In early 1993 I landed a job as a projectionist at what was then known as Carolco Studios in Wilmington, NC. This was a big deal for me as it meant I would be working at an actual film/TV studio. As with all things in the entertainment industry, the job turned out to be not quite as advertised, although in this case that turned out to be a plus. My primary duty would be to run dailies for the various productions that were on the lot. Dailies (also called rushes), for those who don’t know, are the developed film of the previous day’s scenes that have been shot. Productions watch them to see if everything is going ok and to see if any immediate reshoots are necessary. Now that everything is converting to digital, viewing dailies is more or less immediate and there probably isn’t much call for a dailies projectionist any more. In addition to my projectionist duty I also became an apprentice electrician and was based in the lighting warehouse. So, I would also help arrange lighting packages for productions as well as attend to any electrical and/or rewiring work that would be needed. All of that is a long way of saying that I basically was everywhere on the studio lot.
Carolco Studios is known today as EUE/Screen Gems Studios and is the largest production facility outside of California. The studio was originally founded byDino De Laurentiis in 1984 and was called DEG. De Laurentiis all but abandoned the facilities a few years later and it was purchased by Carolco in 1990. When Carolco went bankrupt, the George Clooney owned EUE/Screen Gems stepped in and purchased the studio in 1996. Since then it has continued to prosper. Here is a picture of the studio as it stands today:
The stage with the number 10 on it (upper left) didn’t exist when I was there. Where it stands there was a standing street backlot and behind that was a veritable movie prop graveyard of bits and pieces left behing by the DEG. Most prominent was the Green Goblin grill mount from Maximum Overdrive and the large size King Kong head and hands from 1976′s King Kong. There were other treasures scattered around the lot including a storage room on one of the soundstages housing a large cache of scripts from over the years. I “stored” a large portion of those at the apartment I had at the time, but they have unfortunately disappeared over the years. By the way, the scene in The Crow where Gideon’s pawn shop explodes was done on the backlot. The explosion what massive enough to draw the ire of the Fire Marshall, who was there to oversee the pyrotechnics.
When I started there were already a few shows in production, primarily the television series Matlock and a film called The Crow. Being a comic book fan, I was immediately drawn to The Crow, of course, and on around my third day I got to run some dailies for them. I was early to the viewing theater, but one of the actors was already there, one Mr. Michael Berryman. You probably know Michael from The Hills Have Eyes, Weird Science or the Mötley Crüe video for “Smokin’ In the Boys Room.” In The Crow Michael played the Skull Cowboy, sort of a guide to Brandon Lee’s Eric Draven. If you don’t remember the Skull Cowboy being in the film, you have excellent recall. His scenes were filmed, but never added to the final edit. Real life events, which I relate below, changed the story somewhat and, sadly, the Skull Cowboy and Michael’s awesome performance were left out.
For all the creepy, scary and downright nasty characters he plays, Michael Berryman is one of the coolest and most soft-spoken people I have ever met. He introduced himself that first day like he assumed I had no idea who he was. We chatted a bit before the rest of the cast and crew arrived and a little bit afterwards. He was in town filming his scenes for a few more days and he always made sure to hang out and chat when he saw me. Great guy and I hope to run into him again someday and catch up. If you are ever at a convention or horror show that he is appearing at I highly encourage you to say hello to him. And be sure to ask him if he still surfs off the coast of New York.
To say that the production of The Crow was a tough one would be an understatement. The show shot very long hours, mostly at night and there were a couple of accidents that had occurred prior to my time at the studio. A carpenter was severely burned and nearly electrocuted, there were a couple of the crew involved in car accidents and a studio worker accidentally stabbed himself in the hand with a screw driver. That and a couple of other incidents later lead to people calling the film cursed. Here’s the thing, every film and TV production has its share of accidents and mishaps, however the general public rarely hears about them unless it serves to further sensationalize a larger story. I can say that the cast and crew of The Crow were top-notch professionals and behaved as such 100% of the time. They behaved no differently than any other cast and crew and were dedicated to doing their jobs as safely as possible. That just makes what happened to Brandon Lee all the more tragic.
On March 30th I had the good fortune to run into Brandon just outside of the projection room. We had a short conversation, mainly consisting of hi asking me what I thought of the footage so far. As a studio employee I mainly kept 9-5 hours and went home that day just like any other. Arriving to work the next day there was a noticeably subdued attitude in some of the people I passed. The studio head called down to our department and asked us all to gather in one of the shops with the rest of the studio employees right away, which was unusually. Once everyone was assembled we were informed that there had been an accident early that morning involving Brandon Lee and he was currently at the local hospital in critical condition. Obviously, we were all shocked. The Crow was on suspension, but there were other active productions so we all went about our work as best we could.
There was never a moment where any of us thought that Brandon would not make it through this. From what details we were given, the projectile had lodged near his spine, so our biggest fear was that he might end up paralyzed. Also, no one cared about the details above what we were told. That was irrelevant, one of our own was hurt and that’s all that mattered. I happened to be doing some work in the front office just after lunch when I saw a PA walking by from the direction of The Crow office. She was crying. With a cold chill I just knew that the worst had happened. A few minutes later my boss walked by and told me the news that Brandon had died. Those of us not needed for the rest of the day went home. Before we left, the studio head had the unenviable task of reminding everyone that we were not to talk to the press about this. I thought that was rather puzzling…until I drove off the lot.
There were already several news vans camped out just off the studio property and everyone who left that day was accosted by several reporters and their cameramen in an attempt to stop us and get a story. Thankfully no one obliged. The studio and production company issued statements and updates to the press and during that time no one spoke out of turn. Any reports from then that cite “unnamed insiders close to the production” invariably reference some kooky conspiracy theory or are extrapolation upon existing information. No one cracked, no one talked, we all respected Brandon way too much for that. It was a strange few days. I was followed twice upon leaving work, once to a gas station, the second time all the way to my home, and offered four figures to give information regarding the accident. I refused, appalled at the audacity of the news sharks. It was surreal to come home from work and see random shots of the studio on the evening news and the tabloid news programs, even unknowingly being in some of the footage that was shown. Then, of course, the rumors and conspiracies started.
The next day we were all gathered again and told the facts of what had occurred. A poorly crimped blank had caused a bullet tip to become lodged in the barrel of the prop gun while shooting close ups. When a blank went off the following night during filming of the shooting scene, the bullet tip was discharged much like an actual bullet. No conspiracies, no curse, no murder plot. Just a stupid, silly mistake, nothing more sinister than that. The police were on site that day to investigate and eventually reached the same conclusion. They viewed a lot of evidence and I was on call in the projection room for much of it. Another strange, emotionally draining day. At some point, someone put up a poem on the door to the production offices. I wish I had a copy of it as I remember it being very moving and very fitting.
The following day everyone from the studio and involved in the film all gathered on one of the soundstages (#3, I think) and there was a lot of great words said about Brandon. We were also informed that Brandon’s mother and finacee wished for the film to be completed to honor him and his final performance. There were only eight days left of filming, but it was decided to shut down production for two months, rethink a few key things and then return to finish. It was weird walking around the sets that were left standing, but it definitely felt right to finish the film. Once they resumed production, the film was completed in a couple of weeks and then that was that. A month or so before the film’s release date, the producers rented out a theater and invited everyone who had worked on the film or was part of Carolco Studios to watch it. There was silence throughout and all of us got goosebumps when “For Brandon and Eliza” came up on the screen at the end of the film. There was a standing ovation and not a dry eye in the house. It was and is a beautiful film and a wonderful tribute to Brandon Lee.
Looking back 18 years later I can still clearly remember so much of what happened during that time, both before and after that tragic day. Occasionally I’ll come across something about The Crow on a website, more so now that there is talk of a remake. Everyone seems to still want to make Brandon’s death into something mysterious. Even the places that call it an accident do so in a way that lends an air of uncertainty to it. Again, really, truly, it was a stupid, stupid accident with no hint of any malice or superstitious nonsense attached to it. The Crow will always be a very special film to me, even if it somewhat difficult to watch. I know exactly which scenes were filmed after Brandon’s death and it makes it all the more emotional to watch. That was a strange moment in an overall strange chapter in my life, but I am glad that I was a part of it and happy to remember Brandon as a regular guy who loved doing what he was doing.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
I love comic books. Unabashedly. Unequivocally. Unapologetically. And, most importantly, while it is true I enjoy collecting them, I love reading comic books. Sure, I have many a tattered and dog-eared comic book, but that’s because I’ve read them, some many times. When my age was in its single digits, comics taught me knew words, like “counterpart” and “nemesis.” All my life I’ve lost myself in the pages of comics. Back in the ’70s my mother and I would make a trip every Friday night to Red’s Newsstand in Riverside, Rhode Island. She would get a craft magazine and I would get a couple of comic books. This was in the days before specialty shops, but Red would still hold my favorite comics behind the counter for me each week. We would walk a couple of blocks to Riverside Grill for dinner and I would tune out the world while I hungrily read my new comics, my food going cold beside me. At first it was titles like Star Wars, Fantastic Four, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes and Action Comics. In fact, the first comic I bought was the first Star Wars treasury edition. Then I met my best friend, Christian Poirier, in fourth grade. He introduced me to X-Men, Avengers and the greater Marvel Universe and the love affair began in earnest.
Uncanny X-Men in particular made a huge impact on me. I think that was my first exposure to a long-term continuing story with the slowly unraveling “Dark Phoenix Saga.” Number 129 was the first issue I read, but it was #137 that really hit me like a ton of bricks. I had never read a comic where they killed off a main character in what seemed to be a permanent sort of way. Jean Grey was really dead and not coming back next issue. In fact, the next issue was her funeral! This was in the days before the Internet and I didn’t read any comics related magazines so I actually thought that issue 138 was the very last issue of the title. It really felt like a final issue. Jean had died and Scott Summers, the heart and soul of the team to me, left for parts unknown at the end of the issue. I was pleasantly surprised to see another issue the following month, but happy knowing that the adventures of the X-Men would continue. I’ve been buying Uncanny X-Men ever since and a rather sad over the recent decision to retire the original numbering and relaunch it with a new #1.
In 1981 my mother and I moved to Gainesville, Florida and I discovered my first comic book specialty shop. I was in heaven. There were three in town, one close enough for me to ride my bike to. That was around the time that Direct Sales only titles started up, meaning you could only get them in comic shops. To me that meant I was in a select group of people who were the only ones that could read those comics. Micronauts and Ka-Zar were the first direct-only titles and the paper quality, edgier stories and no ads in these books what pretty awesome. I would know about adventures that lots of other folks would never know about. Additionally, these stores dedicated to nothing but comics allowed me to discover independent and self-published comics for the first time. This was when I found out that comics weren’t necessarily just about superheroes and you could tell any kind of story with word balloons and artwork. I also went to my first convention around this time and Bob MacLeod was there showing off artwork for The New Mutants prior to the Graphic Novel being published. This was a big deal as there had only been one X title up until that point. I stared in wonder at the character sketches and babbled stupidly to Bob about my love of the X-Men and how I wished John Byrne had never left the title. I was young and impressionable, ok?
Over the years I’ve never stopped loving to read comics. Admittedly, there are a couple of titles I have kept getting mostly just to keep up a collection, even if I haven’t enjoyed the storylines. But even those issues I’ve read, if only once. I still pull out favorite comic book runs and re-read them. Over the last few years it seems the fad, at least on the Internet, has become to treat everything as crap and spend lots of forum time speculating on what’s going to happen to certain titles months and months down the road…and then bitch about how awful it will be. A prime example is the upcoming DC Relaunch. With only an announcement to go by, there was instant hatred for the titles and it hasn’t seemed to abate, despite the glut of information that has been released. Even then, this is hatred for books that no one has even read yet. Many upcoming storylines and mini-series are already being dismissed out of hand based on a one or two line description before a single issue has even been produced. It’s trendy now to bad-mouth certain titles and creators. All that annoys me and seems really dumb. If you really don’t like comics in general or certain titles in particular, don’t read them. Move on to something you do like and promote the hell out of it so more people will buy it and it will stick around. Or, you know, actually wait and read the future book you are already bad-mouthing. You might actually like it. Me, I’ll hungrily read each and every comic in my pull list every Wednesday night, my food going cold beside me.
