To Hard?

Perhaps, in previous posts, I was a bit too critical of David Carradine. Certainly, many people had pleasant experiences meeting the actor, and it is entirely possible that, as intimated in the Cape Cod Times recently, he was only "staying in character" at the recent book signing and by appearing to imbibe copiously on numerous occasions. Bottom line, it doesn't really matter; he and his fellow actors and crew members provided the town with an experience we're likely to remember for quite a while.

New Breach?

As I write this, on Sunday, April 22, the new break in North Beach approximately opposite Scatteree remains open. However, it may be even more tenuous than was initially thought. I went by at low tide late this morning and, from the vantage point of the mainland, it appeared to be shoaling over already. Distance and relative height can be deceiving, however, and it may be that the tidal delta along the inner beach is dry at low tide and is hiding the flow between the bay and the Atlantic. There was water within what looked like a 50-foot gap in the beach, but whether or not it was flowing wasn't clear. I'll know more tomorrow when I talk to more folks and see some aerial photos.

Again, bottom line, there's no telling at this point if the new break will become permanent or heal. It could go either way, but in the past, similar breaches have remained open for weeks or months and then closed. So I won't be placing any bets.

What's The Issue?

There's a three-person race for selectman in Chatham. The May 17 election is a month away. So far there has been little said about the race, which pits two incumbents, David Whitcomb and Ron Bergstrom, against challenger Leonard Sussman.

During the next few weeks, there will be profiles published and at least one debate, scheduled for May 2 at the Eldredge Public Library. Which issues will come to the fore? Is the town running smoothly, or is there room for improvement? Is the current board too soft on development? Should selectmen push harder for zoning revisions? Did the board bungle the zoning bylaw rewrite?

What do you think should be an issue in this race? What question would you like to ask the candidates?

Post your answers here. We'll link this to The Chronicle's website and try to get a discussion going.

Final Word On 'Chatham'

OK, last post about the movie "Chatham." Really.

A bit more digging today has turned up some more interesting stories about the antics of the film's major actors. Look for a report in this week's Chronicle of a more general nature, but here's some of the stuff that I won't be putting in the paper.

Carradine's little performance at Yellow Umbrella Books was apparently even more sensational than I'd realized. He did make folks buy his "Kill Bill" book before signing copies of "Cap'n Eri." He was (apparently) quite intoxicated. He left a sour taste in many people's mouths.

On Sunday, on his way out of town, Carradine reportedly stopped by The Squire, ordered a drink, and toasted the town. Perhaps that made up for some of his antics. Maybe not.

Carradine was certainly the most colorful cast member. A regular at The Squire, he was never kicked out of the restaurant despite rumors to the contrary. There was an incident early on where he lit up a smoke in the dining room while having dinner with director Dan Adams. When a freaked out waitress appealed to Otis for help, he went in the back and got a fire extinguisher. He went up to the table and told Carradine to put out the smoke (can't remember if it was a cigar or cigarette) or he'd use the extinguisher. "Do you want to die?" Carradine reported. "I figure I can get off one good blast before you can get out from behind that table," Otis replied. A standoff. Tension. Then Carradine caves, and snuffs out the smoke.

Despite all that, Carradine genuinely appears to have invested a lot in this film. He reportedly hired someone to video tape things behind the scene. Perhaps he believes this will be a big acting break for him, getting him out of genre roles and into more mainstream, leading man type roles. At 70, it may be a bit late. But I have to admit the guy has paid his dues (has anyone seen "Sonny Boy" or "Evil Toons" or "Waxworks II?") and does deserve some recognition among larger audiences.

That said, he will be remembered in Chatham. Bruce Dern and Rip Torn were more low-key. Torn was apparently enamored of shellfishing. One story has him totting his clam rake around the set, not because he needed it as a prop but because he didn't want to lose it. Dern was visible but I heard no real scuttlebutt about his off screen activities.

As I mentioned in previous posts, Jason Alan Smith charmed many people with his Southern manners and self-effacing personality. One local shop owner told me that he gave copies of his book of photos to the cast and crew, and only Jason stopped by the store. Smith also attended the memorial service for Wendy Costello, wife of the owner of The Squire, even though he'd only been in town a short time and had only barely met Richard. He's a young guy and has a big, possibly important career ahead of him, and to his credit didn't burn any bridges.

OK, enough about the movie. Read more if you like in this week's paper, where there will also be a story about how the film has boosted, at least locally, the reputation of Joseph C. Lincoln, the long-dead novelists whose book serves as the template for "Chatham."

Next time, I promise to get into some town politics, and will henceforth try to make regular postings and give Chronicle readers an opportunity to sound off about local issues.

Star Struck In Chatham

"Chatham" has wrapped filming. The final shots were done early Saturday morning, April 14, and involved the burning of the pool hall that forms one of the film's central plot elements. After the early week filming of numerous scenes in front of the block between the hardware store and Seaview Street, which was dressed to sort of resemble 1905 (see a slideshow of the shoot here), the sand was swept up and the modern signs and awnings were back in place.Ending filming didn't quite end the sort of minor league hysteria that's gripped the town for the past few weeks.

On Saturday afternoon, "Chatham" star David Carradine was slated to hold a book signing downtown. He was late for the 1 p.m. event; word on the street is that the book store owner had to cross the street to the Wayside Inn, wake the actor and escort him over to the store. By that time there was a line of people down the street waiting to get signed copies of Carradine's "Kill Bill Diaries" and the book upon which the "Chatham" movie is based, Joseph C. Lincoln's "Cap'n Eri." Carradine duly signed books, sitting at a stool and smoking away. He reportedly became testy when folks brought in their own copies of the Lincoln book or didn't want his book. I showed up about 4:30 p.m., expecting him to be gone. I'd requested two signed copies of "Kill Bill" the previous day because I knew I couldn't get downtown by 3 p.m. He was still there, and seemed a bit, shall we say, unsteady. I greeted him and reminded him that we'd spoke earlier in the week on the set, but he just looked at me with rheumy eyes, asked my name again and added above his signature on the book in front of him. We'd actually met three times; once briefly at the shanties at Barn Hill, once at the graveyard shoot (see photo right) where he regaled me with stories, and earlier in the week. He was least garrulous on Tuesday, when I introduced myself as a reporter and asked some official, though softball, questions. Apparently I rated more conversation as a civilian. Maybe that's the Hollywood mentality.

What are people in Chatham going to talk about now that the cast and crew of the film have left town? The past month and a half have generated more than enough stories to keep people going until the summer arrives. Many of the stories involve the exploits of Carradine, although Bruce Dern and Rip Torn pop up now and again. Mariel Hemingway didn't mix much with the locals, although she surfaced in a shop here or walking along the beach there. Jason Alan Smith impressed people with his Southern manners and genuine interest in local people and places. He seemed a bit more down to earth than many of the others. I had several chats with him (see photo right) and found him engaging. He seemed to feel he could relax here and not have to worry about most people giving him the gawking treatment. Most people. Not all. And he answered my questions in full, coherent sentences.

More to come...

'Chatham' Makes A Splash

"Chatham," the movie, is making a big splash in Chatham, the town on Cape Cod. Whether it's filming at the Oyster River shanties or one of the actors being asked to leave The Squire, the production has spiced up the usual drab time of March and early April, given residents something to talk about other than the unsightly appearance of the new community center or the seemingly endless series of road closures and detours.

I've written a few stories about "Chatham" for The Chronicle, going back to January when I did a front page piece announcing the production. This Tuesday, I spent a morning watching the cast and crew film a scene in Seaside Cemetery --- coincidentally, right across the street from my office --- and took some of the photos you see here (more can be found in a slideshow here). I'd already written the sort of "on location" story about the film the previous week, when I spent time on the set at the Oyster River Pirate Co. shanty at the end of Barn Hill Road. This week, my story was about a local resident who was serving as set decorator for the film. But I saw and heard more on Tuesday, and thought I'd post it here for those who are interested.

I spent some time talking to the guys in charge of the horses and livery; they were from Connecticut and brought with them a horse drawn hearse dating from the 1800s. They'd been in numerous films, including Amistad. Poor guys spent the entire cold, damp day standing there as background for the burial scene.

Some background for those not familiar with "Chatham." It's based on "Cap'n Eri," a book by Joseph C. Lincoln, a best-selling author in the early 1900 who lived part-time in Chatham. The story revolves around three retired sea captains, played by David Carradine, Bruce Dern and Rip Torn, who are sick of their sloppy ways and each other's horrible cooking. They decide to advertise for a bride for one of them to marry, so someone else can do the cooking and cleaning. Enter Mariel Hemmingway. A love triangle develops, and there's more plot elements along the way, including a temperance movement that culminates in the burning down of a pool hall that opens up in town (that's being filmed next week behind Chatham Hardware). Charles Durning plays a fourth sea captain who is the leader of the temperance movement. It's his funeral the rest of the cast was attending in the scene filmed this week.

After spending hours decorating the cemetery, positioning extras, setting up the camera, and making sure no headstones dated later than 1905 (the time of the story) were in shot, writer and director Dan Adams finally yelled "Action." About five takes of a longshot of the scene of a minister (played by singer Jonathan Edwards) saying a few words over the grave, with the rest of the characters, including Tony-award winning actress and Chatham resident Julie Harris, standing by silent and grim.

During a break while the crew set up for a medium closeup, I had a chance to wander among the actors, talking to some locals playing extras, saying hello to Ms. Harris (whom I've met numerous times though she never remembers me; not that I fault her for that, she's in her 80s and had a stroke or two). She was gallantly escorted in both the scene and off-camera by young actor Jason Alan Smith, who helped her to a chair and got her coffee like a proper southern gentleman. He told me he was from a town near New Orleans, and so the dampness of the weather was familiar to him, though it was a bit colder than he would have liked it. "I'm too used to living in Los Angeles," he said.

I cornered David Carradine as he puffed one of his ever present cigarettes, which he keeps in a rather stylish case I suspect is his and not a film prop. I'd spoke with him briefly at the shanty shoot, when he asked if my newspaper had a crossword puzzle and what service it came from. Then he asked if we had comics, which precipitated a discussion about comics and comic books, with him telling me all about a 1940s comic he fondly remembered called Supersnipe.

Knowing his interest in comics, I asked him a question someone else had asked me: how much input did he have to the Superman speech in Kill Bill. He told me a long story about sitting up late one night with Quentin Tarantino in a parlor of a hotel in China during the filming of the movie. Someone had said something about Christopher Reeve being a poor Superman but a great Clark Kent. That sparked a discussion along those lines. The next day, Tarantino had the speech written. It was a great story, Carradine's point being how much Tarantino was willing to trust his actors and use them to feed the film.

The opposite, Carradine said, of Ingmar Bergman, who controlled everything. "He'd slap your hand," Carradine said, slapping my hand, "and tell you to look this way," he grabbed my jaw and shoved my had to the side. Once, Bergman sat down right next to the camera during a close up and said, "So what kind of expressions are we going to make today," Carradine said. "I didn't move a f****** muscle," he said. "And then everything was fine."

At that point, Carradine was called for the shot and I had to go back to my office. It was deadline day, unfortunately, and the end of that day's Hollywood encounter.

Previously I'd spoke when Bruce Dern, who walked about how brave he thought director Dan Adams was for filming a movie on his home turf. Dern said he'd never been to the Cape --- Newport to film Great Gatsby being the closest he'd come --- but that like everyone else, had his own concept of the place. He said he was enjoying his time here.

I won't get into the gossip here, at least not yet. There are stories around town of Carradine being asked to leave the Squire for lighting up a cigar (it was actually Christians, reportedly), of Hemmingway being rather aloof, and of Smith dating one of the Squire bartenders (not true). Perhaps more of that will surface later.

Look for more postings soon. And let me know your experiences with the "Chatham" phenomenon. Hey, it beats writing about zoning.