The Informant

I recently spent a day in central Illinois as a guest on the set of THE INFORMANT, the upcoming Steven Soderbergh movie starring Matt Damon.

The Scott Burns screenplay for the film is a dark comedy adaptation of the complex true life story of big business price-fixing, fraud, whistle blowing, money laundering and mental illness chronicled in the intriguing Kurt Eichenwald book of the same title.

It was fun to stand on the side lines watching the cast and crew at work with Soderbergh at the helm. The focus and attention to detail of everyone involved was awe inspiring. The rapid pace of set up and filming (is that still the correct term when a digital red cam is used?) that took place throughout the long day amazed me.

Also of interest were the fake corn stalks that had been flown in from Japan. I was told that earlier in the spring, a crew member approached the farmer who owns the field across the road from the house where filming was taking place to ask if he could plant corn and get it 4 feet tall by mid-May to which he replied, "You're not from around here are ya?"

A couple of weeks later, I had the opportunity to again be on set, this time as an extra. Since the film is set in the early 90's, a large portion of the day was spent outfitting myself and fellow "country club members" with appropriately tacky clothes, hair and makeup. It took four separate attempts and more product than I've ever used before (combined) to get my own 'do outlandishly BIG enough to satisfy the wonderful folks in the hair dept.

During filming, I sat at a table drinking red wine while "FBI agents" (Scott Bakula and Joel McHale) walked by to approach and talk with "Mark Whitacre and his boss Terry Wilson" (Matt Damon and Rick Overton).

All in all, it was yet another unique and great experience on a film set. God, I love this business.

TDK will be out soon (woo hoo!) and in the meantime I am immersed in writing and there's no where else I'd rather be.

Best wishes to all!

Ciao for now...