Here are seven things I saw which helped me know Joel and Ethan Coen were at Normandale Community College shooting scenes for their next film, A Serious Man, all last week:
1. A scissor lift outside my faculty office window, probably getting that “through the window” shot.
2. Catering trucks in the parking lot (the company was from California).
3. A couple of Fresnel lights on tripods in the outdoor courtyard. Oh, and a ton of cables.
4. Several production assistants with radios and clipboards roaming the halls with determined looks on their faces.
5. A meeting room off the cafeteria set up to be a make-up room. It was guarded by guys at a table talking and drinking coffee.
6. Carpenters building a fake wall in the back room of the library. And I should note, I would not have seen this if I hadn’t needed to go back to a librarian’s desk to look at computer lab scheduling. Basically, #6 was a privilege.
7. An email from the college explaining that the Coen Brothers were on campus shooting scenes for a movie.
Here are seven things I did not see which did not help me know Joel and Ethan Coen were at Normandale Community College shooting scenes for their next film, A Serious Man, all last week
1. Joel Coen.
2. Ethan Coen.
3. Joel and/or Ethan Coen reading my screenplay.
4. Joel and/or Ethan Coen asking me to be in their movie.
5. Francis McDormand.
6. Joel and/or Ethan Coen laughing at my impression of The Dude from The Big Lebowski. My impression, by the way, includes a spot-on interpretation of body language and vocal expression but I still don’t look like Jeff Bridges.
7. Cameras. Not a single one. I thought that was kinda weird.
-nm