Horror-101

‘Beg’ Set Report 2

After a successful first visit (read my previous report here), I recently ventured back to the set of Beg, an independent slasher film shooting in my home state of Massachusetts. As soon as I arrived I was greeted with a hug by the always-kind producer Shanna MacDonald, an immediate indication of the closeness on the set. Everyone seems happy and proud to be a part of the project. Many of the cast and crew members told me that they had read my article, a nice sentiment that I appreciated. Charismatic assistant director Ari Manin even mentioned that he showed his mother the reference to his impression of her, so I’d like to extend a hello to Mrs. Manin!

The scenes shot that day took place at high school with genre favorite Tony Todd (Candyman, Final Destination) as a suspicious teacher by then name of Mr. McVay. While everything was being set up for the shoot, I hung around with principle actors Ally Tully, who plays Kaylee, the innocent new girl, Ben Boshnack, who plays Ben, her love interest, and Derek Smith, who plays Dez, the stoner. They were all friendly and fun. Sitting in an uncomfortable desk in a class room with a bunch of high school extras was like a actually being in school again. In the interim kids were coloring, throwing paper airplanes, reading, and chatting. The extras were stuck in school on a Monday holiday, but they didn’t seem to mind.

The classroom scene was great, and Todd came off as utterly creepy in his role. Just wait until you see how seductively the man can eat candy corn. He can also be very intimidating, as proven when he used his booming voice to frighten the students. He has an interesting monologue regarding the history of jack-o’-lanterns, which sounded great. It was interesting watching such a talented man work.

Also shot was a scene in which Todd is confronted by a former student with whom he is having an affair, played my Michelle Romano. It ends with a kiss before Romano’s character gets choked up against a car and runs away in fear. Once again Todd came off as eloquently intense. They did a couple takes of this scene through the reverse car window. Although it technically breaks the 180 rule, it looked fantastic when I saw it on the monitor later.

I spent about seven hours on set and only two full scenes were completed, but the classroom part took a long time due to all of the angel changes and shots needed to make everything look perfect. Tony Moran (Halloween) was also on hand — decked out in his detective uniform — for filming later in the night, but I had to say goodbye prior to seeing his parts. Also on hand were the nice guys from Scars Magazine, who were fun to crack jokes with during down time.

Moran also informed me that Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes, The Devil’s Rejects) had agreed to appear in the film in a role for which he would be ideal. This cast is shaping up to be a horror fan’s dream, and I’m very proud to say that I got to experience some of it first hand. Director Kevin MacDonald said that he hopes to have the film, which is being edited as its shot, completed by the end of January at the latest. As always, we will be keeping you updated, and you can visit the film’s Myspace for further information. Lastly, be sure to check out the rest of my pictures here.

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