Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1197255
accurately, and was even asked to leave the set. Hilton Greene was a producer on Mr. Mom, and saw talent in John, so he agreed to produce Sixteen Candles, and called up the best crew he could gather. When they first met, John and Jim hit it off right away. John was very critical about who recorded his sound, as he wanted to hear his words clearly. He was impressed with Jim's credits, and would ask him about different movies he'd worked on. Jim was modest, and explained he was just there to do a good job. John liked that. Sixteen Candles was shot primarily on location in Chicago, where they had converted an old high school gym into a soundstage. There were a lot of big setups, scenes with various playback cues and dialogue in between, with the "earthquake" speaker for a thump track. The style of dialogue was often loose with lots of ad-libs, so they always had two booms and a full rack of plants; nothing out of the ordinary for Jim and his crew. With Greg Agalsoff on boom and Jeff Williams as his cable, they fought to record every line, scripted or not. He told his crew, "This guy really knows what he's doing. We should stick with him. He'll go a long way." Jim was good with spotting talent, and he was right. John was very involved with sound, always checking in with Jim and making sure he had what he needed. Their relationship would grow and grow, as they also spent time together after work watching dailies. John was always surprised that he could hear everyone clearly. Without hesitation, John hired Jim on his next film, The Breakfast Club. This was in the middle of a writer's strike, so John had apparently written the script in a week or so, then put his pen down. He never wrote another line, although he would direct the actors to say whatever worked. This made for an avant-garde style of filmmaking where actors and John were allowed the freedom to ad-lib, as long as it fit the idea. There were points where Jim would need four boom operators to nail a scene and an additional number of plant mics, sometimes hot-swapping between lines to cover everything. At this point, John could see all the discipline and skills that Jim and his crew brought to the table. He began referring to Jim as "The Master," first in a light-hearted affinity, then it just stuck. There was a new mayor in Chicago, who saw a vision for the film industry and all its possibilities. John was helping make that vision become real. John loved Chicago and Chicago loved him, so he basically had a key to the city. After the success of The From top: Jim being a goofball on the set of Golden Child; on the set of Sixteen Candles