Capetown  South Africa

Hi everyone.  Reporting here from the set of Poseidon Adventure, Capetown South Africa, I wanted to do this newsletter for a while, I have been settling in.  The plane ride was pleasant, and they do everything they can to make it a lovely trip. I sat in seat 01 A  ,that is the Queens' seat. When the royal family rents the plane, thats where she sits. Yep. and I was sitting right there. I looked to see if she had a jewel or two there.I slept most of the way, took a half  an ambion, fell asleep, about 5 hours later woke up and took another 1/2 of an ambion. Fell asleep and then we were an hour away from Capetown. I woke, and there we were. We flew over the shanty towns. The rows of very poor. My driver Dino met me and Sylvia Sims who plays the Shelly Winters role. We got in the car and Amber who plays my daughter was there too. We all drove together to the apt. complex. It is a marina area, upscale and like the South Street seaport, or Baltimore Inner Harbor. Alot of the rest of Capetown looks like LA in the 50s and 60s. Even earlier. I was met by Caleb the production coordinator who showed me to my apt. It is light and airy, and looks on the marina and on The Table Mountain. It is clean and convenient. It has, T.V. and DVD, CD, a balcony, and comfortable beds, two bedrooms. I then went and met John Putch our director and he I know each other for many years. He was an actor , and a good one. He has been directing for awhile. He has a real handle on this movie. It is a big production, technical and actingwise and he is really up to this job.Its got 14 main players, and a large crew, maybe 150 to 200 people. The office was buzzing, and then I got to meet everyone at a walk through. The cast was shown the sets, and it was really thoughtful of production. This is a very well run company and I really appreciate how easy this has been. Now its up to us to act realistically in imaginary circumstances. The cast is fantastic. Sylvia Symms( big british star, even worked with Orson wells),Adam Baldwin(Full Metal Jacket, worked with Stanley Kubrick,,big guy, really good actor)),Alexa Hamilton(plays my weie, really smart actress),Bryan Brown, plays a TV producer, he is Bryan Brown!,Rutger Hauer plays a priest. a good job for him as he has played so many villians( he is a fantastic actor and lives right below me), and a lot of terrific actors from South Africa. Armand Assante is coming in to play the ship's captain, he arrives in a few weeks.)And C Thomas Howell plays the ship doctor. He and Ihave known each other a long time. He is a great guy, accomplished actor and father of three and married. He has great ideas.The sets are really A 1, and there is a set that flips 360 degrees, and doubles as the kitchen, and staterooms. The stunt people are talented in the way they handle that room. The movie is going to be really good, it has alot of energy in it. And the ship is going to be computer graphics, the exterior, that will add alot of size to the movie. I like to watch how the producers and the director are putting this together. Its a big project. Steve Squillante is the executive in charge of the production, he is here and very easy to work with. He has become a pal, and likeable and smart. a good producer to have. Mary Church is a producer, smart and strong,Frank Dobbs the second unit director has done "Gunsmoke". Its an eclectic group. The show is on schedule, and I like that I can count on it. We have done some of the water scenes. Sets filled up to our waists sometimes and it is fine. The water is even heated!  The props help the realism of the scenes and it really makes your acting chops come alive.Ive also done a scene where I get massaged so it evens out! IThe crew is very South African, very proper and lovely. The set ettiquette is a little different here. When you arrive you put your things down in your comfortable trailer, they bring you to have breakfast, not the stand up kind in the US, but a lovely sit down for the whole crew. Eggs, bacon, and delicious. Then you are picked upo,( I like to walk, I eat a little, and have oatmeal on the way in with Dino). Back to the trailer and there is a bathrobe and slippers for me to put on and go to makeup in! Is that great? ! In the US , noo bathrobe, no nothing! This is civilized filmmaking.! Then I go to makeup( I dont go for the bathrobe but I love that it is there)and there are the three makeup artists and two hairstylists! What a guy to do? I like the makeup artist I have Carla. Smart and I think she makes me look good.  Well, you'll tell me when you ses this flick. I really enjoy the set, and John is a really insightful director, able to pull you through to the real meaning of the line and the scene. I am really having a good time with this screenplay and my role, I don't get this complicated stuff often, and I am digging in and looking for my opportunities. I bought a second hand guitar and am teaching myself a little. I am listening to Sinatra, Gershwin, Simply Red, Sergio Mendes, Van Morrison, Lenny Kravitz, Bob Dylan. And the groovy Brazillike up music here on the radio.I joined a gym, but today bought some weights for the apt. It is a ride to the gym, and I like to use that time for more of a workout. Lots of people at the gym. I climbed up Table Mountain the other day . It had about 1000 steps and each was aboutv 2 feet high. It usually takes 3 hours, we did it in 1 hour. I was soaking wet with sweat. Steve Squillate and Ambor  Sainsbury who plays my daughter were my hiking buddies. Ambor is like a monkey, she was fast up those steps.There are alot of movies shooting herre, Collin Farrel, Nicholas Cage, Selma Hyeck, all shooting here. It is a comfortable place, with the dollar strong, it has good crews, could become what Toronto was in the 80s. Lots of opportunity here. It is also the ten year anniversary of the abolishment of apartheid. It is only ten years, when I look atr the faces of the people who live here I see different feelings, history. The new SA is a bright place, but the old habits are still here, but fading away. It is hard to believe that Dino and I couldn't hang out together as friends just afew years ago. Gives me a greater understanding of the civil rights movement of the 60s.There is still spoken Afrikan, and the country has 18 national languages. It is amazing to hear them all, especially at the markets and such. I have been writing a journal, and keeping up with my projects, working out, reading, Long Walk to Freedom,Nelson Mandella, Power of Partnerships by  Jon Tisch, and starting the SA novel Power of One. Lots of spare time, as I can't garden, or take Bucky for a walk from here. I appreciate this job, this location, this opportunity. And I appreciate you reading this newsletter. I'll keep writing. If you'll keep reading. From Capetown, south of the equator,  with jungle love  Steve

 

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