DAY 11: July 13, 2010

At the KUOW radio station, in a room where interviewees come to be broadcast on shows including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and To the Point, today’s debate feels real. Except that it happens identically several times. Working on a film set is not entirely unlike Bill Murray’s life in Groundhog Day; we relive moments over and over in hopes of getting them right. Thankfully, Joel David Moore fiercely challenges Cedric the Entertainer over and over again without losing any verve.

The lighting takes two hours to set up, as radio stations are not configured for visual artists. Joel spends part of this singing Kesha’s “Tick Tock,” but he’s a six-foot-two man and the song is not in his typical vocal range, so it’s a thoroughly original rendition. Finally in the radio booth, Cedric gives a nuanced performance. His dramatic acting chops surprise me, since he is widely known as a comic.

The debate is so captivating that I am unintentionally in the props master’s way standing by the monitor to watch it. Whoops. Joel needs a coffee mug. And Cedric needs a wedding ring. Ron from wardrobe sifts around in a huge plastic bag full of rings. This is not how finding a wedding ring is supposed to go; thank goodness this is just a movie.

On a more serious note, the real Grant Cogswell gets a chance to sit down with me on set. He stops by to watch Joel relive his debate with Richard McIver. Grant will visit the real McIver in a few hours.

Ever the activist, he reminds me that Seattle’s transportation problems are far from over, with the South Park Bridge closed down and the possible deep-bore tunnel Dominic Holden criticized in this week’s Stranger.

Grant lives in Mexico City now, so Seattle has lost him as a political candidate. But we can continue the grassroots activism he espoused if we become educated on these issues and then act on our opinions.