The production moved to a trio of homes near Lake Morton, and almost every scene was outdoors. Many of the Lakeland residents who follow this production blog and our Twitter updates figured out we were in the area and came by for a look.

Some seemed very interested in the production and some in the cast, but all were respectful to the cast and crew, and quiet during filming.

There were a couple of folks who didn't seem to be movie fans. One driver ignored road blocks and crew members to drive past the set. And one local resident wasn't about to let a film interrupt her daily walk. But they were far less an interruption than the bird who couldn't interrupt his love song for our crime thriller.

The Boom Mike operator tried to shoo him away, but he just jumped up one wire. Sound wasn't too perturbed. It's hard to blame a bird for whistling in Spring.

Photos by Chuck Welch

Update: Edited to remove errant sentence.

Lighting Fix

If you read the description of the first day, then the first week was

Day 2: ditto
Day 3: again
Day 4: more of the same
Day 5: Yet again

A commenter suggested we're not publishing cast photos because the Bale incident. I've seen nothing like that on this film. That isn't to say everything is perfectly smooth.

Sometimes planes fly overhead. Sometimes the camera doesn't reboot correctly and the sunlight never waits. Sometimes a light is too big...

The other morning, the lighting crew set up in a very small room that served as an important location for the film. It needed to be small, comfortable, and realistic. The room was perfect for all that, except one corner was too dark.

So the crew added a light that created the perfect mood for the scene. Everyone stood ready as the cameraman took the camera through the scene and found he could see the light in the shot.

All stood back while the lightening crew rushed to raise the light to the ceiling. Unfortunately, the next run through found the light still intruded on the frame.

Of course, it was an important shot that needed to be made now. The cast was ready. The director was ready. All were sympathetic, but no one could help the lighting crew solve the problem.

The crew found a smaller, more powerful light. Then they had to hand-fashion a filter to make the light fit the scene.

During the many minutes it took to fix the lighting problem it could have been easy for people to express frustration. No one wants to fall behind schedule. The cast gets geared up to act now, and doesn't like to wait. The crew was dancing well, but it felt like someone had thrown glue on the floor.

You could see crew and cast find what they could do to cope. Some worked ahead where possible. Others found a spot and relaxed. Some just stood ready to help.

Did no one feel anger, irritation, or exasperation? I can't tell you that, but all seemed to realize that expressing those emotions wasn't going to help speed the lighting fix.

I'm sure that was a testament to the experience and professionalism of all those involved.

Where are the behind-the-scenes photos of the cast?

According to Executive Producer Jim Carleton, the reason we haven't published any photos of the cast is contractual.

When your brand and your livelihood is your "look," you want to make sure you're always at your best for a photo. With actors concentrating on their parts, they don't have the opportunity to smile and pose for the silly behind-the-scenes photographer.

So the producers made a contractual agreement with the cast -- the photographer is given full access to the set to shoot freely. Any cast photo the producers might want to use for publicity, or DVD extras, is submitted to the cast member for approval.

Since the film is keeping much of the story and look of the actors under-wraps, the producers have decided not to publish any behind-the-scenes photos of the cast at this time.

That gives you a little hope, doesn't it?

Tom Arnold Plays a Pivotal Role

Joining the cast of Endure is actor/comedian/sports commentator Tom Arnold. With four films in various stages of production, the always-busy actor comes to Endure after a recent guest-staring stint on E.R.

First recognized as a stand-up comedian, Arnold was a writer/actor for the Roseanne show. After the series ended, Arnold often guest-starred on comedies such as "Malcom in the Middle" and "Arli$$." He's also a mainstay on late-night talk shows trading jokes with Jay Leno, David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Kimmel.

While Arnold's early work was primarily comedic, he has started accepting more dramatic roles in both television and film.

Endure producers haven't released details about Arnold's character, but expressed that the actor is playing a pivotal role in the film.

photo of Tom Arnold and Pierce Brosnan courtesy and CC by the1secondfilm.

Devon Fans

The other day, I was able to release that Devon Sawa was part of the Endure cast. A few minutes after posting the news on Twitter (@enduremovie) I received tweets and text messages from some young women. They all informed me how much they loved Devon and had such a crush on him when they were teens.

Even my 22 year old daughter let me know she was a Devon fan.

So it came as no surprise when I received an email with the photo you see above. Local resident Amy Strohmaier was enjoying a nice dinner out when she spotted Devon. A few minutes later and Devon was kind enough to stand with her for this photo souvenir. I wasn't surprised to read that Amy once had a crush on Devon.

Based on what I've heard the last few days, I don't believe any of those crushes have completely faded.

All Work and No Play

While many of the crew is already working 12 hour days in pre-production, they're aware of the need to grab some down time where possible. The schedule for Monday, April 6th ends with the start time for the NCAA final game.