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Production recently wrapped on the dark, who-done-it comedy, "Lonely Street", written and directed by Peter Ettinger. Based on a series of successful novels by author Steve Brewer, know affectionately in literary circles at "The Bubba Books", Ettinger and crew set about bringing to life the well-meaning and notoriously gullible detective, Bubba Mabry. 
The making of "The Cactus Gag" I got to work along side so many great people on this project. I was called upon to do a number of great character faces and entertaining special effects. One of the most fun became known as "The Cactus Gag". Without divulging too much of the story, one of the characters has an unexpected run-in with a cactus. The resulting reaction shot is the punchline.
We began testing the gag right away. I began by sampling different types of cactus, dirt, blood, bruises, scabs, sand, gravel... you name it! LA-based actor and friend Michael Wrage was kind enough to sit through hours of tedious make-up testing over a period of 3 days.
Actor Michael Wrage camera testing varying combinations of dirt, sand, gravel, blood and sweat.
Director Peter Ettinger, left, sets-up a scene from Lonely Street
John's
character, Tank, is seen throughout the film
with a face full of mysterious marks. We
applied the wounds every day. Continuity was
the name of the game here!
After
the gag was filmed (with John's bringing it all to
life so well) we both realized that now it all
had to come OFF! John's a real trooper!
The
Cactus Gag was shot during the last week of filming.
On the day of the actual stunt and resulting gag,
actor Jay Mohr was right there to lend moral support
and a helping hand.
Combined
with great lighting and John's wonderful takes on
the performance the gag was a success. The
whole sequence of events in the story is bound
to get a great laugh from the audience!
It was
my great pleasure to work with actor John O'Donohue.
We spent a lot of time together applying a special
fx make-up bit that he wore every day as the
character of Tank.
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Special Thanks to
and
Glamnation Cosmetics
for their generous product support during the making
of this film.
Very Special Thanks to
Mike and Jamie Wrage
for their kind friendship and hospitality while filming on location in Los Angeles.