21 Days: ‘Judas Kiss’ Day 3

For 21 days, we’ll be re-living the process — day by day — that brought Judas Kiss to life during principal photography two years ago, with reminisces from the creative team, behind-the-scenes photos and video clips. Please share your own memories (if you were part of the cast or crew), or observations (if you’re a viewer) along the way on our Facebook page.

Day Three: Topher’s Pool Party

BIG SET The third day of shooting was one of our biggest, with dozens of extras and a crew of 35. (Photos by Shawn Anderson)

MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 2010 After a successful first two days of shooting on Friday and Saturday in a studio, and a day off on Sunday, we moved to our first outdoor location, a cliffside home for a pool party overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

The opening scenes of Judas Kiss, a swanky poolside Hollywood party, are set at the home of filmmaker Topher Shadoe (Troy Fischnaller), best friend of Zachary Wells (Charlie David), the main character.

Day 3 was the first day on set for our star, Charlie David.

“It was also our first big day with extras,” recalled director J.T. Tepnapa. “I introduced myself to all the extras and sat with them while the crew set up all the props, costumes and lighting.”

EXTRAS If you look carefully at the background players at the party, you’ll see many of them throughout the film. Some of them are also crew members, like Joël Bellucci, our visual effects supervisor, and Tellier Killaby, our unit production manager.

In the film, the party is a celebration for the upcoming production of Topher’s next film, Blood and Barcelona, complete with a big chocolate cake. Topher is well known for making films with “blood” in the title, and you’ll see posters for a couple of them inside his house on Day 4.

“The Blood and Barcelona cake looked delicious!” J.T. remembered, “But like so many things in the movies, what looks good isn’t always good for you. The cake was filled with chemicals to keep it from melting in the August sun.”

See the Blood and Barcelona cake in this “Behind the Scenes” short.

“You get a good look at the cake in the film,” Carlos reminisced. “Our little visual joke was that even with dozens of people at the party, only a few slices were eaten because everyone in Hollywood is obsessed with their weight.”

BLOODY MOVIES As part of pre-production, J.T. and writer-producer Carlos Pedraza invented a dozen movie titles with “blood” in them, and handed them over to our talented production designer, Rodrigo DeMedeiros, who did a photoshoot with Seattle model Stephen Mitchell that resulted in two movie posters.

Rodrigo’s job was making a ranch home in North Seattle look like a stylish California home overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Puget Sound substitutes for the ocean.

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY David Berry (left) prepares to shoot Topher’s pool party on Day 3 of Judas Kiss. (Also pictured, from left: sound operator Alex Ibrahim, camera assistant Alan Certeza and first camera assistant Cynthia Lin)

The home was graciously provided by the Chens, parents of one of our producers, who turned over the whole place to our cast and crew. The garage became the makeup room. Bathrooms became dressing rooms. The garden was our green room.

As you’ll see tomorrow, on Day 4, their living room became Topher’s basement music studio.

UP ON THE ROOF Their rooftop bookends the beginning and ending of entire movie, as we discover Zach’s obsession with roofs. J.T. himself was obsessed with the scissor lift we rented to shoot the rooftop scenes.

As you can see in the behind-the-scenes video, we ran the risk of having the very heavy scissor life sink into the soft ground of the Chens’ lawn. Some wooden boards came to our rescue.

Additional Photos

SEAN LOCKHART visits the set to support his fellow cast members, even though he doesn’t appear in the scenes we shot on Day 3.

AT THE READY Makeup artist Anne Sellery always had her brushes at the ready for any required touchups on set. The hot day ensured she had plenty of work.