After a couple of weeks I drove the car back to Seattle and waited for word from Illeana.
Finally, nearly 6 months later, the shoot came around.
It was bad timing for me. I had just paid some bills and money was tight for me.
But I was committed to Illeana and her creation. I just needed enough money to make it worth driving again to LA and back. Two days before the shoot I was waiting for an act from God to make it to LA.
I had $70 in the bank.
A few weeks earlier I bought a couple of parts off a 67 Volvo 122 from the junk yard for $8.50 each and listed them on craigslist. and Ipdusa.com
The day before I was to leave I got a call from a guy who wanted the parts. He asked if I could ship them to LA.
"Perfect."
I was still $100 short of the money needed to go.
The day before I was to leave I was in a coffee shop in Seattle waiting for God and $100.
My phone rang. It was my friend Josh who owns a Volvo 240 wagon that I have worked on before. His car was making some kind of noise. I told him I was to be in LA now for a shoot and was short on funds for the trip.
"How much do you need?" He asked. "How about $100?"
"The money is just sitting there in the bank, if you need it, come by."
I met him, looked at his car, and God ended up being a Physical Therapist named Josh, with a broken Volvo.
I put $100 in my pocket, packed my bags and hit the road.
It rained, poured, and snowed every mile to LA. I headed out to the coast from Grants Pass, Oregon to avoid getting stuck in the Siskiyous. It snowed all the way to the coast.
I broke down in the mountains of 101 from the coast to San Fransico right in front of an auto parts store. My battery caps had blown off and my carbs were frozen and packed with dirt. The battery was overcharging so the windshield wipers were going so fast, one of them broke off. I took the carbs apart, cleaned them, got some battery covers from the Auto Parts recycling bin, and thanks to Rain-X I never used my wipers again, even through the snow.
I had 8 hours to get from San Francisco to LA. The shoot call time was 5:30 in the morning. I was exhausted.
Staying awake was my only thought after driving 16 hours through non stop snow and rain.
Just as I arrived at "The Grapevine" I was out of money.
I stopped at a truck stop and tried both my debit cards knowing there was nothing in the bank. Thankfully one worked. I put in $40 worth of gas that I didn't have and drove off.
Earlier on my way through Portland a friend had put an add on Craigslist that I would be coming through if someone needed something taken down to LA.
At 11:30pm I stopped in Portland and picked up some luggage and books from a student to bring down for her. Another $40 was now waiting for me when I arrived.
I had just arrived at a parking lot near the shoot when I got a call from the production coordinater. It was 5:25 am. 20hours had past since I left. I was exhausted. "Yes, I am here." I said.
It was the line producer. I found a corner of a parking lot near the shoot to adjust to the strange feeling of stillness. It was still pouring when I arrived in Covina.
Everyone was huddled under a tent in a parking lot next to a lakeside park.
It looked like winter, rain gear, snow pants, rivers of water streaming through everything.
We filed in and out of the catering trailer which was run by a charming Armanien cowboy and his beautiful wife who bantered across the counter as she cooked and he charmed the crew with his big smile, and cowboy conquistador hat.
Just as the shoot was to start, the rain stopped. Scenes unfolded, and I watched. Cameras, gear, grips, lighting, booms, mics, directors lined the path through the park along the lake.
Illeana whom I had 21 emails and texts with, including one at 5:30am, said only "Hi" as she raced around in the cold morning wearing jogging shorts and a tank top.
The prop crew met me in the parking lot to detail the car and change it into a Taxi.
I rolled the yellow 1970 Volvo wagon down the path in front of the crew.
We were supposed to be in Sweden, Eric Lange and Mia Riverton got in the back seat and I was the cab driver. Eric and Mia were wonderful to be around and truly funny. Illeana, and a collection of cast and crew watched as we drove along the lake in "Sweden".
At noon the shoot moved to Ikea in Covina for lunch and of course, meatballs. The cast and crew set up in the parking lot for the afternoon.
I got a phone call from the guy who wanted the Volvo parts I had brought down. He met me in the parking lot out front of the big yellow Ikea letters.
When he arrived he and his wife told me how her gold Volvo p1800 was used in a the movie Gattaca with Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke.
He gave me $100 and thanked me for bringing the parts down.
I was selling Volvo parts while they were shooting easytoassemble. But I had to pay myself back for bringing the car down.
I got another phone call from the sister of the student that I had brought things down for from Portland. I gave her the same directions to the shoot.
An hour later she arrived at the Ikea handed me $50 and thanked me for bringing her sisters stuff down.
I felt like I could relax a bit now. Knowing I had a few bucks in my pocket.
The view from the Ikea parking lot is wonderful as the sun glows off the hillsides.
I was not scheduled to be apart of the Ikea scene, but I was standing by when they needed Ed Bagley Jr. and remembered he wasn't there. Illeana called out, "Use Mark." They handed me some of his clothes.
"Don't worry, these scenes are from far away so they wont see your face."
I hopped in an electric truck, picked up Illeana and on cue rolled around the corner of Ikea into fame. Then I remembered. "No one will see your face." We shot that scene a few times. I was still exhausted from nearly 2 days with no sleep. They started shooting close up shots of my hands and feet while I sat in the drivers seat of the electric car. Funny cause my fingers were still dirty from fixing my broken down car in the Mountains just outside San Francisco.
The sun was starting to go down and the shoot was winding down. Illeana's mock 70's Swedish rock band Sparhausen were using the car for a photo shoot. Then we all headed up to a production office in the upstairs of Ikea to fill out paperwork. I thanked Illeana, signed some papers, negotiated pay and walked out in the Ikea parking lot a free man.
The premiere of easytoassemble Finding North will hit the screen early this fall.
