Hey everyone!
I’m back in Kokomo having officially completed and starred in a feature length film. That’s something that I’ve never thought that I’d be able to say about myself, but it happened and I’m proud of it!
For any of you that haven’t read any of the previous blog posts about Spiral Drive, let me recap what the plot is about a little bit. The story follows two friends who are on a road trip out to L.A. to move here for the entertainment industry. Will, played by Erik Fitzpatrick, is headed to Hollywood to work for a production company as an assistant editor. Evan, played by me, is still hoping to break into the acting industry, but has yet to star in any kind of role. The thing is though, neither of these characters make it to L.A. because they end up trapped in the woods after attempting to take a detour through the mountains of Tennessee.
I said in the last blog that I’d bring some pictures when I updated and I’m here to deliver! Want to see part one? click here!
First up is the spider web.
The amount of spiders in these woods was staggering. I can not even count how many times I ran into spider webs during this movie shoot. It really added another layer to the creepiness factor of the movie. Our characters are trapped out in the woods at night, and since it’s incredibly dark out there, some of the fear that we express in the film is genuine. No idea if any spiders got on me but… I don’t even really want to think about it.
Next up is the hand. Pretty creepy right? There were three of them total all on different sides of a tree out in the woods. In each hand was a candle that would dimly light the surroundings. Beyond the hands were pathways that were marked by different pinecone shapes.
There were a lot of spirals in the movie, hence the name spiral drive that symbolized that we were getting further and further into a never ending maze. As cool as the pine cones looked out in the woods… it was super easy to accidentally step on them. By the end of the shoot Erik and I both stepped on all of them on accident.
This is an old post office located at the Museum of the Waxhaws in Waxhaw, NC. I feel like I heard that it was made in the 1700s but I can’t confirm that for sure. It was super creepy at night and made for a great location to shoot one of the most impactful moments of the film (fyi, the orange tape fencing was removed for the film).
Saved one of the best moments for last. So this picture was taken at a key location in the film. To get to this location you had to drive off this side road that I’m not even sure I can classify as a real road. You had to pass a super creepy abandoned shack/house/trailer/something. The funniest thing about this location is that on our last day of shooting here, our battery died in our vehicle. We thought we were legitimately trapped out here, which is ironic because that’s essentially the plot of the movie. We were out in these woods most of the night trying to find a solution on how to get out, when fortunately Erik’s girlfriend brought her four-wheel drive vehicle out to rescue us with jumper cables. Word to the wise: don’t use your headlights without the car being on for very long.
Thanks so much for reading. This was an incredible experience for me and I absolutely loved every minute of it. Though I’ve been on screen a lot over the last decade, this was definitely the most difficult performance to pull off. Spiral Drive will be completed in 2019 and once it’s finished I hope that I can bring it to Kokomo for viewing. If you do see it, I certainly hope you like it because I’m very proud of it.
I do have a few more pictures, but I figured that this blog was getting a little on the long side so I’ll hold back a few. Maybe I’ll do a part 3 in a few months once some editing gets done. Hopefully we can put together a trailer. Leave a comment on social media if you’ve got any questions and I’ll be sure to answer them for you. Thanks again for reading!
