Ahoy loyal readers, and go Packers (RIP Saints). We just blasted out this sprawling update to our email listserv – if you follow the blog, you probably know most of it, but it always helps to refresh yourself!:
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Hello Long Lost Court 13 Nation!
Here’s to 2011. We hope that the dawn of the second decade of the new millenium finds you healthy, hearty, happy, and, despite new year’s eve, not hiccuppy. We promised when you signed up for emails from us, we wouldn’t pester you with too many– and here we are, 15 months since our last email to you! Please don’t feel neglected, as it’s been a busy year point two-five for the Court. To sum it up all too succinctly, we made a real live authento feature length movie this year. Our first ever. Holy shit!
But that tidy summation doesn’t nearly do it justice. Neither do these bullet points, but they can try:
*In November (2009), the casting of our lead part, Hushpuppy (to quote the script, a “filthy creole firecracker, 6 years old”) finally wrapped up, along with that of other key kid roles — after 9 months, 4000 kids, 215 miles, and a whole lot of grimy road food along Highway 90. Confirmed in January, the part went to Miss Quvenzhane Wallis (Nazie for short), of Houma, Louisiana. No more than 5 years old when she originally auditioned, Nazie proceeded not only to stun everyone with her innate acting ability but this wily, hilarious, mature, intelligent, and charming little beast also inspired unmeasurable amount of love from the entire crew. Hear more about her in this article from the Houma Courier.
*Certain members of Court 13 who will remain unnamed saw all three format versions of “Avatar” in the theater (2-D, 3-D, 3-D IMAX).
*In January 2010, the Court attended Sundance to represent the film (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”), and ate a lot of h’ors d’oeurves, hated “Killer Inside Me,” loved “Winning Time,” and nearly got in a fight with a bar room full of surly Vikings fans (as it turns out, Utah is closer both geographically and spiritually to Minnesota than to New Orleans). We won that game. We also won the NHK/International Filmmakers Award. This means the movie, once finished, will be broadcast on Japanese TV! Domo arigato, Japanese jammers!
*Also in 1/2010, the Court plants its flag in our new bayou headquarters– 517 Highway 55, in Montegut, Louisiana, formerly known as Claude Bourg’s Cajun Country Stop & pumping station. A diamond in the mud, this property suits our needs perfectly: the former convenience shop will be our office, the 18 wheeler garage behind it will be our art department, the shrimp cleaning facilities will be our prop area, and as it turns out, we’ll also shoot 1/3 of the movie in Claude’s backyard… and another third no further than 15 minutes away from it. Our recently acquired potbelly pig, soon to be a movie star with his own trailer, likes the country much more than the city.
*The Saints won the Super Bowl on February 7th; ounces of tears compete with ounces of beers in the back of Markey’s Bar; New Orleans secedes from the country of America and floats on air, as an independent nation of hope and joy, starting with the Mayoral election on February 2nd through Mardi Gras on February 16th.
*In March, the movie was officially greenlit by our chief backers and epistemological brothers, Cinereach. The corps of the Court trade in sleeping bags and space heaters on the floor of Claude’s convenience store for bunk beds in the fishing camps behind it, as likeminded members of the larger, international Court 13 brigade begin to wash ashore on the bayou across the highway, to begin pre-production work with us. They come from places across the globe- from towns with fake French names like Baton Rouge to actual French towns like Paris. More animals are gathered, boats and vehicles are scouted, and Mike Arcenaux–animal, boat, and vehicle all in one–joins the crew.
*Sometime in March, the decision is made, most likely over a dozen of his doughnuts, to cast a New Orleans baker who has never acted a day in his life as the second star of our film (second only to the 6 year old girl, who has also never acted a day in her life… her life which is about 4 months younger than the Iraq War). The story of how we found Mr. Henry, and exactly how good his doughnuts are, can be found in this article from Edible New Orleans (go to page 26 – 27). Simultaneously in New Orleans, from within an abandoned firehouse, Court 13 founding father Ray Tintori commands a special unit of guerrilla puppet-makers and beast trainers, for the special effects segments of the movie involving the titular mythical animals, the so-named AUROCHS.
*In the next 6 weeks, another 70 people move to bayou. A floating schoolboat/warcraft/dive bar is constructed. Wardrobes are hemmed. Scenes are rehearsed. Kids are tutored. Ben Richardson, one of the founding fathers of Court 13 (ever since the Czech days), is tapped as D.P.
*Principal photography begins on April 20th (a date better known in Louisiana for what also happened that day: the disastrous BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, just a hundred miles southeast of our bayou home). We proceed to make the movie, shooting in and near the waterways of Montegut, Houma, Bourg, and Pointe-Aux-Chenes, with a few days in Mandeville and Slidell taking us up to the North Shore. Nazie kills it, we eat too many doughnuts, some boats break, Eliza builds a giant dragon out of a pick up truck, a lot of locals stare bewildered at the schoolboat, the Art Dept sweats a lot, some cars break, Zeitlin drinks seltzer, Kate Bryant instructs the beasts, and the beasts obey. Sort of. We wrap on July 3rd.
*We then drink heavily.
*The movie receives a shockingly generous Post-Production Grant from the San Francisco Film Society! Sans the other 85 people in the crew (who have since scattered), the post-pro goes full steam ahead in New Orleans commandeered by seltzer captain, Crockett Doob (editor), with Benh and scripty-turned-assistant editor Gordon Bell at his side.
*Court 13 is commissioned to make a film for the Bilocal Festival, which pairs disparate cities in a cultural exchange (this time, Seattle & New Orleans). Directed by Michael Gottwald, with a cast and crew largely derivative from the “Beasts” shoot, “Devin’s Ward” premieres in Seattle on Nov 13th 2010. The final FINAL cut will be screened in New Orleans in fall of 2011, when the Bilocal Festival comes south.
*In December, members of Court 13 once again venture into the music video domain, for New Orleans sissy bounce artist BIG FREEDIA – with Bob Weisz and Josh Ente directing, and Casey Coleman and W. Michael Gottwald producing. Official release will be late winter/early spring, but be prepared for a 50 foot transgendered black woman, hair like a patriotic peacock, dressed to the nines, shaking her behonkus, and absolutely insisting that you shake yours. Again, crew and cast was carefully collected from the Beasts shoot. If ever you’ve wanted to see the preacher from “Glory at Sea” move it to high speed dance/rap music, this will be your chance.
These days, post-production continues on “Beasts,” with sound mix, voiceover, and score-writing on the horizon. It’s going to be a beautiful baby boy, and we can’t wait to invite you to the baby shower.
In all seriousness, this past year was about bringing this movie to light, despite innumerable and crazy-in-size obstacles– many that we deliberately gave ourselves, many that we not deliberately gave ourselves, and some that God, nature, and BP gave us (Thanks BP! Really, from all of us in southern Louisiana, THANKS SO MUCH!!!). Thus at the end of this era, we at the Court consider ourselves lucky, extremely thankful, and happy to have gotten through it all alive. In the next year, we’ll get to mold this thing into something everyone can love, and prove that the fun and pain of 2010 was totally fucking worth it.
Yours Truly
Michael & the Court
