The Making of "The Rook" – Part One


Lesson number one: all sets are "Rashoman". Much like the Japanese classic, where the same story told by different people is completely different, what is really happening on a film, told by different people, can be completely different. Never judge others or situations on a film by how they are told to you. Too often, it is more about the reporter than the truth.

When I got to set, I immediately sought out Van, the first AD. Van was a proud man, who clearly had command of what was happening on set. He was a bit out of sorts that day, as he was getting little back-up from the office. He also was wary of me. I knew why.

As I said earlier, ADs and line producers are among the first to be replaced. He knew Carrie was going, and he assumed he would be next. As such, he looked at me as a threat. When we sat down at lunch, I made a suggestion about the schedule. He snapped at me.

Assistant directors are very protective of their schedules. They spend a long time figuring every factor, only to have someone look at it with only one factor in mind and say, "hey, why don't we do this?" I've had it happen to me, so I knew why he was testy about it. It turned out that he was right.

I soon made friends with Van and his Second, Annie. I told them that I was there to help them, t hat I could see that they knew what they were doing. I wanted to use what they knew about the movie, and see that the office was more supportive of them. I could hardly fix the office and the set by myself. I needed them. Things got better after that.

During the second week of filming, Van and I discussed a needed schedule adjustment that involved moving one of the main scenes forward by a day. I had long talks with the production designer about getting the difficult set ready in time. The night before the shoot, Eran, Van and the production designer went to the set and assured me it would be okay.

The day of the shoot, I got into the office, carrying my coffee, and was greeted with gray faces on my assistants. Eran was on set early, he wanted to talk with me, and he was angry. I called Eran on

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