WEBVTT - Antoinette Levine 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.240 To make a film in a prison is to make 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:04.960 the film real, and what Eddie wanted to do was 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:07.360 to make that film as real as possible in that 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:11.080 same realm of scared straight right of like, you know, 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:13.320 if this doesn't scare you off, if you don't want 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:15.840 to have to live your life in an environment like this, 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:22.640 make different choices every chance you can. Welcome to more 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:25.599 than a movie. American Meat a podcast that digs into 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:29.120 the history and mystery of American Meat, a film directed 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:32.040 by and starring Edward James almost that had a huge 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:36.040 impact on Latino cinema and culture. I'm your host, Alex Fumeto, 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:39.080 and I'll be diving into the behind the scenes controversy 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:41.880 every episode. I'm gonna try to peel back a layer 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:43.800 of the story by trying to go deeper into the 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:48.559 intentions and motives behind the film and the backlash. You 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:51.360 were just hearing the voice of Antoinette Levine. She was 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:55.640 an associate producer and supervising location manager on American Met. 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:59.640 What that means is fulsome prison. Ramona Gardens, any of 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:02.080 the play, says they managed to shoot this movie, which 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:03.680 is a big part of what made the film feel 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:07.920 so real. Antonette was responsible for those. She's retired now. 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:09.959 In fact, she lives on a remote island, so we 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:12.600 had to interview her via zoom, which is maybe why 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.399 the audio sounds a little funky. But she worked on 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:19.840 some location heavy movies, including The Adams Family, The Rookie 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:23.280 and Under Siege, so needless to say, she knows what 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:28.200 she's talking about. A location manager, she says, is reached 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:32.520 out to by a producer or a film company. But 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:35.720 what you're doing, what your job is, is you first 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:38.000 are sent a script. Let's just say I've reached that 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:42.440 level of location management. Let's let's just we American me 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:44.399 in there for a minute. So I've done a number 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:49.240 of projects with Clinty Swiss producer David Valdez, and Eddie 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:52.400 Almost actually reached out to David. I didn't know this 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:56.600 up front, but Sean Uh I forgot Seawn's last name 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:58.480 for a minute there. But I got to reach out 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:02.480 from the American me production to please come have a 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:06.440 meeting with an Almost because David Valdez had recommended you. 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:10.280 And so in essence, I was good at reading the 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:14.880 script and getting a vision already. And once you've done that, 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.480 you're already starting to have you read that script before 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:21.480 you even go in for your meeting, And for me, 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:25.320 it became important for me to be interviewing who I 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:27.880 was sitting across from as much as they were interviewing me. 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:31.960 Once uh, you're sitting in there and you're pitching your 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:35.360 thoughts about the film. If you're if you're brought on board, 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:40.120 you start working with the production designer, the person who 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:43.400 makes the locations look a certain way, shoulder to shoulder 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:47.079 with the director in terms of the vision of the film. 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:50.320 The director, who in this case was Edward James Almos, 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:55.880 who was very very actively involved in the whole process 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:58.480 of creation. And now we've all made movies. The only 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:01.200 difference between this movie and other movies because that we're 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:04.760 stuck in between a war zone. They were right in 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:08.480 the Cusp book, like three different groups of kids. And 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:11.080 what Anna is afraid of, and rightfully so, is that 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:13.959 there are so many as your kids here because she's 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:16.680 afraid that it's gonna cause of conflation. So she's dealing 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:20.320 with the director with a very specific vision for locations 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:23.880 that have a lot of pretty dangerous complications to them. 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:27.000 And as a location manager, you're actfully doing a little pitching, 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:31.480 because you are also responsible for what's going on behind camera. 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:34.400 Do you have a place to bring a hundred people? 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.160 Is the neighborhood or the vicinity going to let you in? 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:40.960 Can you get a film permit in this location? And 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:44.040 it goes on and on and on, um and in 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:48.160 in that way, Let's use even American me as an 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:51.120 example of what do you do as location manager. First 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:53.320 of all, you've got to get the state of California 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:57.560 to say yes. And secondly, because I became very good 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:01.120 at I became really good at get people that really 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:04.560 in the real world should say now like absolutely not 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:08.720 to say yes, including secret service, you know, including in 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:11.800 the es in l a which was, as we've discussed, 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:15.520 a really violent time. When we flash back to the 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:18.080 time period that the film takes place in right to 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:21.200 bring it back to American nineties, were well the nineties 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:23.320 is when you shot right and I was put out 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:28.159 a time where there were you know, riots in l A. Um, 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.720 we're shooting the riots. Yep, you location managed Falling Down, 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:37.320 which is to me one of the most underrated films. 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:44.400 It's a gangland thing, isn't it. We're having a territorial dispute. 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:49.839 I mean, I've wandered into your pissing ground or whatever 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:52.520 the damn thing is, and you've taken offense of my presence. 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.839 And I can understand that. I love that movie. I've 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.760 watched it, I don't know how many times, UM, and 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:02.479 that from what understand were you producing that? Were you 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:05.360 working on that movie during the riots? Yes, we were 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:08.680 working during the riots, And that's a perfect I think 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:11.599 that's a great example. So I was down there looking 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.600 for locations for falling down at the time when I 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:18.600 got the call and essentially was told, um to really 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:20.719 just hurry up and kind of get out of there 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:24.920 if you will. I was essentially for those I think 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:26.919 it was a five or six day period of the 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:31.080 riots where everything was shut down, everything was on fire, 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:35.880 and people were purposefully angry. Um. It really links in 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:39.040 so much. American Me was shot just one year before 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:42.000 the l A Riots, and the main characters literally conceived 0:05:42.000 --> 0:06:00.120 through a sexual assault that occurs during a riot y. 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:08.920 The scene ends with Santana's adopted father played by Sal Lopez, 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:17.760 screaming out his girlfriend's name, Espenanza Hope coming up. Antoinette 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:20.880 tells me about getting the Famous Actors Trust and the 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:23.120 warnings that she and the rest of the crew heard 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:26.240 before they signed on to the movie. Here's another warning 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:35.320 for me, though it's commercial time, welcome back. This is 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:38.039 more than a movie. I'm Alex Fumeto. Today we're talking 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:41.960 to associate producer Antoinette Levine managed to get fulsome prison 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:44.719 to say yes when Edward James almost wanted to film 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:49.440 there first, though she had to get the job. Tell 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:53.719 us again, how you met Edward James almost? And tell 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:57.400 us do you remember the first meeting, the first proper 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:02.040 sit down meeting with with j L. I believe they'd 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:04.400 give they'd give him it would they've given him an 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:08.000 office at on the Universal lot. I believe that first meeting. 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:10.800 I believe it was at the Universe a lot on 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:13.000 Now I'm kind of a little fuzzy because I'm really 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:16.120 actually in the four walls of the room with Eddie 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:18.880 sitting across from me at a desk, and so it likely, 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:21.520 very likely was it one of the producer's offices up 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:24.440 on Universal, because the location manager comes on very early, 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:27.320 long before you get um, you know, some sort of 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:31.400 warehouse offices out in the world. Um, so in that 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:35.360 way for me, I was just so taken with his 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:41.120 past for this project. He he understood enough about filmmaking 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.400 in that way, certainly maybe even coming up he did, 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:46.320 you know he did stand in the liver standon the 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:50.960 liver was before that, UM, certainly Miami advice. UM. He'd 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:54.360 been on the streets in Miami, so he knew enough 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:57.960 to know that, and he knew enough to reach out 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:02.200 to David Valdez to look for a location manager who 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:05.920 had HUTSBA you know who you know, who had gone us, 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:10.880 who was going to show up and and deliver um. 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:14.360 But he wanted to let me know. He said, I'm 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:18.160 gonna be having this conversation with all my department heads. Um. 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.720 You know, the project, the subject of this film is 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.160 very near and dear to my heart. I wanted to 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:25.240 have this film made so I can take it around 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:29.200 these United States of America and speak to young people 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:34.199 so they might become determined to make different choices when 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:38.720 choices are presented to them and options are available, because 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:42.160 he knows that there is some space for choices. But 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:44.480 he said, I'm making this film for that reason, but 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:47.199 I have to have you know that it's not gonna 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:49.920 be easy, and it may not always be safe. We 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:56.480 were at we we could potentially be treading on sensitive toes. Um. Absolutely, 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:58.560 it was all of that. It was it was it 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:00.920 was that we were gonna want of film in places 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:05.400 where really you shouldn't bring a hundred people Fulsome State 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:08.680 prison for instance. Um, we didn't know we would get 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:11.839 to film there, and that was a I have to, uh, 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:15.440 if if you're okay with me jumping ahead just to 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:18.880 say a little bit about Eddie in the atmosphere of 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.960 negotiating Fulsome State prison. Yeah, absolutely, so let's yeah, let's 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:26.200 talk about Fulsome because people need to understand. If you've 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:31.080 seen this movie, it was shot in an actual active prison, 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:32.679 which I have a lot of questions about. But I 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:34.200 just want to hear you tell us a little bit 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.680 about about that experience. All right. I would just say, 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:40.520 his passion and his presence. His passion and his presence, 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:44.920 we're so vital to the meeting that we were to 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:50.800 have up at Fulsome State prison. Um. I'd helped organize 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:55.880 and schedule a meeting with the with the warden because 0:09:56.040 --> 0:10:00.400 because the warden is like the mayor or the uh 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:03.840 president in Ied States is like the warden. It's his prison, 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:08.880 it's his prison. And even that had you know, the 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:13.200 California State that's a particular permit process, but that was 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:16.280 it wasn't even possible without the warden signing off on 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:20.280 the project. And so I was able to schedule a 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:23.679 meeting with them and bring in in in my peeps. 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:28.679 And I remember this meeting because the visual I have 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:31.120 of it is that we were sitting in a circle. 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:35.280 I remember that. That's my impression of it. I do 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:37.640 believe we were sitting. Maybe it could have even been 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:41.240 folding chairs because it didn't feel like it was really comfortable, 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:44.520 but we were sitting in a circle. As for this meeting, 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:48.080 it was it was so amazing because it was almost 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:52.440 like a tag team between myself and Eddie. Well, if 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:56.800 you're talking to a warden and maybe his lieutenants are 0:10:57.040 --> 0:10:59.440 you know, he's key people who would want to have 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:02.760 around him at the same time to have this conversation, 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:08.000 A no would have been absolutely the right answer. I mean, 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:12.319 that's the that's the you know that that's my background 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:16.319 is turning nose into yes. Is that was Eddie's presence 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:21.839 was like critical to this because um, yeah, sure you 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:24.679 can say we're universal pictures. You can try and you know, 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:27.880 throw that card out, all of that, But it was 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:31.960 his his passionate intention for this film to make some 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:37.360 sort of difference. And if these prison authority figures had 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:42.040 any sensibility, and this is I believe, prior to all 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:46.559 this huge privatization of present prisons the prison system in 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:50.240 the United States, that they were still California employees and 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:53.080 they still were intent upon their mission of doing some 0:11:53.160 --> 0:12:00.160 sort of good in this incarceration rehabilitation industry. Now, hum, 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:02.680 some of them had a heart. I think there was. 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:05.400 There was there was an alignment with a sort of 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:09.520 synchronistic possibility here. I actually scouted a lot of prisons. 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:12.480 I went to Solidad, I went to a lot of 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:16.120 different prisons and and scouted a lot of prisons. It 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:22.600 was Fulsome that visually really worked for the picture. Um, 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:24.840 but they were the ones that said yes to this 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:28.080 meeting as well. But his presence in that meeting is 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:32.240 what got us to yes. Brian Brotherhood and the Blood 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:37.760 Gorilla Family shared the rd out, but Fulsome belonged to 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:45.760 us the oldest clicker the Mexican Mafia. So let's let's 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:50.880 touch on that for a second, So why a real prison. Oh, 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:54.240 such a great question. Let's just contrast that with the 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:58.400 opposite of a real prison, uh set. In the film industry, 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:00.320 what you do instead of a prison as you do 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:03.360 a set. And yet there are sets in the l 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:08.320 A H. Hollywood region whilst where they've built fake prisons 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:12.440 you just don't have, you don't have the scope. A 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:15.960 director wants that scope. You want that feeling and that 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:20.360 sensibility that it's real. But I feel I have a 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:24.800 sense and of that that Eddie also wanted for his 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:29.680 actors and for his audience to really get to really 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.400 be in prison with us, to really be in prison. 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:36.800 My prison experience was I got to feel I got 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:41.520 to feel them as as an invitee. Um, I got 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:44.920 to fill the terror of being locked up um in 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:48.280 that sense because even as a free person, you're coming 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:52.160 into the prison and you're not free. You're absolutely not free. 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.280 So imagine if you were a prisoner and you're trying 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:58.520 to live your life out in this place. Um, there's 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:05.959 just there's there's a sense of endless despair. So to 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:08.280 make a film in a prison is to make the 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:11.000 film real. And what Eddie wanted to do was to 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:13.560 make that film as real as possible in that same 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:17.360 realm of scared straight right of like, you know, if 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:19.280 this doesn't scare you off, if you don't want to 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:22.000 have to live your life in an environment like this, 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:26.240 make different choices every chance you can. Do you think 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:31.120 that he fed off of being in this environment? Was 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:35.840 that part of his way of direct of Was he 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:40.280 channeling that environment to direct to act? Were you able 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:42.800 to sort of see that as it was happening, I 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:48.160 would say yes, um, because he's actually the adamant actor 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:51.480 when he's in front of camera. But I do believe 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:57.720 that he was brilliant in his conception of the actual 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:01.640 infrastructure of the film. The world say make it as 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:05.600 real as possible, because then i'm I'm, I'm that's my 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:10.560 I'm directing all my young actors and even the extras 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:14.760 and whoever whoever. You know, we enrolled I think hundreds 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:18.000 of extras, you know. So it was like he wanted 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:24.080 the whole atmosphere the prisoners were in the film. Yeah, 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:26.720 so there's a piece of that too, like a part 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:30.720 of our that whole circle meeting with the warden. What 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:33.360 about the gangs though, because this is another thing that 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:36.360 you know, like we talked to the Danny's right, We 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:41.040 talked to Danny round Little Puppet and Puppet, and one 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:43.480 of the things that they said was, you know, and 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:46.680 this is without getting in too much into the controversy 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:50.360 surrounding the film, the that that like, you don't make 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:53.040 a movie like this in prison unless you have the 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:57.160 okay of the bosses in the gangs right that they're 0:15:57.160 --> 0:15:59.480 they're just not going to allow. And that was a 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:03.160 very com helling point that they made. As a location manager, 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:06.040 were you having to kind of have conversations with the 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:10.880 guys that ran a certain block or ran a certain area. No, 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:15.760 I was not. I didn't have to be uh engaged 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:19.320 with any of I was actually not allowed to be. 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:24.240 You're you're you. You're never supposed to engage with any 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:27.880 of the inmates, even when they're extras, even when they're 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:31.960 extras um and it's like you just you aren't engaging 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:34.240 with the inmates Like that just seemed to be like 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:37.360 kind of uh. I don't know how spoken that was, 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.480 but we we did do orientations for all of the 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:43.800 crew members before they could come in, very very strict orientations. 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:45.800 I don't have any of those materials with me. So 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:47.920 I don't remember what we said, but we were telling 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:51.200 everyone to button it down like they literally you just 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:56.200 imagine any scene from any movie where the friends or 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:59.600 family are coming to visit the inmate, just that is 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:04.720 very is very telling that they're not supposed to touch 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:07.879 or they're not supposed to give them anything. So it 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:11.199 was it was we were still separated from the inmates 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:14.600 right um in that way. So yes, there was no 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:17.119 for me. I don't know who would have done the 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:21.639 permission getting of the I don't even know what was 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:25.200 going on in that element or realm. I I believe 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:29.760 that even after we got the permission from the warden 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.639 that yes, go ahead, and then it was it was 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:35.920 step by step by step. It wasn't like, oh, then 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:38.200 we're just gonna come in next week and film. Then 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:41.200 it was like where are we going to film? Inside 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:44.399 balls and State prison? And so I had to walk 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:49.760 around and do more location scouting within the campus if 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:54.000 you will, the complex of course as a woman, as 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:58.840 a female. And but the beautiful thing was happened is 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:02.919 that here's the thing. There was a captain who was 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:06.960 the captain of the cell block that we were going 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:11.520 to use who began to walk with me. And once 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:14.840 that happened, there were no more cat callings. There was 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:20.080 no more So I ended up having Um, I got respect. 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:24.600 I ended up getting respect, and so my fear level 0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:26.800 went down. Like I was never afraid, but it was 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:33.159 always very uh frazzling, energetically frazzling, tiring, you know, because 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.640 you always you do have a certain sense of red 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:40.919 alert going into a man's prison. Uh. He was, he 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:43.080 was in charge. He was the one who was able 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:46.960 to make all of this yes, no decisions uh as 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:51.720 we moved forward internally in the prison, and so I 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:54.520 was shoulders shoulder with him a lot because in filmmaking 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:58.879 there's this constant, constant asking for, asking for You're always 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:02.640 asking your your eyes asking for something more, or you're 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:05.280 asking for something different or can we you know that 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:08.960 sort of there's always changes and so but I was 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:13.840 working with a great uh first director who understood, um, 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:17.240 you know, he's he's always assisting Eddie. And I think 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:20.760 that's why the Associated producer credit for me, because so 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:23.600 much of my job was really to understand what the 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:27.600 limitations are. UM. As much as I'm gonna always push 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:30.480 for what the company needs, and mostly for what a 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:33.960 director needs on a film, what's their vision for the film. 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:37.080 If our job as location managers, no matter what the 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:39.520 film is even a dude, my dude, where's my car? 0:19:39.680 --> 0:19:42.080 Is to understand what the limitations are. It's like, you 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:44.760 cannot we note, we cannot go back and ask for 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:47.840 another schedule change. It ain't gonna happen. We're gonna get 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:50.320 locked out here. And with that in mind, being in 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:55.359 a prison, were you ever concerned? Were there ever any 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:58.480 events that you were like, oh, okay, this, I might 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:02.399 be in danger now? It was eventless because everybody's on 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:07.120 their best behavior. Um, the inmates are sort of uh 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:09.119 in a way, almost bragged if you want to be 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:14.600 on this film, right, Um, so it's a perk for 0:20:14.680 --> 0:20:16.840 some of them. Yeah, it was a perk because it 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:19.760 was something different, It was something interesting to do, something 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:22.680 they'd probably never done before in their lives and might 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:26.439 never do again. The only crew members that left because 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:30.800 I believe Eddie had given that same cautionary tale speech 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:34.080 to all of any department had coming in, but certainly 0:20:34.080 --> 0:20:36.720 at our final production meeting, it was just too much 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:39.800 for them. Um. The cat calling that I received as 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:42.280 a women and men would receive as well, and they 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:45.040 didn't have a production of a captain walking around with them. 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:47.560 And a couple of them left and that was the 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:50.120 only time anybody left. So that was the only incident, 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:52.640 if you will, that verged on. You shot in real 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:55.920 people's lives, yes, right, Like when we talk about shooting 0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:58.439 in an apartment building and Boil Heights, we're not talking 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:01.040 about a building. We're talking out a home. And it 0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:03.679 was a complex. And the beautiful thing about it, Alex, 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:07.359 was that it was a complex that um it was 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:10.760 an interior. It was built in the late twenties, I believe. 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:16.000 And if you walk through this the stucco gate walls, 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:20.000 you come into a courtyard and each of the apartments 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:23.639 had a little stair case coming down to the middle 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:26.280 of the courtyard. So it isn't like a modern day 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:30.960 you know, hallway with doors and everybody separated. This was 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:35.800 an interior courtyard, apartments doors facing each with a stoop, 0:21:35.880 --> 0:21:39.399 sort of East Coast style. Each apartment had a stoop, 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:41.760 and there was all these different lives going on at 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:44.119 each of one of those units. That's why it worked 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:48.080 beautifully for the film. But the people that lived there 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:50.639 their lives were all going on at the same time. 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:54.399 We've come into this one location and all of a sudden, 0:21:54.440 --> 0:21:57.280 who's there to greet us? Put a little kid three 0:21:57.359 --> 0:22:04.120 years old for whatever reasons, the parents are not around him. 0:22:04.240 --> 0:22:06.919 He's very tough little boy. He has been on the 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:10.560 street for a long long time. Sleepy, you would have 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:12.720 been the movie with us. He would have been the 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:14.919 movie with us. See what they're doing. It makes you 0:22:15.400 --> 0:22:19.560 sensitive towards the fact that environment is everything. You can 0:22:19.600 --> 0:22:23.119 see it. If this child was getting exposed to a person, 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:27.560 even reading a book, he would accept it. Okay, don't laugh, 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:31.360 don't laugh, whatever you do you're on cameras, don't laugha 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:34.359 he is the future gang member because he's out on 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:36.960 the streets and he sees it going on and he's 0:22:36.960 --> 0:22:42.600 attracted to it. Yeah, he was down during the riots 0:22:42.680 --> 0:22:46.440 and the nine two, like absolutely doubted in the community, 0:22:47.080 --> 0:22:52.119 talking with people, you know, absolutely so being in the neighborhood, 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:55.400 going out on the streets with Eddie, even during the scouting. 0:22:55.600 --> 0:23:02.040 It was just an amazing community engagement experience. Um I 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:06.240 didn't catch a lot of the flak that some people 0:23:06.280 --> 0:23:10.360 talk about that the film may have been stirring up. UM. 0:23:10.400 --> 0:23:14.680 I I didn't engage with that, maybe from a place 0:23:14.760 --> 0:23:17.919 of there's nothing I can do about how people are 0:23:17.920 --> 0:23:20.639 going to react to this film. I would hope that 0:23:20.720 --> 0:23:24.600 there's going to be a larger UM percentage of the 0:23:24.680 --> 0:23:27.240 global community that is going to look at this film 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:32.240 for its meaningfulness, UM, you know, for its storytelling, for 0:23:32.359 --> 0:23:37.960 its ability to be a cautionary tale. UM. But absolutely 0:23:38.160 --> 0:23:43.680 going out into the vibrant Latino community on the east 0:23:43.720 --> 0:23:47.600 side of l A during the pre production and the 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:54.080 filming of the film was maybe almost just a very 0:23:54.119 --> 0:23:59.720 inspirational UM. I keep getting flashbacks from walking through the 0:23:59.760 --> 0:24:03.399 men Gallo. There's UM and I remember Eddie at one 0:24:03.440 --> 0:24:05.840 time saying, oh my god, I could I could be 0:24:06.040 --> 0:24:08.520 I could be south of the border right now. UM, 0:24:08.560 --> 0:24:12.200 for the richness of the culture. But we're walking through 0:24:12.200 --> 0:24:15.560 a mercallo with on a final text out if you will. 0:24:16.160 --> 0:24:18.879 There was a shop that I had been looking for 0:24:19.359 --> 0:24:22.359 and I was showing it to them to for us 0:24:22.400 --> 0:24:26.679 to be able to utilize. And the people were just 0:24:26.920 --> 0:24:30.439 so enamored with Eddie, and he was so graceful and 0:24:30.480 --> 0:24:33.159 would just take time talk and say hello. It was 0:24:33.200 --> 0:24:36.560 never about him. It was always about community UM and 0:24:36.680 --> 0:24:41.600 our purpose for being there coming up. I asked Antoinette 0:24:41.600 --> 0:24:44.639 about her experience with gang consultant and murder victim and 0:24:44.720 --> 0:24:47.879