September 15, 2004
Berkeley, CA
METAL TEARS is the new short feature film from Smash & Grab Productions , a company founded in 2002 by then Berkeley High School film student John Bradbury and his father, Jerry, to produce John's films. John is now a Junior at UC Santa Cruz, majoring in film.
THE STORY:
In "METAL TEARS", two 30th century treasure hunters (played by Jeff Bell and Raza Usman) find a deactivated care-giving robot named Sammy (Mark Erman) on a deserted pioneer world. Repaired and reactivated, the robot tells them about the life of his charge, Miss Emily, and asks a special favor. In its forty minute run-time, the film chronicles the change to the protagonist's impacted personality caused by his interaction with Sammy, the robot; how this "sardonic and ill-mannered" human comes to understand and then embrace the qualities of honesty and loyalty.
The Bradburys adapted the screenplay from the Hugo-nominated short story,"Robots Don't Cry," by award winning Science Fiction writer Mike Resnick. "Metal Tears" premiered at Noreascon4, the World Science Fiction Convention in Boston on September 3, 2004, and was very well received. Both Mike and Carol Resnick and Bob Faw, an author and filmmaker, praised the project.
HOW "ROBOTS DON'T CRY" BECAME "METAL TEARS"
Jerry Bradbury first read the story in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine in the summer of 2003. Intrigued by the story arc, the characters and the dialog, he helped John approach the author for permission to adapt it for the screen as a student film project. Mr. Resnick, who currently has three other works in development in Hollywood, not only agreed, but also offered to vet the finished script and lobby for a premiere at the Worldcon. Without his help and support, the project would have ended there. With the finished script in hand, the Bradburys approached their financial advisor and produced a shoestring budget of $5,000. They contributed to the fund themselves and raised the rest from parents of students involved with the production. When the need for extra equipment arose, they raised another $1,500 from family and finally brought the film in $129 under budget.
Such a tiny budget required getting as many services as possible for free and a great amount of luck as well. The film was shot entirely on location in El Cerrito, Berkeley, King City and the Topo Valley, California. Permission to shoot was generously donated by the property owners. The crew, consisting of other UC Santa Cruz students and friends, donated their services, as did the cast. An electronic posting at sfcasting.com brought in over sixty resumes for the eleven parts. Two days of auditions and a half-day of callbacks and they had assembled a great cast, each one dedicated and willing to expend hours of time and energy on behalf of the film for no compensation. Hard costs were limited to transportation, food, lodging, equipment, supplies and sound. Vanguard Records kindly sold the production a license to use two songs by grass roots singer-songwriter Ramsay Midwood for the opening and closing scenes at a very reasonable price.
Six days on location produced eight hours of mini-DVD film that was edited down to thirty minutes on Bradbury's Macintosh computer using Final Cut Pro software. A copy of the final edit was sent to New York to be scored by another friend, Gaby Alter of Emerald Rain Productions, again gratis. The film has been entered in film festivals around the country and will also be shown at many Science Fiction Conventions this year. Hopefully this exposure will generate the buzz necessary to interest investors in the next Smash and Grab Productions feature.
THE CAST
Mike: The protagonist. Needing someone with the range to show the awakening of this ill mannered and sardonic character's compassion caused by his interaction with Sammy the robot, the Bradburys found Jeff Bell, a trained Shakespearean actor and singer-songwriter, now branching out into film. In addition to this role, Jeff currently plays the comic character, Itchy Wallace, in "Ms.Sally's Burlesque Revue" at the Belrose Theatre in San Rafael, California to rave reviews. He also has a lead role in the feature film "Hitchhiker", scheduled to wrap in late July and continues his Shakespearean pursuits in ”Much Ado About Nothing”, playing in Mill Valley in August and September.
Rezz: The foil; the alien partner who jabs and prods at Mike. They found Raza Usman, an alien to the US (he's Pakistani), trying his luck in film. Raza brought to the part that ineffable air of difference that they were looking for without resorting to hokey prosthetics.
Sammy: The robot. The catalyst. Sammy was the most difficult part to cast. They needed someone whose flat delivery of the robot's lines could contain the subtle variations that produce the feelings in Mike's cold, indifferent heart. Luckily, Mark Erman came to auditions. Mark has appeared in several film and TV productions in the Bay Area ("Firetrap", "Queens Over Jacks", Return to Haddenfield" "Brake Me Down" and "Holding Doors"). They thought when he walked through the door that they had their Sammy. His readings clinched it and his performance has just added to their belief.
Miss Emily: Sammy's charge. The love object. Since Miss Emily ages from ten to an apparent seventy in the course of the story, instead of heavy makeup to simulate aging, they used four different actresses to represent the character at age 10, age 14, age 22 and age 70 The Bradburys narrowed the choices down to a line of blondes and a line of brunettes and decided the brunettes were the strongest. They found Kayla Bauer (age 10 going on 20), Jessica LaRocca, 14, who surprised them at callbacks by being able to reach inside and dredge up real sorrow from her past to motivate her performance, Kate Mines, another veteren of Shakespeare's plays, whose assiduous preparation moved everyone, and Pamela Marsh, painter and frequent cast member of Actors Ensemble of Berkeley performances who brought a quiet wisdom and experience to the production that inspired everyone.
Old Mike: The storyteller. They needed a Mike who looked as if he had been buffeted by time and mellowed by his experiences to drive the bookends of the film. Skip Emerson, actor and director with the Vintage Repertory Company filled that bill admirably.
Barfly: The storyteller's audience. Veteran Bay Area character actor, Ann Thomas, plays it attentive and seductive.
Mech 3: The robot mechanic who fixes things. They had considered casting a small female in this role until they met Sam Rubin, at age 11 an accomplished actor and director of his own short films. Sam was enthralled by the part of the robot and his enthusiasm convinced them to cast him.
Mech 7: Both producer and director are still amazed that Robert Perry was willing to devote the amount of time he did for one line in the film. But he was, and they consider themselves fortunate to have found someone of the right physique for the part who was so willing a participant.
Producer Jerry Bradbury says, "Words cannot express how grateful we are to all the cast and crew members, donors and muses who helped us put this project together. Without them, the show would not go on."