Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1062452
DGA QUARTERLY 35 Taye Diggs played the band leader whom Roxie projects into her fanta- sies to introduce every number. Each time we found unique ways to present him in a surreal way. This silhouette was something we found in the moment against the proscenium. To make it as surreal as possible, we shot from this raked angle where the microphone was bigger than the human silhouette. I asked John Myhre (production designer) to create a theater that resembled a third-rate vaudeville house, so as you see here, there are missing lightbulbs, the curtain is tattered and pieces of the proscenium are broken off. My plan here was to completely fill the frame, in order to feel the manic energy of the press. Most of the camerawork here was handheld, to feel amongst them. The reporters in this frame (played by Rick Negron, Shaun Amyot and Cleve Asbury) are actor/sing- er/dancers, so that they could appear in both the reality and stage portions of the number. We had playback here and the actors had ear wigs, so it could be recorded live and then placed into the musical number. I had to amp up the "reality" section here a bit, in order to blend more seam- lessly with the vaudeville number we were inter- cutting with. Lots of flashbulbs here; anytime I needed a cutting point, flash and you're onto the stage. That helped a lot. With this close-up of Billy, you get to see the inner workings of his "act." Richard delivers a real tour-de-force here, having to sing Roxie's words, as well as his own. I loved being able to catch Billy's eyes while he tries to pull this charade off. At this point the press corps comes to life as marionettes on stage. The red bungee cords serve as marionette strings and are connected to steel hooks sewn into their costumes. The big question was, "Do we expose that?" I said Yes, I want to see all the mechanics of it. So, our costume designer Col- leen Atwood revealed their jacket seams so they have that puppet feel of hand-sewn costumes. I had four or five cameras working with each setup, and this shot was captured by a camera up in the theater's box, grabbing it with a long lens. John DeLuca (co-choreographer) and I worked hard to create choreography that was puppet-like: isolated moments—just one body part would move, then another—all meant to create an angular and unique dance vocabulary. 3 4 5 6 3 4 5 6