The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast · A L Katz

S4E5: Endings Are NEVER Pretty

·1 hr 3 min·4 clips

The climax was shot in July in Vancouver, where night was only six hours long.

1. The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast episode 'Endings Are NEVER Pretty' follows the Bordello of Blood production as it runs out of time, crew, and goodwill in Vancouver. 2. Alan Katz hosts with Gil Adler, Ed Tapio, Todd Masters, and later Randall Thropp, and each name matters because they handled production, effects, or postproduction decisions. 3. The episode asks what happens when a horror movie and a long creative partnership both reach the end at the same time. 4. Ed Tapio says Dennis Miller kept changing blocking, refusing entrances, and forcing Gil Adler to redo the shot list almost every day. 5. Gil Adler says Dennis did not want to be there and still would not shoot quickly, even after rehearsals and camera setups were ready. 6. The crew shifted its weekend to Thursday-Friday because Dennis rehearsed on Thursday and shot on Friday for his HBO schedule. 7. Ed Tapio says the Canadian crew wanted weekends with their families, and some left because the schedule no longer fit their lives. 8. Corey Feldman, Erika Eleniak, and other day players were frustrated because Dennis would go back to the hotel early and leave scripted dialogue to be read by the script supervisor. 9. Ed Tapio says Corey Feldman stayed professional, knew his lines, and kept pitching ways to improve the character. 10. The discussion of cigarettes, Marlboros, Taco Bell, and border runs to Blaine shows how small logistics became part of keeping Corey and Angie working. 11. Todd Masters says hiring Dennis forced a reduction in the special-effects budget, even though the audience cared about makeup effects most. 12. Masters recalls warning Gil Adler not to shoot Angie's final stage because it would need to be recreated and would cost the same or more to redo. 13. Ed Tapio says about 60% of the crew had left by the end, so costumes, makeup, grip, and electric were all rotating people. 14. The power-plant night shoot turns into a crew-visible confrontation when Corey fires back at Dennis and Lee Knipperberg separates them. 15. Alan Katz says the climax shoot felt 'feudal' because Vancouver summer nights were only six hours long inside a 12-hour day. 16. The team used French hours, three cameras, and even Tom Priestley on a spotlight to finish before daylight reached the set. 17. Alan Katz says Dennis hugged him after the final shot and invited him to Santa Barbara, but Katz told him 'I wouldn't come.' 18. The wrap lands with a collective shrug, a skipped wrap party, and Colleen Neistat hosting the party at her house instead. 19. Listeners interested in film production chaos, horror makeup, and set politics will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners seeking a clean technical breakdown without interpersonal conflict may skip it.

As heard by us

A bruised, funny account of a production that kept finding new ways to go wrong.

This installment stays with the last stretch of Bordello of Blood as the production moves through Vancouver and London, where taxes, locations, and plain logistics keep turning each plan into a new snag.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Press play if you want the movie-math behind a production meltdown.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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