There Will Be (Fake) Blood: Travis Legge’s “Raymond Did It”

Yesterday we had the honor of joining indie director Travis Legge‘s set for a few hours. He’s in the final days of shooting for his horror feature ‘Raymond Did It.”  Our good friend and TILT co-hort Phil Holbrook was there, too.

We’ve heard so many great things about Travis lately that we were a little suspicious that he just had a good PR team, so we snuck onto the set before he showed up to get the REAL scoop from his cast and crew. Here’s what we found out:

Travis Truth #1 – Everybody Loves Travis

Travis Legge

• When we got to the set, I batted my eyelashes and Jess let a little skin show (all in the name of fake investigative journalism), but it was all for naught.  Not matter who we talked to, the answer was the same: “I love Travis. I’d do anything for Travis.” Actually, they all said the EXACT same words in the EXACT same monotone voice, as if they’d been coached…or hypnotized. Very fishy.  We decided to observe their behavior to find out what they really thought, because actions speak louder than creepily rehearsed words…

Travis Truth #2 – Travis Makes People Wanna Work

Phil + Jess at work

• The proof is in the picture.  Travis put us to work shooting, boom mic-ing, and script supervising, and somehow one of us ended up making some (SPOILER ALERT!!) grilled cheese sandwiches.  Additionally, Jess and I drove 2 1/2 hours to help Travis out; Phil, almost 12.  Who else have we done that for?
• As for Travis’ regular crew, you should see them jump when he speaks.  Sometimes all Travis has to do it grunt and point, and 3 people scramble to fulfill his wish.  We saw people move stoves, feed Travis burritos, and relocate full-grown trees. Not even kidding about that last one: a tree had fallen on the ‘Raymond Did It’ house the night before this shoot, and folks worked all morning and afternoon to cut it up and clear it out so that exterior shots could be taken care of before Travis lost his light.  Blind dedication.

Travis Truth #3 – Even movie set curses can’t scare people from Travis’ set.

'Raymond' star Kyle Hoskins looks safe...for now

• The cast and crew of ‘Raymond’ have been showing up day after day despite a rapidly growing list of minor tragedies. We already mentioned the tree falling on the house, but here’s what else they’ve been contending with: several cast/crew members have gotten sick or been in the hospital, Travis dislocated his shoulder, 2 cast/crew cars have died, another cast/crew member’s car was severely scratched up, several cell phones have met their maker, and Julie and Jessica BOTH got mild sun burns. Coincidence or ‘Raymond Did It’ curse? You be the judge.

Okay, so our in-depth research showed that everyone really does love Travis. Everyone who works with him would gladly do it again, ourselves included. We cannot wait to see ‘Raymond Did It’ and to hang out with Travis off-set. We hear he might be helping Phil out with the TILT shoot in September, in case anyone else wants to take a Brainerd road trip…

Ready to check out Julie’s interview with Travis about being a first time indie feature director?

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 20th, 2010 at 11:44 am. It is filed under FILM and tagged with indie film, Phil Holbrook, raymond did it, rockford, travis legge. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.