I don't say this lightly. As someone aspiring and training to work in film, Mark Fischbach just changed the industry.
An independent, self financed, self distributed, self directed, self acted film set in one shoe-box sized room not only opened already making profits but has held #1 box office in the US this weekend and may honestly by a slim but completely doable chance hold #1 in the face of a new release by a powerhouse director and a corporate machine industry titan (Sam Raimi's Send Help, distributed by 20th Century)
Even if it doesn't, Mark just released that the projections put Iron Lung within half a million dollars of the projections for Send Help.
This is a massive massive shake up in the film industry and I would put money down that there are corporate suits out there sweating over emails, scheduling emergency meetings for Monday.
This is the second wind Hollywood needed.
Long live independent art, death to the corporate machine. And go see Iron Lung
Absolutely living for this behind the scenes footage of Oscar’s stunt double being tossed around. No way victor should have survived and that just makes it even better. Man got tossed around like a rag doll
In episodic TV, producers sometimes make a bottle episode to save the season’s budget, so they keep it small, use mostly the main cast, reuse one or two existing sets, and skip big effects. Shows like Friends and Breaking Bad used bottle episodes as “cheap on purpose” episodes that still hit hard because the writing carries it.
could u make a fic about arcane but the characters are just acting? Like they are actors filming the show arcane. (it could be about all the characters or just sevika:3)
“AND… ACTION!”
Sevika kicks open the prop door, cigarette in her mouth, artificial metal arm gleaming under the studio lights. She stalks in like she owns the bar. Because she does. According to the script.
“You think you can just waltz into my territory?” she snarls at Vi, voice deep and gravelly. Vi doesn’t flinch.
“I didn’t come here to talk,” Vi says coolly, fists clenched, chin up.
They stare each other down.
Silence.
Then Sevika pauses, squints.
“…is that a redbull in your back pocket?”
Vi bursts out laughing.
“CUT!”
Someone from behind the camera groans.
“You guys, please. This is the eighth take.”
Sevika waves her cigar around like a conductor’s wand. “Why is she allowed to smuggle energy drinks onto set? I get a pat-down for gum.”
Vi’s still laughing, holding up the offending can. “I was gonna drink it after, but Queen of Metal Arms here got so close I felt it crushing my ass.”
The director facepalms. “Can we reset? Back to one. Sevika, maybe just don’t sniff her pocket this time?”
“Not making promises,” Sevika mutters, smirking.
INT. MAKEUP TRAILER - MORNING
Sevika lounges in a chair wearing pajama pants and a robe, eyes closed as a makeup artist buffs fake grime onto her cheek.
Next to her, Silco’s actor is sipping an oat milk latte and reading The New Yorker.
“You see Jinx’s stunt double sprain her ankle yesterday?” he asks casually.
“She flew across the set,” Sevika says. “I told them the zipline was too fast.”
“Production says they’ll ‘tone it down.’” He makes air quotes. “So probably just send someone else flying into a wall tomorrow.”
“Love this job.”
“Insane job.”
They sip their drinks in synchronized deadpan silence.
INT. COSTUME HOLDING – LUNCH BREAK.
Caitlyn’s actor is sitting on the floor, eating chips from her corset.
Jinx is upside down on the couch, legs dangling over the backrest, hair full of bobby pins. She’s mid-rant.
“So then I told the intimacy coordinator I wasn’t kissing Vi,” Jinx says, gesturing wildly. “And he goes, ‘Why not? It’s subtextual.’ And I’m like, what’s subtextual is that I want to push her down a flight of stairs, not kiss her!”
Vi, entering with a burrito: “I’d let you. That’s real friendship.”
Caitlyn: “I thought you two were fighting about the stunt choreography?”
“We are.”
“We’re always fighting,” Jinx calls.
“We’re sisters,” Vi says with a shrug. “Canonically and spiritually.”
They bump fists. Chips fly everywhere.
INT. STAGE B – NIGHT SHOOT.
Scene: Silco’s death.
Sevika’s supposed to be holding back tears, rage bubbling under her stoic surface. The lights are low. Everything is quiet.
Except the crew can hear someone wheezing behind the set walls.
“Who the hell —” Silcos actor sits up, breaking character.
The boom mic guy peeks out. “Sorry. Jinx tried to make me laugh by texting ‘Silco dies like a girlboss’ and I couldn’t hold it in.”
Sevika loses it.
“GIRLBOSS?!” she wheezes. “HE DIED IN MY ARMS.”
Jinx, “Feminism, babe.”
INT. AMBESSA’S TRAILER – LATE NIGHT.
The cast thinks Sevika goes home after shoots.
She doesn’t.
She slips into a black trailer with tinted windows, where Ambessa waits with her hair tied up and a glass of red wine.
“How many retakes today?” she asks, lounging on the couch in silk pajamas.
“Too many. Vi kept forgetting her lines. Jinx knocked over a camera. I forgot how to walk once.”
“Charming,” ambessa says, sipping.
Sevika flops onto the couch beside her, pulls her boots off with a grunt. “This show’s gonna kill me.”
“You love it,” Ambessa teases, brushing hair from Sevika’s forehead. “You love pretending to be angry and grizzled and morally gray.”
“I am angry and grizzled and morally gray.”
Ambessa smirks. “You cried at the end of Paddington 2.”
“That bear was framed.”
They kiss, quietly, off-script.
INT. CAST WRAP PARTY – LAST DAY OF FILMING.
Everyone’s screaming. Jinx brought a karaoke mic. Viktor is drunk. Ekko is dancing. Caitlyn is telling Jayce to shut up about his personal brand.
Sevika’s in a suit jacket over a tank top, dancing with a drink in one hand and Ambessa’s hand in the other.
“You know people are gonna ship us now,” Ambessa murmurs in her ear.
“They already do,” Sevika says. “There’s fanart.”
“What?”
“Someone tagged me in a drawing of us making out. In full costume. On a tank.”
Ambessa laughs, deep and rich.
“And what are you gonna do about it?” she asks.
Sevika just pulls her closer, presses a kiss to her neck, and whispers:
This was the very film film I worked on that required puppetry work, which turned out so much better than I could have ever imagined!
For this film I worked as both production designer as well as a puppet-maker and puppeteer, which was an exciting new experience for me as a film maker. This is realistically where my passion for puppets has taken off, getting to make 3 gorgeous plant puppets for this wonderful film!
you know. in light of the news that the MCU continues to be the antithesis of filmmaking by quarantining their actors from each other and not even writing the script before filming, I do have to applaud DC for spending the time and money to not only write a fucking script, but also on the costumes
I didn't realise how good Superman's costume was until the close up shots in the movie where you could see the seams
the bowl cut wig for Guy is absolutely incredible, look at how natural this shit is
and Terrific’s mask? fucking incredible. seamless, fits his face perfectly
and in general, when you see backstage stuff from the Superman movie, the cast are in almost full costume
I really hope that costumes (and makeup) will continue to feature heavily in DC live action because it gives a realism to them, especially when you know this is what's missing from the MCU movies
