by Sharon Delaney
The Chakram Newsletter: Issue 24
Diamonds and Guns
Produced by Dawn Higginbotham and Helena Beaven
Written by Dawn Higginbotham
Story by Dawn Higginbotham and Helena Beaven
Directed by Chris Dollard
Renee has just finished filming an independent feature film called Diamonds and Guns. We're going to be filming an interview with her for the next fan club kit where we'll go into more depth about the movie, but I wanted to give everyone a peek at the “Coming Attractions.” So pull up a chair, some popcorn and a warm soda and let's begin.
I thought I'd open with the fact that I keep calling this movie “Kittens” because of the first conversation I had with Renee about it. “Do you remember what you told me?” I asked. “Why I keep calling this movie ‘Kittens’?”
Renee chuckled. “The character I play, Ashley, is a dancer who drags her friend with her to Vegas because she has an audition to play a ‘cat.’ She thinks she’s auditioning for a production of the Broadway musical. The show turns out to be ‘Kittens.’ She's horrified by the fact this isn’t exactly what she had in mind, but there are a lot of other obstacles along the way before she even gets to that point. Like food poisoning.”
“You passed the word along that you play a lady who gets food poisoning or is high on valium for most of the film,” I said.
“It was so funny,” Renee explained. “She has these great moments where she’s off the wall. I thought I was going to get an opportunity to play my version of the movie Blind Date, you know, the Kim Bassinger movie? But, as it turned out, my character has to have a really quick recovery so we decided she would be goofy, but she recovers quickly.”
“You were looking for ninety minutes of henbane?” I teased, making reference to Gabrielle getting high in the episode “Altared States.”
“Oh yeah!” she chirped. “I was having such a good time and I thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be perfect.’ Stumbling through the halls of the Riveria casino.”
“You actually filmed inside the casino?” I queried.
“We did - in the wedding chapel, the hallways, the banquet center.” Renee rattled off the locations they'd made use of.
“This movie is being filmed digitally. Is the setup as big as regular cameras? Are you as intrusive, for instance, in the hallways of the hotel? Or is everything more compact?” I asked, knowing Renee's interest in all aspects of filming.
“I've been doing a lot of research on digital the last couple years since Xena finished,” she began. “Cinematographers seem to think the actual lighting setups are the same as if you were shooting on film, so you'd use the same equipment. But, on the other hand, most people shoot on digital because they don't have the money to afford all the equipment. They need to find ways to beat the budget. And that was our situation. We knew what sort of look we wanted and then we had to try to find the minimal amount of lights they could afford to get some sort of cinematic look. I think they did a good job.
“I brought in the cinematographer,” Renee added, “and we did all this research on lighting and makeup. The differences between shooting on film versus video.”
“You brought in the cinematographer?” I queried.
“Yeah, Donnie Duncan. He shot Xena for about five years. He flew in from New Zealand. It was fun working with him again,” she said with a smile in her voice. “I ended up being an executive producer on this, actually. What happened is, I kept offering help and whatever experience I had that might be useful.”
“You sent me a message that read: ‘Remind me to tell you about my new job as a makeup artist. I now do both hair and makeup for men and women!’” I quoted.
“What was so unique about this film is that it was a large ensemble cast and a small crew. There were maybe 20, 25 of us and we became a family because everyone realized we had very limited resources,” she began. “Everyone had to chip in and help out. It was like this team sport. Everyone was filling in the gaps. The makeup artist they had asked to commit herself to this film bailed out on the first day - the last day of pre-production, the first day of filming. So we were left without a makeup artist. Basically, everyone started rummaging through their purses trying to find something to put on the actors,” Renee laughed heartily.
“And you had the purse with the most makeup in it?” I teased.
“Yeah, exactly,” she lobbed right back at me. “No, actually, the opposite. I didn't bring anything. Helena went to buy some makeup for all the actors and I just started applying it to whoever had to go up to camera first. Next thing you know, Renee O'Connor, makeup artist, was born!”
“I would have looked around and tried to see who was wearing the best makeup. ‘Okay, you're it. You know how to put it on,’” I suggested cheekily.
“That's a good idea,” she said, tucking it away for future reference. The director in Renee is never far away. “First we had our great lady who was assigned to be the art director try doing the makeup. Unfortunately, one of the lead actors ended up looking like a ghost!”
“There aren’t any ghosts in the movie?” I laughed.
“No. He wasn’t supposed to look like a ghost, just a bit pale,” she laughed. “In his first scene, fortunately for us, he was supposed to be nauseous and feeling sick. So it sort of worked. That's the theme of this movie. There were many obstacles, but everything works out for the best. And we all had such a good time.”
“Is this the first time you've done a film shot with a digital camera?” I asked.
“Yes,” she answered. “And I have no idea what it's going to look like. It was looking a little like video, which it is. I was worried we weren't going to get that cinematic look we were hoping for. But then, you can change the whole look of a digital film in post production because you can color process it. So it can become absolutely gorgeous.”
“Xena was edited on a computer, but that’s not the same thing as shooting with digital, is it?” I queried.
“No. Xena was filmed on 35mm film. They lock in the look of the show on film and then they take it to digital format to edit it. But then they send it back to the film,” Renee explained. “So anything we create on the set is what you're gonna see. Whereas with digital, it's the complete opposite. You create a really bland atmosphere, as neutral as possible. That way you get all the information you can on the computer chip. Then you take it, edit it, and afterwards, when you have your finished film, then you go and color process it. You can do anything you want which is incredible,” she said, her voice filled with anticipation. I suspect Renee's looking forward to trying this out herself someday.
She continued. “That’s why I have no idea what it's going to look like. The other thing is that this was our director's first feature even though he's shot a couple short films before. This is my first time working with him and there were many times I thought, ‘Oh, I wonder if he's getting enough coverage?’” Renee laughed as she recounted keeping her director's instincts at bay. “I just had to keep my mouth shut and be the actor and do what I need to do.
“But I was so pleased with his confidence level,” she added. “When he thought he had the scene, he moved on. Jed Sura, who plays a guy named Francis, and I rehearsed quite a bit. Basically, we had these one-take scenes and we just nailed them on the first take. Chris, the director, would say, ‘Okay, I'm moving on.’ Jed and I would look at each other in fear. ‘Did we get it right?’ ‘It can’t be right in only one take!’” she laughed, imitating their panic. “It was really fun. It was like a little theatre troupe.”
“Can you give me the plot in a nutshell?” I asked.
“The movie is a romantic comedy about two ladies who end up in Las Vegas and find true love,” Renee began. “One's an American, the other's a New Zealander.”
I interrupted as the inevitable question popped into my head “And you play…”
“...the American. Everyone asks me that,” Renee laughed. “‘You could be doing an accent,’ people say when I wonder why they don't just assume I'm playing the American.” I could see her mentally shaking her head in bemusement.
Back to the plot, Renee continues. “Bria, the New Zealander, played by Helena Beaven, is about to be deported and is trying to stay in the United States. She ends up marrying Francis who's the son of a casino owner. But Francis is engaged to be married the next day to the daughter of a rival casino owner. That's where you get the Romeo and Juliet quality.”
“The casino owners as the Montagues and Capulets?” I asked.
“Right,” Renee said. “They're trying to create a truce by marrying the son and the daughter. However, they're absolutely wrong for each other. Francis marries Bria so she can stay in the country. But she's afraid because his family is like the Italian Mafioso and they send their henchmen after her. Bria then falls for the head henchman,” Renee says, laughing.
My brain feels like a ping-pong ball trying to keep up with all these comings and goings. “It sounds like a French farce - people going in and out of different rooms - hiding from one person and trying to find another,” I laughed.
“Exactly, that’s what I kept referring to it as,” Renee chimed in enthusiastically. Then she went on with the plot. “In the meantime, my character gets food poisoning. I go to see a male nurse. Guess who it is? Francis! He helps me feel better and I fall in love with him.”
Now that we had the plot settled - and my appetite was whetted to see this all in motion, I asked Renee why she chose this script out of all the ones she'd been looking at.
“It was one of the funniest scripts I'd read in a long time. And I'm in a wonderful position where I can help someone out because I think the script should be made,” she said matter-of-factly. "This is what I've always dreamed of doing, getting more involved in the producer’s role, and acting as well, where I will have more control of my own projects. And the tenacity of these two ladies - Dawn and Helena - is very inspiring. They have this great energy about them. They complement each other, too. One's a writer, the other an actor, but yet they're both producing their first feature film. I got sucked up into their energy and just had the best time.”
“Are they both from New Zealand?” I asked.
“Helena's a New Zealander and Dawn's an American,” Renee said. “They met while producing a short film together. Helena read this book by Robert Rodriquez, Rebel Without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player, and used his advice. She started the idea for the movie with a location - she had the opportunity to film in a casino. She went to Dawn and they started brainstorming and Dawn wrote the script. A kind of backward way of going about it. Well, backward to me because I'd never heard of anything else except Xena where you start with the characters and they can go anywhere they want. It's completely opposite - starting with the location,” Renee said with a chuckle.
“Like thinking, ‘I've got a hotel, let's see who lives in it and what stories they have to share with us,” I said thinking this over.
“Exactly,” Renee said.
“By the way, speaking of people with stories to tell. I hear you're a blonde again,” I said.
“Yes, I'm a blonde," Renee laughed. "I was asked by the producers of Extreme Reality, a movie I'm going to be starting in the fall, if I'd be a blonde in that film. I said sure, but I had to do it in stages otherwise I'm gonna fry my hair. I went to the hairdresser and said, ‘It's really dark, but could you put some highlights in and I'll just keep coming back until I'm a blonde?’”
There was a pregnant pause and then she said, “I ended up with white hair and orange streaks! Trying to look on the bright side, I thought, ‘It's kinda appropriate since I’m going to the comic book convention, but…”
“You figured you’d fit in with the X-Men and mutants?” I teased.
“The mutant lady,” Renee giggled. “And then she made me lemon-head. Lemon-orange woman! I went back and said, ‘Know what, maybe we should just tone it down a little bit?’ So I ended up a blonde.”
“Were you sitting in that chair all day?” I asked sympathetically.
“Not quite, but more than I wanted to be. I had a good book,” she said ruefully. “So I'm gonna stay blonde for a while. The only reason I'll go back to red is if I end up doing a Diamonds and Guns sequel… and they already have the script for it,” she said happily. “The girls go to Mexico.”
“You’re starting a 'Road' series,” I said laughing. “Are you Bob Hope or Bing Crosby?”
Renee thought for a minute. “I'm Bing Crosby.”
“Oh, my God, you're the one that sings?” I said in mock horror as I teased Renee about her singing prowess - which, having heard Renee sing “Son of a Preacher Man” on a streetcorner, I firmly believe is highly underrated.
“No, I'm the dancer,” Renee laughed good-naturedly. “I think it's going to be a serial where these two ladies end up in different places.”
“You dance in the movie?” I said. Now, this was getting very interesting. Her dancing skills have been noted by all.
“I do dance in it. Not very well,” she said modestly.
“What do you mean not very well?! You'd have to work hard not to dance well,” I said, quoting Lucy.
“I don't know about that,” she chuckled. “We were flying through the material. It was almost like we were on a TV shoot because we were filming at least 10 pages a day which is crazy. My character, Ashley, is supposed to audition for ‘Kittens.’ I had this great elaborate sequence worked out with a choreographer friend of mine and I forgot the whole thing!” She burst out laughing. “It was only two takes so I just boogied.”
Now that the Coming Attractions are over, I don’t want to see any candy wrappers on the floor or Raisinettes rolling down the aisles and don’t forget to mop up the spilled soda.