Q:
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Was "In
Plain View" a good experience?
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For
anyone who likes to make movies there are no bad experiences
making them. I love every minute of it. I prefer to shoot,
edit or write than being at a party.
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Q:
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Are
you serious?
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OM:
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Making
movies is what I consider a wonderful party.
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Well,
let's see if what you are saying is true. Let's start
with the actors.
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OM:
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It
was very gratifying to work with a pool of tremendously
talented actors like Rene Lavan, Ruth Livier, Ruben Rabasa,
Orna Rachovitsky, Shelly Kurtz, Chris Alan,
Agustin Buñuel,
Carolina Barcos, Benny Nieves, Teresa Berkin, Dennis
Curry, John Allen, and the rest of the cast. They brought
to
each
character
an exquisite touch that would be the envy of anyone.
I gave a simple direction to the actors playing the bad
guys, --"I want you to be simple and natural. No
bad guy faces or poses, please! On the contrary, be as
nice and charming as you possibly can be! Your characters,
believe very deeply that what they are doing is the right
thing. You must accomplish your goals no matter what
because you are absolutely sure that humanity will benefit
from it and God will definitely be very proud of you
and will be on your side."
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Q:
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What
about the good guys? Did you tell them to be saints?
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OM:
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(Laughs) I
said basically the same thing to the actors playing the
good guys. But with a little twist. If you need to bend
the law a little bit to catch a bad guy . . .
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Q:
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(Cuts
him off) Oh, no, no, no, don't say that, please!
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OM:
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Yes,
I did say it. Bend it!
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Q:
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Bend
the law! But, aren't they the good guys?!
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OM:
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Of
course, they are! Let me ask you -- Are you a good person?
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Q:
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Yes,
most of the time
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OM:
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There
you go! You are not 100 percent good! No one is.
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Q:
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So,
as long as you put the bad guys behind bars that is okay.
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OM:
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Correct.
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Q:
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Ooookeeey.
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OM:
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With
the direction I gave the actors it was enough for them
to be magnificent in their roles. The proof is when you
watch them perform on the screen.
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Q:
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You
have no Costume Designer in the movie.
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OM:
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And
no makeup artist or hair stylist either! My partner,
Orna Rachovitsky, used a makeup that acts as a powder
but you squeeze it out of a tube. Her mother gave her
a gift that had a sample and that’s when Orna discovered
it. I forgot the name, ah . . . ah . . . ah . . . Comes
in a tube, mmmm . . . "Pore Minimizer, Instant Perfector" made
by Clinique. It's great. Anyone can put it on and your
face stays perfect, without getting shiny for hours and
hours. And best of all no one knows that you are wearing
makeup. It's great for digital shooting.
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Q:
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What
about the costumes?
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OM:
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Oh,
the costumes, yes! I told the actors that they knew their
characters better than anyone else, so they should pick
the costumes they wanted to use in each scene. I wanted
them to feel comfortable and happy. And have some kind
of control.
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Q:
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No
surprises?
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OM:
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No
surprises. The only thing I asked of them, just to make
sure everything was kosher, was to show me the costumes
they picked for each scene so there would be no "crazy
creation" surprises.
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Q:
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(Laughs)
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OM:
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There
was one thing I let pass. Aaron Davis, the young boy,
wanted to use a bright, bright, bright Chinese red t-shirt
in his scenes. It was or still is his "lucky" shirt
so I let him use it. However, when I was editing the
movie I could see that the red had to be toned down quite
a lot in order not to stand out like a sore thumb in
the scene. So Orna, who, among many other things, did
the color correction, just toned it down and blended
it with the rest of the pallette of colors. It was not
easy. Hey, but Aaron was happy! He gave an immaculate
performance; and that's what it's all about . . .
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Q:
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I
heard that you had to change the director of photography.
What happened?
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OM:
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Yes
and no. I had a great cinematographer friend of mine
who was going to shoot the movie. He was delighted to
be part of the gang, but four days before we started
shooting he called me with very unfortunate news, that
his wife had to undergo brain surgery immediately. Imagine!
What a terrible situation from all perspectives. I immediately
called another DP friend of mine, Claudio Chea, and told
him the situation. He was in the middle of the color
correction of a movie he shot for director Leon Ichaso
starring JLo and Marc Anthony and asked me to postpone
the shoot for three weeks until he could finish the color
correction for the JLo movie. He would be more than happy
to do it. Always wanted to work with me. I told him that
I was starting in four days. Of course, everyone asked
me to postpone the shooting including Orna and my friend
Ruben Rabasa. I told them that there was no postponement
and that we would start shooting in four days on August
11. They thought that I was a nut, and still do, which
I certainly agree with them. I am. But in a good way.
When I make a commitment, my word is a bond.
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Q:
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Why
not postpone the shoot?
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OM:
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Everything
was set to start on August 11. If I postponed the movie
it would never have been made because everything falls
apart one way or another. If you are a leader, people
have to trust you. They must know that there is only
one word.
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Q:
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Four
days before principal photography and no photographer!
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OM:
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Ha,
ha, ha! Everyone went on a "finding a DP spree." Ruben
called a mutual friend, producer-writer-director Maylen
Calienes, and she said that there was a DP from Spain
named Mikel Saenz who could be interested. I called him
on the phone, talked to him for a few minutes, and I
hired him. He was kind of stunned.
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Q:
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Stoned?
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OM:
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Stunned!
Stunned! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Stoned!
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Q:
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You
hired Mikel on the phone without meeting him in person
and seeing his reel?
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OM:
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That's
right. I know exactly what camera setups I want and how
I want to shoot each scene. I also work with a blue print
kind of story board, where I have all the movements of
the actors along with the camera setups. My job as a
director is to inspire people to do great work. I believe
in the person. When you ask someone to give you the best
they always do without failure. With Mikel it was no
different. That's why he did such a great job as a cinematographer
under very limited circumstances: limited equipment and
no crew. The entire crew for this movie was two people.
However, the movie looks like I had 100 people in the
crew with 25 trucks parked all over the place. Let me
tell you something, when we started shooting Mikel was about
30 pounds overweight. Too many Spanish "Paellas!" When
I sent him back to Spain he looked like a model from
IQ Magazine! I mean GQ! Mikel probably lost 30 pounds!
If you want to lose weight and get in shape you must
work on a film with me. I lost 14 pounds in 18 days.
I was 14 pounds skinnier than what I am now. And, I'm
a skinny guy.
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Q:
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I
need to lose about 50 pounds. So count me in on your
next project.
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OM:
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Mikel
Saenz was a great find. He can work under real pressure
and keep his cool at all times. Mikel says that after
working with me in such a demanding shoot he is ready
to take any DP job. What he learned with me no film school
could ever teach. Mikel did a great job. By the way,
my friend's wife is fine. Her surgery went very well.
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Q:
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I'm
glad to hear that. Well, Mikel's work is outstanding.
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OM:
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The
most lights I allowed him to use was two lights. I like
to do a lot of camera setups. For instance the scene
where they are sitting at a table . . .
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Q:
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Gary's
scene?
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OM:
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Yes.
Mikel used only one light shooting straight down onto
the table. The light was hanging from a ceiling fan.
We made 40 camera setups for that scene.
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Q:
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You
mean cuts.
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OM:
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I
mean camera setups.
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Q:
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That
is a great scene. Very intense. Beautifully acted. Gary
was great.
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OM:
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John
Allen, who played the character of Gary, was completely
exhausted by the time we finished. He had to repeat the
dialogue over and over and over and over. He was amazing!
Always consistent!
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Q:
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A
crew of two! My god, no wonder you lost all your hair!
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OM:
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(Both
laugh) Well, the first half of the movie we had
only one crew member. The DP. But a girl from Oregon
found us on Crag’s List and we hired her. By
the time, Heidi Noel Sundstrom, got to LA we were part
way into the shoot. She is great. Kept my ass on schedule.
Heidi was the second unit DP among many other things.
I want to use her as a DP on other projects.
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Q:
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So
you are not a male chauvinist pig.
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OM:
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Yes,
I am. Heidi can do multiple tasks. Bring my coffee; do
my laundry, do all those things while shooting. (Laughs) She
has a good eye for composition. Besides she has a great
name, Heidi Noel Sundstrom. It has a beautiful sound
to it, and it would look great for the cinematographer’s
credits in a movie.
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Q:
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A
crew of two! Wow!
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OM:
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That’s
the only way we could do the movie with a budget under
30 million dollars. (Both laugh)
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Q:
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What
about the music? The music is quite spectacular. How
did it come about?
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OM:
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Well,
we got a wonderful composer that worked on the score
for a while, but unfortunately he could not create the
music that I wanted for this particular movie. So we
had to go and look for another composer and after interviewing
five of them we were extremely lucky to have found Dan
Weniger. He just grasped what I wanted from the first
meeting, and he had fun and created an amazing score.
It is riveting.
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Q:
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It
certainly is! So, you edited "In Plain View?"
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OM:
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I
loooove editing. I hate digitizing, though. I fall asleep
in front of the editing station when I am digitizing.
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Q:
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And
the sound . . . ?
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OM:
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I
designed the sound. Edited the sound, did the foley,
etc.
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Q:
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Did
you mix it too?
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OM:
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No,
no, no, of course not! We had a company already set to
begin the mixing immediately after composer Dan Weniger
would deliver the music. I was on top of Dan bugging
him to finish the score ASAP. He scored the entire movie
in about 15 days
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Q:
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Two
weeks!
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OM:
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But
the moment Dan Weniger delivers the music, the owner
of the sound mixing studio sold it, and we were out of
a studio and with no mixer.
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Q:
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No
way!
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OM:
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Imagine.
We were already behind schedule because of the first
composer.
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Q:
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Now
you are out of a sound mixing studio!
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OM:
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We
started to look for another sound mixing studio and a
Mixer. We met with Dean Okrand, a six time Emmy Winner,
who was also nominated three times, and showed him some
of the scenes of the movie. He liked it so much that
he said he was in. Orna and I were more than delighted
to have Dean onboard. The problem was that he did not
have a mixing studio. Dean works for the big boys who
provide him the studios and whatever he needs and wants.
He says that he likes to stay busy. (Both laugh)
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Q:
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So
back on the streets again in search of a sound mixing
studio.
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OM:
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That's
right. We went all over. Until I remembered I had made
a film as an actor where I met the owner of a top sound
mixing studio in Hollywood, so I showed him a few scenes
from the movie. He loved the project and said to count
on him. Great! Of course, Orna forbade me to say anything
to anyone about our findings. She wanted me to give the
news only at the time when everything was running on
track smoothly. She didn't want to jinx our accomplishments.
We set a day to start the sound mixing after waiting
three weeks for the studio to clear its commitments.
From there on they would have a couple of blank weeks
which was perfect timing for us. The day before starting
the sound mix, the owner of the studio called me on the
phone and discarded the deal that we had agreed on three
weeks earlier, and asked me for a ridiculous amount of
money.
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Q:
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What
did Dean Okrand say?
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OM:
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Dean
said nothing. However, we were horrified of losing him.
Another job could come along and that would have been
the end of him mixing our movie. We were looking all
over the place for a sound mixing studio when a Bulgarian
friend of mine, Spas Muleshkov said to me, why don't
you call Matthias Weber. He might be able to do it in
his studio or know someone who could. That is how we
found a brand new state-of-the-art sound mixing studio
in Santa Monica named OneOFour Studio. The owner, Vincenzo
LoRusso, Vinnie, is another re-recording mixer of "In
Plain View." Of course, when we started mixing Vinnie
got married and went on his honeymoon in Hawaii. He came
back very relaxed and happy to work.
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Q:
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"In
Plain View" broke in OneOFour studio?
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OM:
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You
bet! It was an exhilarating experience to watch and hear "In
Plain View" in 5.1 surround sound.
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Q:
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What
about a party?
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OM:
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Making
movies is what I call a real insane party! That's my
kind of party! I'm planning to get another party underway
very soon. This one will be astronomically intense!
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DVD Click
Here |
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Trailer Click
Here |
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Watch Movie Online Now Click
Here |
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