Production - "The Box"

Interestingly production of “The Box” has actually started, even though there’s no budget, no sets or costumes and the full cast isn’t in place. Since my character speaks most of his lines off screen I went ahead and recorded my performance for the entire movie! I think it turned out as sort of a cross between ‘Hannibal Lecter’ and ‘HAL’ from “2001” with a dash of any ‘Number Two’ from “The Prisoner” thrown in for good measure.

Obviously there will be much more to say once the cameras actually start rolling, but for the record, (no pun intended) we’re already underway!

Scott Freiheit

5/31/08 UPDATE:

For four years I had a definite idea of what my character was supposed to sound like and recorded all of his off screen lines but later I came to realize that my interpretation was probably not the best choice. I’m afraid that the soothing, flat, monotone delivery will be too “boring” in a film where only my voice is heard and I have no opportunity for facial expression or body language. So I dove in and re-recorded all of my lines with a totally different approach. This time my character is quite big, almost jovial and very theatrical. I conceptualized it as sort of a Medieval king interrogating a prisoner from a foreign land. I think it will allow Randy the chance to “spar” with me verbally and hopefully keep the audience a bit more entertained. Leon McKern, my favorite “Number 2” from “The Prisoner” series was a huge influence. Having recorded all of my lines in advance, I put it on a CD with space for Randy to say his lines so he’s got a unique rehearsal tool to work with.

Rob brought up a very good point yesterday about the fact that we’ll be shooting in this little black box in the middle of summer so we need to figure out some way to keep the temperature down. He’s right; it’s going to get damn hot in there. I was shooting a medical training video in a similar environment a few weeks ago and almost passed out from the heat. (Fortunately there was a nurse on the set for that one so it probably wouldn’t have killed me!) We don’t have a brilliant solution yet but I’m glad he thought of it now while we have some time to figure it out.