DAY 4: Thursday, July 1, 2010

I’m fantasizing about being on set, because I have this terrible cough-cold that’s being passed around set. That “third-day hump” in the middle of the week turns into the “third-day immune system test” on a demanding shoot that averages twelve hours a day. My normally strong immune system flunked the test.

During the party scene where Phil announces that he will be Grant’s campaign manager, Phil tells Emily, “You’re smart, I don’t tell you that enough.” Then Phil kisses her. Yesterday, Jason and Lauren had to work together with their director on how this moment would play, because neither was sure from the text how the moment should go. “What did you envision?” Lauren blatantly asks Mr. Gyllenhaal.

I’ll let you see the choices they made in the actual film. And you may see me bump into Jason with my chest as a partygoer. Jason and Lauren were talking intensely when I saw them after wrapping at the end of the day, probably about how their scene together had gone. They’re getting closer with all the collaboration they’ve been doing.

A fantasy over what happened today:

During breaks, Jason and Lauren bond by filling their coffee cups with the contents of the huge keg that was used in the party scene yesterday. Stephen supports this to “loosen up” their acting choices. So if Phil and Emily seem a little drunk in some scenes, you know why. (Kidding! I just want to see how these capable, professional, and sober actors would pull off these scenes in drunken states.)

A more realistic fantasy: The camera crew and fearless director are crammed into the top floor of Phil’s house again to finish filming a few emotional confrontations between Phil, his best friend, and his girlfriend. Joel David Moore as Grant gets to go a little characteristically crazy defending his passion for the monorail to Phil.