Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1491103
24 S P R I N G 2 0 2 3 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y And then there's a film that, to this day, is one of my favorite films to have worked on. I was probably stressed out at the time. In fact, Kevin will attest to this, but to have worked on Bob Rafelson's film Blood and Wine with Jack Nicholson, Stephen Dorff, Michael Caine, Judy Davis, and then an unknown actress by the name of Jennifer Lopez. Scott Warren was my boom operator on Blood and Wine with Kevin as utility. So, at this point, you've worked with some huge names like Brando, Nicholson, Caine. Those all stand out on a résumé, for sure. Yes, but there's a certain anxiety when you're working with actors of that caliber. In '95, '96, I was pretty young. I definitely felt the pressure of working with Jack Nicholson. He has a certain presence with him. He doesn't want to do rehearsals and his relationship with Bob Rafelson dates back to the '60s, so there's a sort of shorthand between them. But being able to be on that set, working with those actors and then seeing the finished film, I was just so pleased with what made it into the final, which I think was all our production dialogue. Any Given Sunday. Once again, you got the call for the film, which for the most part, shot in Florida. After that, you made the move to LA. What was it that made you decide to relocate? There are films that are significant for me in terms of where I was going to go with my career and how I was going to do it. And, sadly, fewer films were being made in Florida. I knew that if I was to continue on this journey of doing bigger films and working with more recognized filmmakers, I was going to have to make that jump. However, there were films that opened the door to films in LA. Back in 1999, I'd heard that Oliver Stone was going to shoot Any Given Sunday in Florida. I had relationships with the folks at Soundelux. I think Wylie Stateman contacted producer Clayton Townsend and put in a good word for me. I spoke with Clayton, who had worked with and been a line producer on several of Oliver's films. Since I was local to Miami, I'm sure that helped. And who wouldn't want to work with Oliver Stone on a film that was going to be so significant? He's coming from directing JFK and Born on the Fourth of July, so every kind of story that he takes, he does it in a unique manner and I wanted to be a part of that one. And that's of course, where you and I met, in Texas. Yes it was. I had a pretty big sound department and that's the first time I kind of got into more multi-tracking. That film was 59 days, but I'm sure it should have been 109 days because the amount of work that we crammed into those 59 days was so significant! What did you think when you saw us roll into town? [The film was shot in Miami and Texas.] It was massive and we hit the ground running [Phil was a second unit boom operator]. We spent the first couple of days trying to keep up and learn what sort of expectations there were. It was a nonstop production. We never stopped for meals. We never did. It was just go, go, go, go, go! I enjoyed it. Got to meet a lot of great people. I saw how you worked with Sal Totino, the cinematographer. It was fantastic. So, Phil, when you talk about Any Given Sunday, there are scenes that kind of stay with you. There was a particular scene where Al Pacino gives his locker room speech, which is one of those speeches that still stands today and is still played today for teams as they're traveling on the bus. Anytime I see that and hear that speech, I stop and listen to it. I can remember the day that we recorded it and I can remember every moment of that scene. It's just that Al Pacino has such a particular tone in his voice, and to have been the person to record that speech and to have been with my team of Kevin Cerchiai and Mike Schmidt, there are moments that we all capture that we are incredibly proud of. Was that your last Florida-based film? I think one of the last films I did in Florida was Monster. It was with a young director and was her first feature—which she also wrote—Patty Jenkins. Charlize Theron played the serial killer Any Given Sunday With Oliver Stone