Daisy Journal: Picture Night

I just got back from rehearsal. It was picture night for the Driving Miss Daisy cast. We set up in room 107 of the Communications Building on the MCCC campus. As I think I've mentioned, my brother John is the photographer and digital magician of the company. The actors get into costume and he shoots the them in front of a green screen, inserting them in to a picture of the set, or marrying their images with location shots. Tonight we worked with all three actors. It's a little early for costumes, but Diana, our Stage Manager and Costumer, worked with the cast to piece together costumes. Then Erin Penney, our make-up specialist aged the actors, including a wig for Daisy actress Even Connolly. The results were stunning. I can't wait to see what the finished pics will look like. It took quite a while. We arrived at 6:30 pm and didn't finish the pictures until almost 9:30 PM. And then we stayed for a quick blocking rehearsal that lasted until just after 10pm. It was a little stressful trying to squeeze it all in, but everyone seems to have a good time. Lonnie McCullough, who plays Boolie, is a hoot. If you've ever had the opportunity to work with him you know he's a real pleasure. Not only is he a talented actor, but he loves to have fun. Tonight he was always trying to make the other actors laugh while they were trying to have their pictures taken. Soon it became a competition between the actors to see who could get who to laugh. It kept the atmosphere light and enjoyable.

The scene we photographed is set in 1958 and centers around Daisy and Hoke getting ready for their trip to Mobile. Boolie shows up to see them off. The actor's images will be combined with photos of a vintage Cadillac that we shot last summer. As it turned out, once the pics were finished, we went on to block that very same scene. The plan is to get the picture and a press release out by next week. That would mean we'd get our publicity pics out about 6 weeks before the show. Early enough to help generate interest from newspaper editors, I hope. I'll post some pics when they're ready.