Blind Side (film)
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| Blind Side | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Geoff Murphy |
| Written by | Stewart Lindh & Solomon Weingarten |
| Starring | Rebecca De Mornay, Rutger Hauer, Ron Silver |
| Release date(s) | 30 January 1993 |
| Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country | USA (MPAA: R) |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Blind Side is an HBO thriller movie for television filmed in 1993, starring Rutger Hauer, Rebecca De Mornay, and Ron Silver, and directed by Geoff Murphy.
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[edit] Synopsis
The premise of the story is that of a married couple, Lynn and Doug Kaines (De Mornay and Silver), owners of an exotic furniture design company, had visited Mexico, and on their night time return trip, with her at the wheel, they accidentally ran into and killed a Mexican police officer in the middle of the road. As it was, Mrs. Kaines was in her first term of pregnancy. They made no report of the accident lest they undergo the perils of a Mexican jail, but slid the dead cop to the side of the road and spirited their way back to the US. They had the front end damage to their car repaired clandestinely and had appeared to have gotten away with the incident.
Quite unexpectedly a vagabond named Jake Shell (Hauer), driving a dumpy old camper truck, shows up at their door hinting that he had witnessed the whole incident in Mexico. The character ends up being a ne'er-do-well, parasitic, and pathetic excuse for a human being. The story turns into a muddled entanglement of blackmail, on Shell's part, and appeasement, on the Kaines' part, that ends up in a physical confrontation with Shell and the Kaines', along with perverse sexual innuendo, and a suspenseful attempt for the Kaines to rid themselves of this nemesis without playing their hand concerning the Mexico incident to the law.
The movie aired on HBO in late 1993 and on NBC in early 1994.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Rutger Hauer | Jake Shell |
| Rebecca De Mornay | Lynn Kaines |
| Ron Silver | Doug Kaines |
| Jonathan Banks | Aaron |
| Mariska Hargitay | Melanie |
| Tamara Clatterbuck | Barbara Hall |
[edit] Film particulars
- Run time: 98 min
- Country and language: USA / English
- Color: in color
- Sound: Dolby
[edit] Locations
The movie was shot in three major locations. The opening scene in Mexico was shot last in Cabo San Lucas after the American location shoots. The accident scene was shot over a two week period in Agua Dulce, California, mostly with the use of the municipal airport.
The main story of the movie was shot over a three week period in Altadena, California. The furniture/factory showroom used the historic power substation of the Pacific Electric Railway's Mount Lowe line. The building was unoccupied and served well for the set. The residential shoot was done at an old mansion at the corner of New York Drive and Mar Vista Street. The house was up for sale and had been vacant for fourteen months.
The location management was handled by Chestnut Hill Productions with Tony Salome as the site manager. Tony played the home economics teacher in the comedy Wild Cats starring Goldie Hahn and Stacy Keach.
[edit] Film facts and trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- Rebecca DeMornay was chauffeured to the location daily. Ron Silver drove himself to the site. Rutger Hauer came on his motorcycle.
- The mansion had six bathrooms in the house, none of which worked. After a little repair, the location manager was able to cancel the rental of the "honeywagon," a movie locations port-a-potty, which is quite an expensive piece of equipment.
- The movie consisted of a scene by an outdoor jacuzzi which was not part of the original property. It was custom installed for the movie and sold for pennies on the dollar afterwards to a crew member. On the first night of filming in the jacuzzi's electric heating mechanism could not be started. Ms. DeMornay refused to get into the cold water, she could see her stand-in was starting to shiver. Until technical assistance could arrive to remedy the problem, the location manager had his crew run around to all the local neighbors collecting (unused) trash cans full of hot water to fill the tub. The action saved the evening's shoot.
- The movie was shot during August of 1993 when daytime temperatures were ranging from high nineties into the hundreds. The filming sequences moved from daytime shoots into nighttime shoots, but even early morning temperatures were still in the eighties. The old mansion had no air conditioning, so large outdoor units were brought to the set with "worm tubes" that conducted cool air into the house between shoots only. The noisy machines had to be shut off just before rolling the film.
- One sequence consisted of Mr. Hauer being accidentally set on fire. He dives into the jacuzzi to dowse the flames. Hauer wore a long grey duster, which is part of his on-screen persona. Six dusters were prepared in various states of burn for the scene. Of course a stunt double performed the scene which was a one-time, three-camera shot to catch the action from all sides.
- After the burn sequence the house catches on fire. The entire back porch, lanai-style area was boarded up with drywall so that the flames, driven from long gas pipes with pinholes in them, could pour out from under the overhang. Drywall can provide six hours of resistance to flame.
- The day after the last day of shooting in Altadena, the cast and crew went to Mexico to film the opening sequence of the movie.
