Equity makes jump from stand-in to star

bveneri@hotmail.com

Equity goes from stand-in to star In filmmaking, a stand-in does just that -- stands in for the star so the production crew can check camera angles and lighting, make sound checks, get the shot ready to roll. You sometimes can find the names of stand-ins in the credits at the end -- well after "key grip" and "best boy," definitely in small type.
During the recent shoot of the film Passionada in and around New Bedford, the script called for close-ups of cast members sailing in Buzzards Bay, tacking near a lobster boat, getting away from their problems and enjoying the wind and the ocean just minutes from downtown. Members of the city's Portuguese community hooked the filmmakers up with John Pinheiro, skipper of Faial, a Bristol 42-footer well-known among area sailors. You might even call Faial a "star."

To sell the film's financiers on using Faial in the film, director Dan Ireland and co-executive producer Paul Bernard needed pictures. At the time, Faial was not in port, so they shot some photos of Equity, a 1989 Sabre 42 owned by Atty. Charles Murray and wife Susan of South Dartmouth.
Equity, with its sleek navy blue hull, red bootstripe and white bottom, looks a lot like Faial and was conveniently tied up at the dock in Padanaram.
Ireland and Bernard got their photos, overnighted them to the film's financiers, and got the green light to shoot aboard Faial. The following weekend, Faial -- while participating in the Low Tide Yacht Club-sponsored Schwartz Regatta -- hit a rock and had to limp back to port and onto the lift at Concordia for major repairs to the keel.
Equity, the stand-in, became the star.
The film's human stars, Sophia Milos and Jason Isaacs, along with supporting cast member Seymour Cassel, had to be onboard Equity for the shoot, as did owner and skipper Charles Murray (one of only three people aboard with sailing experience), John Pinheiro, first assistant director and co-producer Bernard, assorted camera people, sound people, and a makeup artist. In total, 14 people and hundreds of pounds of equipment, were aboard the 42-foot cruiser for a day and a half of shooting -- a half day at the Concordia dock and a very full day at sea.
"You couldn't see the boot (the stripe between a boat's topsides and bottom)," said Murray. "With all the equipment, the boat was pretty far down in the water. It must have been pathetic looking."
Murray, an attorney with a case pending in court in Taunton, had to ask Judge Gary Nickerson for time off because his "boat was being filmed" on the day the trial started -- as a high school civics class looked on. From the bench, Judge Nickerson turned to the class and said, "Can you believe this?" before granting Murray leave for his boat's role in Passionada.
His wife Susan, who -- some might say wisely -- watched the filmmaking from aboard the tugboat South Carolina, remained out of camera range, along with 50 other people and about $150,000 worth of cranes, booms, telescoping mikes, and other tools of the moviemaking trade. She said the shoot was "very exciting."
Her husband said he had to reach "a level of comfort with the abilities of Sophia and Jason" before he would let them take the helm.
After a half-day of shooting, Ms. Milos was able to bring Equity up to the C-MAST dock in Clark's Cove for a lunch break with minimal help from Murray and Pinheiro.
But Cassel, who had to take over the helm in some key scenes, "couldn't hold a course," Murray said. So, he set the autopilot so it would appear Cassel was handling the boat when in reality the wheel only had a couple of inches of play and the boat was effectively steering itself.
Sea conditions on July 18, the day they filmed the on-the-water shots, were light and winds were from the northeast going to northwest, relatively uncharacteristic for Buzzards Bay. Later on in the day, the wind "kicked up like crazy," said Murray. They moved the boat to a hairy spot between Keel Rock and White Rock near the Colonel Green Estate to finish filming.
Murray learned that filmmaking isn't a 9 to 5 job. He and Pinheiro took the boat out of Padanaram Harbor at 6:30 a.m., picked up the actors and crew at the C-MAST dock at 7 a.m., and didn't get back to shore till 8:30 at night.
Equity received payment from the film company as a facility -- much as if the filmmakers were renting a house. The fee was "nominal," according to Murray, but, he added, it wasn't about the money.
Filming aboard Equity that long day was "very arduous," said Murray. "It'll be interesting to see what comes out of it."
As the winds continued to shift, the filmmakers insisted on doing extra takes of a scene despite the fact that Murray and Pinheiro kept telling them "it isn't going to work." They tried to explain that the boat couldn't sail the same course if the wind was coming from a different direction. During one run in Clark's Cove, the assistant director insisted they continue filming despite a shift in wind. The sail kept back-winding and "the whole shot was a waste," according to Murray.
One member of the film crew aboard Equity "had done some work on 'The Perfect Storm,'" said Murray, and had sailed in the past, so he knew what Murray was trying to communicate to the rest of the filmmakers.
"The longer they were on the boat," said Murray, "the more they understood what I was talking about, and they just listened."
He found it interesting to experience the interaction between the actors and the "interplay between the assistant director and the director."
"They are all respectful of the director," Murray said of Ireland. "He knows how to handle people."
Right after filming on Passionada wrapped, the Murrays took off for a three-week cruise to the Bay of Fundy, Campobello Island, and the "far east" ports of Maine -- some pretty remote areas about as far from the fantasy world of filmmaking as you can get.
Parents of a son, Chris, 25, a two-time all-American sailor at Boston College, the Murrays -- like the rest of us -- are waiting to see Passionada's "final cut."
They'll be sitting in the theater, looking for those scenes filmed aboard their boat and watching the credits roll, waiting to see the name Equity -- the stand-in-turned-star.
Barbara Veneri sails a 28 ft. Soverel yawl in Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound. To reach her, send e-mail to: bveneri@hotmail.com, fax (508) 997-7491, or call the Standard-Times Sports Dept. at: 508-979-4460.


PHOTO CAPTION: (Pictured Above)
At the helm of his Sabre 42 Equity sailing in Apponogansett Bay in July is Atty. Charles Murray (left), with actress Sophia Milos and John Pinheiro, as members of the Passionada film crew look on.
Photo courtesy of Charles & Susan Murray.