It hasn't seen the light of day since.
Flash back to that autumn when this movie was being made. Essentially, and my timeline may be wrong...it was a concept project that was made to see if we could make a feature film level shooting on a miniature scale. It was still going to be a short, but to exercise our skills of how many pages we could cover in a day.
There was a horror feature film made that sort of grew out of control. So in order to reset the mindset of no-budget shooting, a small group of us made a 48 Hour film festival project. The rules were, you got a name and a phrase and you had two days to make the movie. I thought we kicked ass on ours. So this led to the thought that perhaps we could shoot something much more substantial. And with less time and money than the horror feature.
Enter "Vandez." I was, at the time, wanting to be a cinematographer. Though, my hard drinking led
me to be complacent. I recall being asked to shoot this project, as I don't believe anyone in our group having camera experience. I had a little bit of digital camera dealings, but at first I was hesitant to do the project, honestly believing it was beneath me. Drunk as I was, everything was beneath me because that's how drunks think. I was derailed anyway. Didn't care.
I was given the script, and I was laughing so hard. I mean, it was genuinely funny. Because it was so random. The pieces were like some warped cartoon character. A man named Vandez comes to a small town and runs into a back alley slag. Vandez being Vandez has sex with anything female, especially if she's married.
Post-coital we learn the slag is married to the biggest drug dealer in the town. Though she has now grown a fondness for Vandez. Unfortunately, the Drug Dealer also has goons that make Vandez's life Hell. I'm sure I'm leaving out details. But, it was shot in four days over Thanksgiving. Man, we ran all throughout Los Angeles. I mean, we ended up in Compton somewhere at some point. A friend's cousin had come out. And if you ever wanted to paint a portrait of what a carny looked like...it would be this guy. Imagine him in Compton. It was a total sprint. And we got the movie shot. Exhausting but fun.
Then editing began. Or didn't. To my recollection, it died right there. Radio silence from all involved. I recall pestering the director about the cut. He had faith in this one guy who had cut the 48 Hour Festival project, but promised nothing on this project. It languished for...I can't remember, but it was months. Then it all but lost momentum.
In movies, the only thing that matters is...the movie. So I took initiative and slapped the project together. Stories differ at this point, as I'm sure I haven't heard the complete tale, but it seemed the director was incensed that I'd done that. Most likely undermining his faith in an editor he was counting on who had been sitting on the project for months. Was it for me to cut together and chuck back to him like he was slacking? Nope. But, also being trained as a filmmaker, he also had an obligation to the talent that was involved. And that didn't sit right with me.
I got the sense that he reluctantly pushed forth with the project. And eventually it was fine-tuned by another editor. A cut which I openly (and verbally expressed) hated. The project was on my hard drive for a while. And then the hard drive failed. Since that screening, the movie has all but disappeared. There have been sightings. And great memories of the shoot. But...just...that movie that was kinda there. Every once in a while, I'd hear "remember that movie, 'Vandez'" And I'd chuckle to myself...yeah...I do. It was fun. It was the last time we really made something bigger than our dreams could handle. I've been on bigger budgeted shoots. But, for some reason this one still has the most fondest memories. Mostly because it was such a sprint. And the people who were involved...there was a purity to just doing a movie that was this scattershot that doesn't exists anymore. Truly, it doesn't. All the new movie makers are so super serious. They strangle the fun from their movies. Look at the images now...dark, brooding and melancholic. Why? Because it means they are deep. For "Vandez" it is a cartoon come to life.
What's the lesson to be held here?...maybe the lore is better than the project itself.
It holds a special mythical quality to it nowadays as a project that was never finished. Except for that room of people who were fortunate to have watched it once.
Come on...wouldn't you want to watch this movie!:
NEVER! 😉
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