MAN OF WAR - July to September 2013

         Filming for "MAN OF WAR" began during the "The Challenger:Unlimited" sessions in July of this year when Aramis Pacitto went on a trip to Muskoka, Ontario. The basic story of "Man of War" is: "The CIA needs someone with experience to handle their latest assignment... So they go on the hunt for a former CIA operative who is 41 years old, retired but not dead. He is as deadly as they come. His name is: James Ryan AKA Colt." On July 1st (Canada day), Aramis Pacitto began acting for the first time as James Ryan in a flash back scene, where Ryan says his famous line "I may be retired but I'm not dead." Since I didn't go with Aramis on that trip, I was unable to watch the scene live. But a day after it was filmed and edited I got a email from Aramis with the scene attached. That was all that was filmed in July, next was in August when Aramis and his family went to Miami, Florida. Aramis Pacitto got to drive the new Lamborghini Avantor for a scene at the end of Man Of War. 

       "It's like being in the cockpit of a stealth jet- what a rush - I don't no how I'm gonna go back," Aramis said about his experience driving the Lamborghini. Aramis and his camera crew, Delaina, Mikayla & Frank Pacitto went on a long journey in Miami to film the cinematic parts of the story. They filmed everything you  can imagine to make this film great, the only thing they were missing was the action and the introduction of the head of the CIA, Derek played by Angelo Di Pardo and Faye La Perla played by Angela Di Pardo... So that's where I come in. On

September 6th 2013, It was day 1 on the Man Of War set for me and I had to act, film & direct. It was a tough 4 hour shoot with Chika Mafiana (famous for playing Walker in "The Challenger 2") as Agent Johnathon and Aramis Pacitto as James Ryan. Before I get to the filming aspect, I forgot to mention that I was also the hair designer for the day. I had to put the gray in Aramis Pacitto's hair to make him look 41 and that took a good 20 minutes to get it perfect.

         Once the hair issue was resolved, it was time for me to act as Doctor Stoaks in the first scene of the film. So I began to run through the bushes in the forest and Aramis was the cameraman and he followed behind me, but I was so fast that I lost the cameraman and we had to do it again. I was like "THE FLASH" in that take. So after Aramis found a way to keep up with me I had to pretend to get shot and fall off the cliff. I did and it looks like I may have died, but rest assured it was only acting. Next I had to get back behind the camera and film the rest of the scene with Chika and Aramis. Chika was once again great, he was not playing Walker for the first time and was able to adjust like a snap of the finger. As for Aramis, he was also great, he pulled off playing a 41 year old like no 21 year old has done before.

        Our next filming day was September 8th with Angelo Di Pardo as CIA boss, Derek, Angela Di Pardo as Faye La Perla, me as "The man at the bar" & Aramis Pacitto as James Ryan. Angela and Angelo had instant chemistry when they were acting in their respected roles at the time. Maybe its because they're married... But it looked professionally done and we had a lot of bloopers that will be released on the DVD... DVD for us means Youtube, since we don't have the funding from our $0 production to make a real DVD. There was one blooper for me that stuck out and that was when Angelo forgot a line and sang a line from one of Duran Duran's songs called "My Own Way." After that scene was complete, Angelo's work was done, but Angela and Aramis still had a scene to do.

        It was a scene that was supposed to take place at 12am, but instead we filmed it at 10am and made it look like night... We have a lot of tricks up our sleeves. Everything went well in that scene except when Angela took a page out of the "Young and the restless" and grabbed Aramis's arm and in dramatic

Sop-opera type style and said "Denise - VAN - HOSE." But aside from that, the scene was a good dramatic scene. Next on our to do list was the final scene on our list, the ally scene with Anthony Digiovanni and Matthew Quan-Yin. Those two were playing 2 hoodlums that thought they were going to steal some old mans money, but they ended up running into James Ryan who beat the living daylights out of them with a crowbar and his Colt gun. We filmed that scene in public with weapons and this time we didn't get arrested... Thank God. "Man of War" will be released on October 4th.

- Andrew Di Pardo

PS: Aramis Pacitto himself will be writing a post on his experience next week.

FILMING "LIFE IS HELL 2: THE INJURED MAN" - April 2013

Tony plays himself in "Life Is Hell 2"

 
      There was a time, when Aramis and I thought making a "Life is Hell" short film wasn't possible. But we put together a script and made one. It wasn't exactly down to concept, based on the fact that we only had 2 actors, but we thought it was close enough. We didn't think that we could do better... But ladies and gentlemen when we sat down and put together a "Life Is Hell 2" script we realized that we were wrong. It all started on April 2nd when we began to write the script. In the first "Life Is Hell" film we never concluded the "Rear Window" spoof and the escape of Tony's father SACKO, so we decided what better place to pick up the story than where we left off. Aramis already filmed a few shots of Tony and edited them with voice over (as seen in the "Life Is Hell - Short Film" after credit scene) and that's where it began.

      Then a few days later we filmed the follow up scene with me playing a crazy version of myself, spying on the old women who my character suspects is killing people and not just people in general, Gigolos to be specific. In the background you hear Almorindo and Gigi arguing along with an intercut scene where you see the real Almorindo washing dishes and telling Gigi to shut up. We filmed a few more scenes that day that would later have to be re-shot due to some angle issues and that we had a new idea for where my character could take a turn for the worse. Charlie Sheen meltdown ( or as Sheen calls it "Melt-forward) Style. That role for me was the funnest and most interesting role for me to play. I went for playing a crazy guy, to someone even nuttier and who tends to use the words "Self Sufficient" and "Winner" a lot.

"007"

     Another interesting part of my character in the film is that he wears a white bandana like Rambo or Simon Le Bon from 1982 (Duran Duran). Another interesting part of the plot is when I go behind the camera to film Aramis Neal Pacitto as Aramis Spear as he has to sneak into the old womens house. Aramis was wearing his  007 "Skyfall" getup for this film (grey suit) and since our BB gun was confiscated by the cops Aramis had to use Sledges gun. Back to the story, Spear sneaks into the house looks around and eventually would get tied to a chair by the owner of the house. That leads into our next spoof from the movie "Oblivion." Its completely pitch black and all of a sudden a man wearing goggles, a  cowboy hat and a cigar lights a match and says "So you're trying to kill me boy." My character does the unspeakable to try to save Aramis and it involves leaving his house.
   
         Aramis was the main cameraman in this film as he filmed the real Tony Risi who will be playing himself in this film on the hunt for his father Sacko and he filmed all the shots of me and him together. Tony Risi is a great addition to this film as we have funny scenes with him riding on his bike and stealing things from Aramis's house and so on. The only problem with Tony is that he wouldn't say any lines so I had to dubbed him. Another key part of this film is that you will see Sacko (played by Aramis) as he looks for revenge against Tony. Our soundtrack for this film will not be by Duran Duran this time, it will be by Adele. The most important this about this "Short Film" is that its not short. Its a full length 22 minute episode and all of you can watch it when it premiers next week on Youtube. Aramis calls it "Laugh out loud" comedy.

Watch "Life is Hell 2: The Injured Man" on May 1st via Youtube.

-Andrew Di Pardo

LIFE IS HELL SHORT FILM EXPERIENCE - March 2013

TORONTO,O.N-  On March 10th 2013, Aramis Neal Pacitto and I began to write a script for a "Life Is Hell" short film The script was done by the 12th and filming began on the 13th. We picked our theme and it was a song by Duran Duran called Virus and Aramis is working on a new version of the song.The first scene we filmed was THE COLD OPEN scene with a spoof on "Rear Window." Its a funny scene that you really have to see to understand. But its basically Andrew and Aramis sitting down in front of a window with Nikon cameras with 240 mm zoom lenses. Andrew claims that an elderly women has different men over every night and that she kills them. Meanwhile, Almorindo and Gigi argue in the background over dishes. Aramis did the voice for Al and I did the voice for Gigi.

      The next scene on our list was a scene where Almorindo (Aramis), opens up the blinds in the bedroom and begins to yell at his neighbor who is in the process of cutting his tomato plants. Last on our list for the day was filming a scene where I played Tony Rissi. The filming process took about 4 hours to film. Our next filming day was on Sunday March 17th. We were filming the action part of "Life Is Hell, AKA "Life Will Be Hell." Bruno Sepe was playing Cutter and Aramis Neal Pacitto was playing Aramis Spear. We filmed for about a hour and a half and after Aramis edited the scene we realized that Bruno was not going to work as Cutter. He was playing more of a traitor type of character so we made him the handler.

       So we ended up needing an extra day of filming (which was on March 21st 2013 at Yorkdale Mall). So we re-wrote the final scene and made it be Spear on the phone with a British version of Cutter. This is where it gets interesting. There was a part of the scene where Spear pulls out his gun. Someone called 9-1-1 to report it and next thing you know, the cops were following us. They followed us all the way from Yorkdale mall to my street. Then 5 cop cars swarmed all around us! 15 cops pulled out their guns and said "Put your hands up!" They didn't notice that I was in the car so I leaned forward and said, "Do I have to put my hands up to?" They said yes and told me to lean back. We ended up going to the police station for possession of weapons. Soon after, they realized that arresting us was a waste of time because we only had a BB-Gun. The charges were dropped.

       So after sitting in a cell for 3 hours we were released and now were done filming. To top off the day when we went back to get the car, the seats were ripped out and Aramis's sun glasses were in the trunk along with one of our zoom lenses and not to mention that we ended up on the 6:00 news. It was an experience that we will never forget. The "Life Is Hell- Short Film," will be released next week.

- Andrew Di Pardo