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Amber runs through the lines before a take.
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When given the opportunity to work outside the Joss-verse with the quality of talent she regularly has on the set of Buffy, James Marsters for example, only fun can ensue. And more fun when you add the likes of Angel's Andy Hallett. "I love them all," she admits. "They were a joy to work with and they made it a very special movie indeed." When being a part of the acting ensemble herself in Mere Smith's Indy film, we were wondering what challenges Mere put Amber up against, knowing how wacky Mere can be and Amber playfully confessed, "Well, after she beat me with a dogwood switch and made me sing the alphabet backwards fifteen times to the tune of the national anthem, we got on swimmingly. Kidding. She was a pleasure to work for," Amber professes. "She wrote an awesome script with a lot of kung fu grip action, peopled it with hot guys and then sat back in that director's chair and made us all feel like we were on a Spielberg film. She rocks and is an absolute doll. I'm ready to see her direct an Angel ep." Or shall we all say to Joss Whedon that Amber should direct a Buffy episode!
Each project has a personal goal for its creator whether it be emotional gain or just a learning experience. For Amber it was, "To just do it," she enthuses. "To prove to myself that a twenty-four year old nobody female could make a goddamned movie. Even if it turns out to be a pile of doggie doo at the end of the day, I can say that I did it." The proof is in the pudding or so they say, so where can fans get a taste of Amber's hard work? "Hopefully we will do the festival thing and then see what happens from there. If worse comes to worse, we can always put it on the Internet or sell it on video out of the back of my mini-van," comes the trademark Amber humor. But hopefully the critics will recognize Chance for what it is, a quality, well crafted piece of independent film work with the backing of original talent and depth to produce there much of same!
Mike Massa
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At the end of the day, what's your final thought? "Life is very short," Amber says. "Try everything you've dreamed about (within the perimeters of sanity and the law) and regret nothing. Oh, and don't forget the sunscreen."
Our second Summer Film addition comes two-fold with Mike Massa. Best know to Angel fans for taking the brunt of every punch, kick, fall and gut-wrenching, body crunching attack on the dead-guy, Mike gets plenty of action off the set as well! Last year when we spoke to him for his own exclusive feature he was just returning from Hawaii where he completed production on the recently released epic WWII film, Pearl Harbor. We caught up with Mike just as he walked in the door from shooting his final scenes on the much anticipated sequel to The Matrix entitled, The Matrix Reloaded.
Heli-shots capture the perfect angle for the strafing scenes
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"There's actually a book, The Making of Pearl Harbor and I'm in it," Mike is happy to point out. "On the second page there's this explosion and this wall of fire and you can only see half of me because my body got cut off but that was all real." For all the damage that was done to recreate an authentic look to the attack it's no wonder that Mike had a few favorites moments that he could recollect for us. "Actually there were so many. There was this one scene where Josh and Ben have to run and there's this truck that they're going to explode. The stunt coordinator is telling me that this has to be done in one take, we can't recharge [the explosions] this again. It's a one-take shot." Mike explains the details of the stunt as he was told, " 'What's going to happen is the truck is going to roll in on your and it's going to blow up, then the fire if going to roll over you so don't move. Just tuck down and close your mouth, don't breath and let it roll right over you. 'Then', he says, 'see that guy behind you? He's your third eye. You're gonna look at each, together and then look at him and he's gonna tell you that if the fire is coming on you, if that truck is going to roll over on you and you're gonna look back and shake each other because your suppose to be fighting.' And he's telling me all this nonchalantly and I'm like, 'Oh my god,' " he says laughing.
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