Daisy Journal: Time for Publicity Photos

Things couldn't be going better with Driving Miss Daisy. We've had our read-through and a week of rehearsals and things are coming together very nicely. The cast is a collection of great people who just happend to be wonderfully talented actors: Eve Connolly as Daisy, Lynn Baskin as Hoke and Lonnie McCullough as Boolie. From day one I could see a chemistry beginning to form. Rehearsals are a lot of fun because all three actors share a common skill-- they listen to their fellow actors. It's amazing how great an impact that trait has on the quality of the acting.

Next week we've scheduled a publicity photo shoot. My brother John, one of Daisy's Producers, will take the pictures. He's already taken pictures of a classic Cadellac and pictures of the house at Sayen Gardens. The shoot was arranged with the help of Jeff Cantor, our Master Builder, who just happens to be a member of an antique car club. After shooting the actors in front of a green screen, John will marry the actors' images with the images of the car and it will look like he did the shoot on location with the car in the middle of the summer. Even as snow powders the landscape outside my window. Pretty neat, huh.

Contributing to the photo shoot will be Erin Penney, the production's make-up specialist, and Diana Gilman Maurer, the production's stage manager, costumer and one of its producers. Over the next week they'll pull together the period costumes, wigs and make-up for the shoot, which is set in 1958. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.