4.5 - Addendum

So as a supplement to the most recent installment...may i present Installment 4.5 (apologies BSG).

Taxi Ballad: A Few Frames

(Click on the picture to get the big version)

It's about a Lebanese Taxi driver, Yousef, who meets an American woman, Jordan, living in Beirut.

However Yousef keeps getting himself into trouble. He's rather antagonistic in the first half of the movie and gets into arguments with people such as this guy.

He does have a vivid imagination, however, recalling stories from his youth. Such as the theft of a car by this guy:

Beirut is quite photogenic.

Our taxi driver flashes back to his youth, recalling how he wanted to be a singer. His mother and aunt find him spellbinding, but he's wonderfully awful in actuality.


The young Yousef cheers on his idol in an arm wrestling match.


Grown up Yousef even goes so far as to try a pseudo yoga class to be around Jordan.


Some bonding at the dance club.


There's also the matter of the ex-girlfriend. She dumps him early on, realizing he's not going anywhere she wants to be.


But there's more American-Lebanese bonding at dinner one night.

So - there you go. Just a few examples of what it is i'm actually here to do.

Next up (I promise): Visitors to Lebanon

I guess that's one way to do it...

The movie has been renamed - Blood Taxi has become Taxi Ballad.

There was great excitement from our Lebanon crew to meet our American lead actress Karina. Here she is:

By the end of her two weeks here most every Lebanese man on the crew had a big crush on her. Note for American women...Lebanese men like you!

As you might suspect the movie on some level concerns a taxi cab. Our "hero" car is a 1960 Mercedes Ponton, or something...what do i know about cars. However, I do know that it's very pretty.

Unfortunately, our poor Ponton (whatever a ponton is...) has some problems.

On our first day, in the first hour of production we managed to break off the Mercedes emblem. 49 years with it and it takes us one hour.

Nevertheless we persevered - starting with shots of our two lead actors driving about Beirut.

Checking footage from the front mount. The guy to the right is the gaffer Michel. And to the left, in the sweater, is the producer Walid.

After a smooth few blocks the car breaks down. This would become a recurrent theme.

Nevertheless - after a push we're off again. Samer, our sound guy, hid in the trunk for the wide shots.

There are a variety of differences between making a movie in the US and in Lebanon:

1)In Lebanon, nothing happens quickly. In the US because of rental procedure it's important to make a movie as quickly as possible. Here a movie which would be shot in 3-4 weeks in the US will take us over two months. What this means for me - lots of time off. I'll talk more about this in my next installment.

2) What makes the slow pace of work here difficult is that, on a daily level, we continue working and working. Let me tell you, nothing makes you appreciate unions and what they've done for workers like working where there are none. Though I've tried to introduce the idea of a 12 hour day to production, it's an uphill battle. You shoot til you're done and there's no overtime pay for the crew.

After 19 hours of shooting:

Overall, things started pretty slowly and the first six days of shooting gave me cause for concern. However - things have gotten better, i'm hoping the trend continues.

One thing which certainly helped the crew's morale...the Ladies of Red Bull arrived!!! I must admit, I didn't see that one coming.

We shot 8 of 9 "days" at night. Shooting during the day is much, much better!

Daniel the director, myself and Cynthia the first assistant director.

It's also been raining a fair amount. Our production designer Nasri and his big umbrella:

One of the most important people on the production team is Adnan. He's one of those guys who doesn't have a specific title, but is somehow vital to every aspect of production. He reminds me of Paulie Walnuts...for many reasons, not the least of which is his fantastic fashion sense:

Anyway, production continues...and stops....and continues...and stops. I'm going to be here til May i've concluded.

Next time: Visitors to Lebanon