Launched!!!

Click the widget to view the Kickstarter video, Filmed and edited by Lee Peterkin.

You can become a backer for as little as $5!

Every new backer adds to the "popularity" of the project on Kickstarter, which in turn generates more support! Go for it. Take part in the insanity of ISNESS!

Thank You Circle Arts!

I cant tell you how many times this organization, and in particular Amy Shapiro, their president, came through for me during the long months of hunting down props and materials for the production.

Thanks Circle Arts!

It's A Wrap!

Image: Lelo Lourenzo

From left to right:

Back row: Lee Sebastiany, Michael Calloway, Tom Regan, Jen Storch, Amanda Ryan, Mia Bauman.

Middle row: Amy Bittner, James Allerdyce, Isabelle Thiele, Anna Kohler, Arielle Toelke, Alexandra Ceribelli.

Kneeling row: Aiden peleg, Stephanie DeLatour, Toby Levin, Catriona Rubenis-Stevens, Stavit Allweis, Nachshon Peleg, Zoola.

Front row: Emma Peleg, Kimberly Boldrini, Lelo Lourenzo.

Last Shoot. Wow! Already?

This was one strange shoot.

Knowing it was our last, I expected some sort of party atmosphere...

No such thing. It was quiet, sluggish, might I say sad?...

Toby had to jump from scene to scene catching up on missing material. Pretty demanding, considering that his scene partners were not present.

Later we popped a bottle of champagne (O.k... fizzy wine) and sat around taking turns fantasizing out loud about where we might be two years from now.

(I want to extend special thanks to my first photographer Kimberly Boldrini, who besides excellent photography, always brought her unique perspective on life to the set and offered up moments of reflection such as this one.)

Image: Lelo Lourenzo

Image: Kimberly Boldrini

Lil' & The General, A morbid Duet

The last shoot with Catriona and James and a culmination of their deep interpretation of the bizarre affair between a deluded child and a dying man.

It was also a SFX orgy as we had not 1, or 2, but 4 (!!!) wonderful artists headed by Arielle Toelke having their way with the pliable, patient James.

Shooting the duet was a messy, awkward affair but heart wrenching all the same. I can't wait to record the song to go with this one...

Image: Lelo Lourenzo

Image: Lelo Lourenzo

Image: Kimberly Boldrini

Arielle Toelke, Mia Bauman, Amanda Ryan & Michael Duggan were responsible for this man's sorry state.

On Location at Sandy Hook N.J.

Getting ready for our first and only location shoot was like packing for a very strange camping trip. Boxes were marked "Doll-Skin" "Poop" "Hunter's Gear" and such. Not your regular beach fare...

The logistics nearly blew a fuse in my brain. I know how to get 2 kids safely to the beach and back, but 8 very unique individuals was a little out of my league.

Having said this, getting away from the green screen for awhile was exhilarating.

All put up graciously with the diminished physical conditions, with the carrying of heavy gear over half a mile of muscle-wrecking sand and eating sandy food for two days.

Image: Lelo Lourenzo

Catriona didn't hold back and delivered a wildly idiosyncratic "Beach Lil'".

Image: Kimberly Boldrini

Cat and James take a break from the physically demanding work, to pose for a double portrait.

Image: Lelo Lourenzo

Alex and I rush to wrap the freezing actors after their dip in the sub zero water.

Image: Kimberly Boldrini

Lee looking awful handsome and natural in his "wilderness" setting.

You'd never guess that he was rather uncomfortable walking barefoot on ant's nests and crawling, thorny vines.

Stacking the crew to create a no-budget, on the fly crane

Last few stitches sealing James in the "doll-skin"...

James, completely stitched in.

James and Mia slipping a quick rest in before James' glamour shot

Our box-O-turds, hand made, from simple kitchen ingredients.

(Yes, they are edible and organic!)

Seeing It All From Lil's P.O.V

An intimate shoot with the oddest couple in "ISNESS".

It had been 2 months since the last shoot with Catriona and James so it felt a little like a reunion. A rather hallucinatory bizarre reunion... It was wonderful to see James, yet again, commit so fully to the character of Emily, Lil's imaginary friend. Very, very charming.

Lelo and Kim slapped the good ol' Vaseline on their lenses for that true vintage, dreamy effect.

Later Catriona re-staged Lil' coughing up the hairball at dinner, it was gross and titillating. We finally got the close ups we missed in March.

Image: Kimberly Boldrini

Enviable love.

Image: Lelo Lourenzo

The angelic James Allerdyce.

The Flashback Shoot

Flashbacks are tricky business.

In tracking back to the origins of the larger than life love affair between my leading Matriarch and Patriarch, I had to ask the actors for quite a bit. Tom was a great sport and got a hair cut just in time. Also, rambunctious sex poses were required such as would challenge any 20 year old yogi hipster (Sorry, no images of those. You'll have to buy the book!)

Image: Lelo Lourenzo

Breastfeeding and smoking. Yup. That's the 70's for ya.

Hunter Goes Glam-Rock

Lee took the challenge, left his comfort zone and committed fully to the Glam Rock archetype mixing in vanity, femininity and brazen, sexy physicality.

We all enjoyed this shoot so much.

Loud music, singing, shouting... what's not to like?

Image: Christopher Perino (Guest Photographer)

Image: Lelo Lourenzo

Watching the "Dailies"...

From left to right: Alex, Kim, Lelo and me.

Can you tell how tired we are?

Shooting the Tough Stuff

Yesterday's shoot was probably the most demanding one in the entire story, particularly for the actors.

I'm glad I saved it for later in the production. The trust and rapport we built over the last few months payed off in a huge way. Stunning, generous performances were given by Lee, Toby and Stephanie as they explored their characters' climactic moments.

Image: Lelo Lourenzo

Lars' unraveling was both beautiful and painful to watch.

It was hard to resist the urge to run onto the set and "save" him.

Image: Jen Storch

How much can you trust a recently deranged sister?

Lars will soon find out.

Image: Lelo Lourenzo

The aftermath of the explosive events in Lars' room.

We had to re-do the floor, there was so much broken glass.

Go Hunter

This was one of the first images taken yesterday and you just know, that anything starting like this, is going to end badly. The giant bottle of fake blood we bought at the beginning of the production was reduced to a few drops and one more character has been eliminated.

Where is this all going? It's looking more and more like a horror flick!... I sure hope that the B&W final product will do wonders to tone down the gore and elevate the dramatic.

Birth, Food, Sex & Death.. All in an Evening's Shoot

I don't think we ever shot so many scenes in one session as we did last night. Finished short of midnight and looked up to see Kim and Lelo's faces exhausted and drained. Moment of guilt. Stephanie and Lee who also shot were let go earlier but Anna who worked till the bitter end, just waltzed out with a bottle of wine as if her night was just starting.

She had just given us a mesmerizing performance for the butchering scene while we gawked, not knowing whether to laugh of barf.

Hiroe and Cristina had obviously done a fantastic job prepping these animals for their ghoulish death.

Image: Lelo Lourenzo

At times it looked like a magician's show, at times like opening Christmas presents and at times like a derange cooking show.

Image: Kimberly Boldrini

No comment.

Image: Lelo Lourenzo

Hiroe looking on with satisfaction as her stashed "goodies" finally see the light of day.

A Bridal Night to Remember

Stephanie and Lee gave a beautiful performance yesterday.

They were well prepared and stayed deeply entrenched in their opposing archetypes throughout.
Lee and Stephanie did all their own stunts (As if there was an option...) courageously and beautifully.

It was a pleasure to shoot them work. Watching the resulting images later was sort of heart wrenching.

Image: Kimberly Boldrini

Image: Kimberly Boldrini

Image: Kimberly Boldrini

Back on Track!

It was a very efficient shoot yesterday and a wonderful send off to the 2nd and last portion of the production.

Anna and Tom got to do most of their acting lying down (we heard no complaints there!) and Jen got to man two "light-sticks" simultaneously (Is there an industry name for a bulb on the end of a broomstick?) and tolerate the obvious arm-pain with stoic resilience.

Some may have taken away from this shoot a certain disturbing ending of the baby, incidentally made out of dough, and involving our beautiful canine starlet...

But I prefer to linger on other more benign sights such as Tom in Petro's sexy underwear dirtied so well by Alex, or Stephanie stuffing 3 joints into her mouth as the drunk Natashia...

Image: Lelo Lourenzo

Once cast, Zoola threw herself into the role of "Dog" with the passion of a true star.

Image: Lelo Lourenzo

Relaxing at MoCCA

Image: Maggie Fishman

Standing behind a table all day felt like being on vacation, compared to a shoot day... Got to talk to tons of interesting people. Sold a few books too... and promoted ISNESS shamelessly! Thanks to those of you who visited me!

APRIL 10-11 MoCCA Fest!

Taking a break from production to be at the coolest alternative comics festival in the world.

Come visit! I'll be selling my illustrated 'HEARTS IN JEOP" and promoting the graphic novel.

I'll be sharing a table with Erin Cadigan and her luscious, fantastical T-shirts and with anthropologist-turned-comic-artist Maggie Fishman. This event is a feast for the eyes and minds of anyone who lives on the words-literature-illustration-comics-film spectrum.

WWW.MOCCANY.COM for more info.

The cover of Hearts In Jeop

Postcard image and design by Lelo Lourenzo

Celebrating the Midpoint of Production With a Fine Dinner

Image by Lelo Laurenzo

The wine flowed and so did blood, tears and goulash.

We shot fast fast, I'm amazed that Lelo and Kim were able to catch what they did.

The sheer incompatibility of the family members in the story really surfaces in this scene.

The dinner marks the turning point from mere post-apocalyptic dysfunction to downright Greek tragedy.

The amazing roast-pig is the creation of the talented Hiroe Gotto who spent most of the previous night giving it the finishing touches.

The bridal makeup and hair on Stephanie DeLatour were done by Amanda Ryan and it was Mia Bauman who had the pleasure of messing up James Allerdyce yet again.

On the right is Catriona Rubenis-Stevens who gave a stellar performance as Lil'.

Finally "Hunter" In All His Glory!

Image by Kimberly Boldrini

Hunter's costumes took the longest to design. We had been through at least five "drafts" until we settled on this amalgam of wild-man-hero elements from different cultures.

Lee endured the weight and awkwardness of his additional accessories gracefully. They included 4 amazing dead animal props completed just in time by Hiroe Gotto and Cristina Atkins.

The dog was an intruder, though now we're considering casting her.

Toby and Lee Working the Bath Scene

Image by Lelo Lourenzo

It was a really special shoot. No storyboard. We relied on the knowledge and rapport we established over the last few shoots. We worked slower, making decisions as we went along.

We may have just found our modus operandi for this bastard child of film and comics. At least for now...