My week on the Marne River came a few months after I shot ‘Montmartre’ using Parisian actors who were friends or friends of friends. It had been a wonderful way for me to inaugurate a career as a writer-director. Paris had given us a cool but dry October in which to film. I shot in and around the art galleries, on the Place du Tertre and along alleyways that led nowhere yet were gateways to the imagination. At the first screening of ‘Montmartre’, I made the acquaintance of a man who had enjoyed success in the insurance business and was looking to make a career change. My film had intrigued him. It didn’t take long to establish that we shared a passion for boating. He kept a sloop moored at Toulon; mine was a little further away at the Marina Del Rey in Los Angeles. Over dinner, we traded a sufficient number of sailing stories to establish our bona fides and the result was an invitation to spend time aboard his boat for a week. There we could discuss ways in which he might make a move into the entertainment industry. It wasn’t until a few days before our departure that I discovered our destination wasn’t Toulon, but Meaux. While he did have a forty-two foot sailboat on the Mediterranean, he kept a forty foot cabin cruiser on the Marne River near Meaux, which would be our destination. So it was that we packed up and, with our girlfriends, drove off to an area famous for its mustard. The setting was an unspoiled harbor in a woodsy area next to a small inn. I tend to see settings in the context of movie locations, and this one couldn’t have been more picturesque. I don’t remember there being more than a dozen boats and we were the only people on the scene that day. After we brought aboard our provisions, my friend started the engine and we slipped out of the small harbor onto the Marne. We cruised along the river enjoying the late afternoon light looking for a place to anchor for the evening. We found it. There was a bend in the river that was wide enough to keep us well clear of any boat traffic and their wakes. (Continued in comments) #film #filmmaker #france #marne #crazyhorsesaloon #montmartre
