“HELTER SKELTER” (with stomach flu & stunt double!)

When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide, where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride, til I get to the bottom and I vomit again......yeah yeah yeah.... Helter Skelter, Helter Skelter..... And that was pretty much how it went!

After being in bed puking for 2 days straight, it was time to shoot my most physically demanding scene in the whole film. So much so, that they even hired a stunt double because they were concerned about the state of my neck after hours and hours of what our choreographer, Daniel Ezralow, referred to as "tribal head thrashing". In light of this and the fact that the next few days, I'd be singing another song with the whole cast at double speed in a tank of water, they hired a professional dancer with hair like mine.

I got to set, my pride took over (not a healthy pride one has when running a 101 fever and fresh off the cool tiles of a bathroom floor only hours after pulling my head out of the toilet) but this pride of mine took over and I demanded they send the stunt double home. I'd do my own tribal neck thrashing and body gyrating, thank you.

So, nauseas and wobbly, with racoon-like eyes (Julie insists Sadie is NOT into lipstick, but LOVES her eyeliner) and a dress that looked more like a spider web I'd stumbled upon (In the coolest way. The dress ROCKED and Julie's assured me she'll see to it that I keep it for press interviews) I climbed the ladder to this very high makeshift stage where one giant spot light burned behind me.

I was so blinded by the light, I had to feel around with my feet to determine how much falling room I had in front of, and behind me. There wasn't much. The knowledge of this made me that much more wobbly. And Nauseas.

Sensing my shakiness, our A.D. (Geoff Hansen) asked if I needed them to add an additional platform in front of the stage. Pride did not prevail this time (in retrospect, I thank god for this) and I said yes, PLEASE.

So, they put another stage in front of me and now I had 4 feet of frontward falling room as opposed to about 6 inches. What were they thinking???? Not only did I have to jump and thrash around to perform the song, but I also had to do it at 48 frames. This means, the song was sped up by 4 times it's normal speed and I had to thrash, gyrate, dance AND lipsync at this pace.

It was only after a few normal takes that they broke this news of the 48 frames business to me, and seeing as how I was already about to puke on everyone's head, my neck felt like I had just had a major car accident, and my knees were already bleeding, (because I decided Sadie should go down at the end of the song and fall back--Which of course, again, meant a repeat of this stunt over and over, because Julie realized after I did it, that at this point of the film EVERY cast member will be seen falling: Max in the fields of Vietnam; Lucy in the middle of the Columbia University riots; Jude, after trying to rescue Lucy from the cops at the riots: and Prudence falling into peace and harmony (and a lake) with the Hare Krishna she's run away with) I figured, hey, let's have a go at this 48 frames thing and see what else there is left to gush out of me.

First they had to see if I could lip sync to something this fast. They called me to the monitors (where crowds of people stand around viewing everything you're doing) and on command I had to sit there (in front of everyone) and lip sync to what sounded like an Alvin and The Chipmunks demonic Christmas song. It took a second for them to convince me that this was not just for the sake of great out takes and their amusement. So, like a freak and much to everyone's surprise (but not my own, I was ALWAYS challenging the kids in school to speedy tongue twisters, obsessively so, in fact), I sang right along with the chipmunks and everyone laughed their asses off and applauded. Then I was asked to go on stage and do it again, only this time adding the sped up gyrating and thrashing about.

See, the whole idea behind this sped up thing is that once they get it at 48 frames, they then slow it down to normal speed and the result is pretty amazing. Especially for the whole hair movement thing. It both captures and creates movement with the hair and body that would otherwise not be possible.

After the first sped up take, I was soooooo much more dizzy and nauseas. However, my neck actually stopped hurting because I think my head just completely fell off of it. No such luck.

Everyone was laughing and clapping when I "came to" from the intentional fall (which turned out to be a welcome rest every time I did it--bloody knees and all) and Julie wisely asked me to come see how cool it all looked before telling me she needed it a few more times at various profiles.

I must admit that after seeing it, the torture was well worth it, and my devilish pride and all the attention pumped me up for another 5 or 6 takes. I truly lost count at this point. In fact, the only thing I remember cogniting on was someone asking if I needed anything and I said: "I could really use some ginger ale and saltines." Next thing I knew about 10 people were on walkie talkies demanding: "We need to get Sadie some ginger ale and saltines, pronto!" followed by, "Copy that". followed by: "Can someone please see who's on the saltines for Sadie?" followed by: "Not sure if we have saltines, will Ritz do?" followed by: "Uh, can we find Saltines?” "Copy that". This went on a bit longer and I finally intervened to say that any salty cracker would do. Next thing I knew, there was a big plate of crackers and a few cans of ginger ale. (God, I'll miss this part when the film is over!)

I quickly scarfed some crackers, gulped some ginger ale, and like a bloody warrior, said "Let's do it!"

I then climbed back up the ladder, felt the burning light behind me and proceeded to thrash about for another few takes. After the final fall, I stayed down, letting them all laugh and applaud some more, while smiling to myself and thinking "I'm so fucking sick, and this is SO FUCKING AWESOME".