stories from the making of See Me
You can see something is written on the front left corner of the Janitor's cart. I was stunned to find it is the word: Hope.
All of the seniors in this film were residents of the Actors' Fund Home.
Helen Sandow, the star of the film, broke her arm a few days before shooting was scheduled. I told her I would postpone the shoot for several months until she recovered, but she insisted we go ahead. She seemed to feel that making this film was urgent and it mattered greatly to her. She was an incredible trooper throughout the shoot. Helen, like all the other cast and crew members of See Me, felt called to bring this poem to life.
Helen's personal life story mirrors the story in the poem. The photos of her treasured children and grandchildren, and the photo of her beloved, recently deceased husband of over fifty years, by her bed, are all her own personal photos. Amazingly, I did not even need to move the photos for filming because they were already placed exactly as I had imagined them for the film.
One of the senior cast members had been estranged from his/her family for years. To get permission to work with this senior actor, I had to speak with the family. They agreed to allow filming. When the film was finished, I held a screening for the entire Actors' Fund Home and their families. This actor's family, after years of estrangement, came to that screening, and after watching the film they all embraced, laughed and cried. They were reunited through this film. This actor passed away a few days later. See Me had begun to do it's job even before being released.
Coby Neal, playing the elderly Shakespearean actor, was not one of the residents who signed up as being interested in meeting with me about acting in this film. I met Coby accidentally in the nursing home lounge on a break between interviews and struck up a conversation with him and read him the poem upon which the film is based. After hearing it, he was silent for a time and I saw a tear in his eye. He just said, "I'd like to be in this."
So I asked Coby if he would let me record his voice and he effortlessly launched into a soliloquy from memory. It is the Hamlet soliloquy that remains in the film. In fact, the audio of this soliloquy in the film is from Coby's performance of it at that first meeting, because it turned out to be his best. Witnessing such passion, sharpness, and emotion suddenly emerge from this seemingly docile, quiet senior, whom I had just met, was a gift for me of the message of the film realized... all in that moment preparing to make it.
All of the seniors in this film were residents of the Actors' Fund Home.
Helen Sandow, the star of the film, broke her arm a few days before shooting was scheduled. I told her I would postpone the shoot for several months until she recovered, but she insisted we go ahead. She seemed to feel that making this film was urgent and it mattered greatly to her. She was an incredible trooper throughout the shoot. Helen, like all the other cast and crew members of See Me, felt called to bring this poem to life.
Helen's personal life story mirrors the story in the poem. The photos of her treasured children and grandchildren, and the photo of her beloved, recently deceased husband of over fifty years, by her bed, are all her own personal photos. Amazingly, I did not even need to move the photos for filming because they were already placed exactly as I had imagined them for the film.
One of the senior cast members had been estranged from his/her family for years. To get permission to work with this senior actor, I had to speak with the family. They agreed to allow filming. When the film was finished, I held a screening for the entire Actors' Fund Home and their families. This actor's family, after years of estrangement, came to that screening, and after watching the film they all embraced, laughed and cried. They were reunited through this film. This actor passed away a few days later. See Me had begun to do it's job even before being released.
Coby Neal, playing the elderly Shakespearean actor, was not one of the residents who signed up as being interested in meeting with me about acting in this film. I met Coby accidentally in the nursing home lounge on a break between interviews and struck up a conversation with him and read him the poem upon which the film is based. After hearing it, he was silent for a time and I saw a tear in his eye. He just said, "I'd like to be in this."
So I asked Coby if he would let me record his voice and he effortlessly launched into a soliloquy from memory. It is the Hamlet soliloquy that remains in the film. In fact, the audio of this soliloquy in the film is from Coby's performance of it at that first meeting, because it turned out to be his best. Witnessing such passion, sharpness, and emotion suddenly emerge from this seemingly docile, quiet senior, whom I had just met, was a gift for me of the message of the film realized... all in that moment preparing to make it.
