Spencer Nietzsche (Joe Gryglik) is a man unlucky in love who has been infatuated with a gorgeous blonde named Eliza (Sarah Perkins) for quite some time. One day, as Spencer contemplates his chances with her, another beautiful woman appears. Rebecca (Jessica DiRamio) takes a seat next to Spencer on his park bench and, before he knows it, he's having a pleasant conversation with her. Are things not as bad for him as they seem? Is Spencer's luck with women about to change?
Watch No Water For Nietzsche (QuickTime)
Starring Joe Gryglik, Jessica DiRamio, and Sarah Perkins
Directed by Dan Gorgone
Written by Jonothon Mitchell
Featuring the song "Down" by Now Is Now
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Production Notes
No Water for Nietzsche originated as a project for the "Random Eyes" Bravado May 2002 Gauntlet in which one person would write a short script and someone else would produce it. Jonothon Mitchell of Detour Productions wrote Nietzsche - itself, based on a random title - and Random Foo's Dan Gorgone selected it as his Gauntlet project.
After considering the script for a while, Dan approached Joe Gryglik - last seen playing the HWF Commissioner in SmackAround! - to play the lead character, Spencer Nietzsche. After The Gryg agreed to play the role, the other stars had to be cast. Dan worked on the Jodom Pictures production, Limelight, throughout the summer of 2002, and it was during that shoot that Dan met both Sarah Perkins and Jessica DiRamio. These young women read the script and agreed to be a part of Nietzsche.
Production took about three hours on Saturday, August 31, 2002. The cast met Dan in Melrose and drove down the street to the Cedar Park Commuter Rail train stop. In the original script, Spencer and Rebecca wait together at a bus stop, but the decision was made to change to the train station to lessen the chance of outsiders bothering the shoot and to minimize the street noise.
The cast filmed in the park next to the tracks until the scheduled train was supposed to pass. Dan set up the camera on a tripod to capture the footage of the street barrier falling into place, and the train arriving and departing. Once that footage had been captured, the cast went back to work on the scene in the park. Upon completion, the cast drove about two miles into Stoneham to the Wash & Dry Laundromat. After getting permission to film, Sarah went to work with the "stunt laundry" prepared by Dan. Don't worry - they were all clean clothes.
Post-production began the next day. Dan actually drove back down the street from his apartment to the train station to capture footage of the train arriving again and plenty of extra ambient sound in the park. The rough cut of the movie yielded a number of sound-related problems, considering that all the dialogue was captured with the on-camera microphone and the park was located next to a relatively-busy street. Many sound problems were sorted out when music was located for the movie. Foo co-founder C.C. Chapman put Dan in touch with the local music group, Now Is Now, and Dan discovered the song "Down." Its powerful acoustic guitar, vocals, and fitting lyrics made it the perfect choice for the soundtrack. After securing permission, Dan added the song to the mix and finished up editing early in the morning on September 9, 2002.
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Serving as the introduction to Random Foo's Summer Shorts film festival, The Lawnmower is a 2-minute comedy about a man (Dan Gorgone) having trouble with his trusty lawnmower. This summer-themed short was made in leiu of the standard intros with flying graphics and crazy effects used to introduce prior Foo Fests.
