Zen & the Asteroid Blog
Friday, October 08, 2004
<
Notes regarding the creation of the character named SIMPEE.
As I near the completion of ZATA, and working on the special fx for SIMPEE, I find myself reflecting on the genesis of this character's creation.
This is one of the favorite characters in the ZATA movie for many viewers who appreciate his stubborn resolve and unforgetable catch phrase----
"Understood, However...this ship belongs to me."
I originally envisioned this character in a moment of creative epiphany on 8.24.02, the same day that we filmed it.
This is my under-stated entry from that day:
< 8.24.02 - Filmed 'SIMPEE and CRAIG' at NNMDV bluescreen studio with Eloy Gutierrez as CRAIG and Chris Norris as SIMPEE, the Spaceship Integrated Maintenance Personal Electronic Engineer. Special thanks to Leslie Foster on Camera 1, Colin Runnels, Conchita Tamondong, Maliah Rosenbloom, Galileo Zen, Katy and Suzie Yonda. <--S.I.M.P.E.E.->
2 years into making ZATA, I suddenly had access to the acting skills of Chris Norris, a rather absurd fellow and old friend from SantaFe/NewYork/SanFran.
I had a vague idea about a spaceship-like, 'talking heads' scene between two robots. I already had an android character in ZATA named C.R.A.I.G. who was originally conceived by Javier Arellano (script co-writer).
So I made a new character, a stubborn hologram to maximize Chris' mime-like absurd potential. A quick flex of my English major muscle and I came up with the acronym, Spacecraft Integrated Maintenance Personal Electronic Engineer, or SIMPEE. (Which we often confused with SMPTE for technical reasons.)
This was an abruptly scheduled film shoot. When I said 'suddenly had access' up above, I meant it. Chris was in Espanola for a day, and that day was tomorrow. With 6 well-placed phone calls, I had a crew for tomorrow to film bluescreen in my garage.
The crew showed up the next morning--donuts, coffee, standard production meeting.
And then came the joyous part of the creation of SIMPEE:
As the crew was setting everything up...
As the sound was being checked...
As the actors were in costume and getting their make up....
I walked into my office and wrote the script.
20 minutes before filming, I wrote the script. That cracks me up.
I emerged from my office, script in hand, giggling to myself and gave the actors their copy.
1 page of my best writing.
We filmed it and laughed, and did retakes and laughed, and improvisation. It was hard to keep from laughing during takes.
Afterwords, we watched the dailies, drank some beers and laughed till we cried. I eventually expanded SIMPEE's role in the movie and shot 4 additional scenes.
As a bonus, some of the outtakes have been added to the End Credits section of ZATA.
And two years later, I'm still doing special fx, but I'm THIS CLOSE to completion.
And that is the truth behind The Birth of SIMPEE.
<!--11:31 AM-->
/archives
