Sometimes its the 1930s

Today I shot a film for Peter McGough, an artist who is dedicated to living his life as if it were the 1930's. I spent the morning getting 1930-ed, having my hair cut and suiting up (thanks to the people at Ralph Lauren). Then mostly I sat around all day in a beautiful apartment/museum and did a shot or two in between long setups. Flashy vintage wallpaper, old lighting fixtures. Everything down to the products in the bathroom are period. And no TV or computer.

It's a funny thing making your life your art. I mean, how many people have heard of this man? He might be more inclined to tell you that he's quite famous, but I have a sinking suspicion that he might just be some guy who doesn't the internet and brushes his teeth with a powder that probably contains sugar.

I was talking to my friend Molly, who was in town on a visit, about Tehching Hsieh, the Korean performance artist who put himself through 5 grueling, year-long performance pieces in the 70s. For one year, every hour on the hour he punched a time card in his loft. One year he spent tied to another artist with an 8 foot rope and they never touched each other. He spent an entire year living outside. Then to me the most astonishing was the year he spent locked in a cage in his loft doing nothing. No TV, radio, books, or even people. Someone came to deliver food and he had a picture taken everyday. Molly, and I hope she won't mind me sharing he opinions, thinks of this as a waste of time. That I can agree with in a sense. However, how can you now be amazed by the commitment and discipline of this man? I realize the life is art genre is pretty tired, but Hsieh managed to make his concepts so simple and yet radically difficult that you can't help at least want to talk about them. And truly that's kind of the whole idea, to make people think and talk.

After we shot all my close ups, they asked me to stick around to make sure they didn't need any pick ups, seeing as we were just filming for one day. Two actors shooting after me were asked to chain smoke old unfiltered cigarettes for about 3 hours for a scene. Neither of them were smokers, but both quickly agreed to smoke for the camera. They eventually got all the shots they wanted between breaks to let the actors go to the bathroom and throw up. The make-up guy had his work cut out for him, trying to blot the sweat literally dripping from both men and simultaneously put a little color back in their cheeks.

What is the film about? Hm. Not really sure. I don't think that Peter even really knows. I think he was just creating an environment where he could let things happen. And they did. Cut and print.