Day 3 -- Thursday, April 18
I wanted changes. I got changes.
Really one big change. During rehearsal yesterday, Brian Doyle-Murray would often retire into a corner of the set for conversations on his cell phone. Late today, we were in the middle of a scene and he reached down into his pocket. Though we didn't know it at the time, he had answered his phone. The scene continued, giving whoever was on the other end a sneak preview of the second half of Scene D. As the final line left his mouth, he scooped the phone up to his ear and disappeared again into the nooks and crannies of the set. Was it a massive drug deal going down? A multi-corporation stock purchase? No. It was his agent, who had apparently put the finishing touches on his deal. He had joined the cast.
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"Now wait a minute," I hear you say. "His character dies at the end of the pilot. The whole premise of the show is how these salesmen are going to cover for their dead boss." I hear what you are saying. Here is the solution: Good-bye whole premise. There will be no more dead boss. The Weekend at Bernie's angle has been excised from the new script. There will now be a living, breathing (very funny) office manager with us every week. And so the new premise? Sun Gods: a show about salesmen. |
That means a new ending. What was once his actual death has been
converted to another fake death. After discovering his body and
watching him get wheeled away, all the salesmen head back to "The
Pickler," the bar across the street from the office, and drink
a final toast to Marv. But wait! Gotcha! He's alive again! As
Jerry says, "Boy, he's good." Yeah, good enough to be in
every episode.
Paul approached me right before one of our run-throughs today and said with some concern, "There's one line you have that I haven't been able to hear."
I don't want him to miss a cue, so I would love to straighten this out. "Sorry. What is it?" I ask.
"I can't remember now," he responds. And then as if to suggest that my performance is beyond repair, "Well, I'm sure we'll be miked."
After we finished the run-through, Paul returned to this topic. "It's 'A little more desperate," he said. "I haven't been able to hear that line."
"OK," I immediately shot back and then proceeded to run that part of the scene in my head to make sure I would remember to help Paul out the next time through. That's when it hit me. "You don't have a line after that, do you?"
"No," he responded, "I just haven't heard it until now. And I think it'll get a laugh."
Well, thank goodness you're here to take care of me, Paul.
There was also a point during rehearsal when he apparently wasn't very comfortable with his lines. He didn't think they were funny, or he didn't understand them, or for whatever reason, just didn't like them. He stopped running the scene and turned out into the mostly empty soundstage and yelled out, "Are the writers here?" They were not, so he must have made a mental note to bring it up with them later.
Go on to Day 4.
