Dogs Of Chinatown

We are almost done with principle shooting on Dogs Of Chinatown. Just a couple more scenes to shoot and several insert shots. Oct 3rd, we said our goodbyes to Eric Jacobus (hopped a plane back to California). Micah and myself had been big fans of the Stunt People for a long time now and it was great to finally get a chance to work with them. Hopefully on the next film we’ll get to bring more of their crew out to the east coast.

When we were casting this film, I felt like Eric was the guy for the role. We knew he could handle the action scenes but I felt like he had the same qualities as Jackie Chan. He’s great at playing the underdog and you just want to cheer for the guy. He really stepped up his acting on this film. It helps that he was surrounded by an amazingly talented cast. He’s just a great guy to hang out with as well. I was really impressed that he went out of his way to give Paul and Josh some quality action sequences in the film. He knew those guys were driving a long way to be in the film and he made an extra effort to make those scenes as good as they could be. We were very fortunate to have a lead actor that was that giving of himself and I would jump at the chance to work with him again. I think our crew and his crew back home approach filmmaking in kind of the same way. I can’t wait to get The Stunt People involved in something else as soon as possible.

Also wanted to really thank Ray Carbonel for coming out as well. I felt really bad about having him do two major fight scenes in just a few days but our schedule and budget wouldn’t really allow more time. He was pretty beaten up by the time we were done but I never heard him complain once. He’s a trooper. Not only did he act, do fight scenes and stunts but he also helped crew when he wasn’t in front of the camera. One of the best people I’ve ever meet and a huge asset to our production. I wish we could find a way to keep him out here.

More thanks go out to Paul (Connecticut) and Josh (Ohio) who drove all the way to North Carolina on their own dime because they really liked what we were doing and felt that strong about being involved in this project. You guys were awesome and we really got a lot more out of those scenes by having you here. It was a real pleasure and honor having you two on board.

Our cast was amazing. I knew we had cast well but I was just in awe some days. I can’t believe we were able to get such a talented group of people involved in this project. Micah and myself believed in the project but it really meant a lot to us that everyone embraced this film the way they did. I felt like everyone gave it their all. Big thanks to Huyen, Bill, Patrick, Rudy, Minh, Randall, Jay, Brian, Ray, Matt, Kathryn and the rest of the cast. You really brought these characters to life and made this such an amazing experience for Micah and myself. I look forward to seeing everyone again during the ADR process and at the wrap party.

Definitely want to thank all the local press who came out and covered the film. Thanks to WFMY and Carolina 14 for coming out to the set and studio to cover our film. We are a small production so every bit of press we can get helps. Big thanks to Mark Burger and Kenny Lindsay at Yes Weekly for coming out a doing a story on us. You guys rock! See you at the wrap party.

More thanks to everyone who hooked us up with the locations for the film. Vernon Brown for letting us shoot at the warehouse in High Point. Christian for letting us do a fight scene at Solaris (sorry for getting the place so dirty but we did get everything cleaned up). Burley for letting us shoot over at Somewhere Else Tavern. Jim Peoples for letting us shoot at Revolution Mill. The Triangle Kung Fu Arnis Academy in Raleigh for letting us film there. Jason at College Hill Sundries for hooking us up. Brian at Jabs Ultra Bar for all your help. The Stevens for letting us film at their beautiful house. Papa Moore for being so generous and letting us film at his home. The Press for letting us film in such a great location. And a huge thanks to Kenny, Joe and Marc for hooking us up at Greene Street Club. Joe wasn’t feeling well but still made sure that we were able to get things done there. And I also wanted to thank Junji and the Brutal Noodle gang for the amazing food that they prepared for us. I’ve never eaten so well on a film before. You guys are the best, hands down.

A huge thanks goes out to our crew. This film has so much more in it than the budget should allow and that’s thanks to the amazing crew we had, all five of us – Micah Moore, Andy Coon, Jesse Knight, Andrew Comstock and myself. I’ve worked on other films where they had a much bigger crew and they didn’t get nearly as much accomplished as we did on this project. Everyone pitched in and got everything on screen that we wanted. Micah and myself know how much we can do and how hard we’ll work but Andy, Andrew and Jesse were there the whole time busting ass and getting the job done. You guys are greatly appreciated and because we have reliable people like you on board, me and Micah can plan even bigger projects.

And last, to my partner in crime, Micah Moore. It’s always very rewarding to bring your projects to life. I think the restraints of the budget caused a little more stress on this one especially with all we were trying to do but the lack of sleep and us bitching at each other from time to time is all worth it. I know we still have a long way to go on this one but I can already tell this is the beginning of bigger things to come. I look forward to the challenges of the next one.

Thanks again to everyone involved in this project,

Blake Faucette

(finally catching up on some sleep)