“SEXY SADIE” (my screen debut!)

“Sexy Sadie, what have you done?” (That's the lyric to the song, "Sexy Sadie")

After that scene with Bono, I have no idea anymore.

I don't know how "sexy" I was feeling for my big screen debut in that the-white-with-pink-splotches Kamona, but I guess I'll just have to take it from John and Paul that Sadie IS sexy.

This was the day we shoot my introduction in the film, which is also my introduction to the world (especially if the buzz on this thing turns out to be right!) as an actor and singer. I didn't really think about this while shooting. Thank God.

I can't even begin to describe what "Sadie's Loft" is like. Completely fabricated but INSANELY real down to the scuff marks on the hard wood floors to make them look decades old instead of brand spanking new. I kept knocking on the brick walls because I just couldn't accept that they were only paper mache and dry wall!

There was rambling poetry on all the walls, crazy art work and, get this, a GIANT collage of me! (Pictures I guess the art department took from my website and stills from what we've shot so far.) This was a wonderful and strange surprise. (hope they'll let me keep it).

The scene outside my window was so real that by midnight, I was still convinced it was 3pm on a cold November day.

This is toward the beginning of the film when our 2 main guys (Jude & Max) decide to split for NYC, right after Thanksgiving dinner at Max's where he announces he's dropping out of Princeton University.

The two end up at my door responding to an ad in RAT Magazine, (A popular rag back in the day) advertising a room for rent in my loft.

I take them on a tour of my loft showing them all of the crazy rooms, then I introduce them to my cat, Rocky. (Who can guess THAT reference!). A gray tabby with raccoon eyes and tail (ooops, just gave it away).

Rocky was pretty amazing. He had a 14 hour day without one bitch fest. Impressive. HOWEVER.....

....His trainer seemed to know how to keep him content. Liver snacks and chicken flavored Gerber baby food. Yum. 14 hours of this (and my having to pick him up and put him down a thousand times to be shot at various angles) did not bode well for his gastrointestinal functions, if you will.

By 11pm we were down to the final shots. Or so we hoped. After my 3rd 15 hour day in a row, I was pretty punchy, as were Jim and Joe (Max & Jude).

Julie likes to get EVERY scene at EVERY angle.
The rest of the crew (on their 18th hour) was ready to get home. (Today was supposed to be a short day!)

The pressure was on for me to get the final Rocky scene right! This really meant just picking him up, and placing him in exactly the same spot I had for hours and takes in a row, and perfectly positioning him so that Max can trip over him as he had done accidentally in an earlier take, (which of course Julie loved, as it was perfect then, but now how to be recreated).

With my being so punchy and Rocky being so stuffed to the gills on liver snacks and Gerber chicken, this scene was harder than I thought.

With minutes left to the midnight hour, which was the crew's cutoff time, the goal was to nail the scene and wrap!

Upon hearing action, I picked Rocky up from the sofa and began to walk with the boys behind me and all the cameras on me. Suddenly I was enveloped in the most heinous of stenches I have EVER encountered in my life!! A mixture of putrid breath and foul, foul gas wafting up. As I spoke, it crept straight into my mouth and I tasted all of Rocky's savory snacks of the day.

I literally began to gag. As in eyes watering, throat pulsing, gagging. Knowing the cameras were only on me for the first few seconds of this scene, then on the boys as I pass through the room, I quickly turned my head to the side so my hair would block the gagging. Jim and Joe, being well aware of the stench and now seeing my head turn to them gagging, had to do everything in their power not to lose it. Seeing this and coupled with my nervousness/punchiness, I COMPLETELY LOST IT, dropped the cat and fell to my knees laughing.

I made my way out of camera range and they kept rolling. Jim and Joe had the most incredibly bizarre expressions on their faces as they fought so hard to stifle laughter and remain in character as the 2 nervous boys hoping to get the apartment from this strange rock n roll girl, the likes of whom they'd never before encountered.

Finally they made their way passed the camera and from the other room we heard Julie: "CUT!!! Dana, what the hell is going on???" At this point the 3 of us were laughing so hard we couldn't breathe (not that we wanted to in the cloud of noxious gases)!

All I could choke out was: "Julie, I'm so sorry. But you have no idea what's happening with this cat."

Our producer, Jen Todd suggested we watch the playback as they thought my laughing may have been off camera enough, and that Jim and Joe's odd expressions might work with the scene, seeing as how some of things Sadie says to them are quite strange.

As we watched playback, we were even more crippled with laughter. Jim and Joe looked like 2 very confused young lads who might also puke at any second.

Julie LOVED it!! Her exact words were: "Oh my God, you guys look so weird! It's perfect." She then turned to me and said with a smile, "Okay, Sadie, it worked this time, but you can't do this again."

So that was the scene. When you see this movie you'll be part of our inside joke.

I laughed all the way home. For so many reasons.

Oh and by the way, I've met Joe Cocker. He told me he loved my guide vocal for his version of "Come Together" and was very touched when I told him that he was one of the main vocalists I studied when I came to NY to sing, AND that I auditioned for the film with HIS version of "With A Little Help From My Friends".

I also got to meet Elvis Costello, who just came by to visit T-bone Burnett (who's helping me get my own material together! ). Elvis told T-Bone and I that the engineer of the "Sergeant Peppers" album just wrote a book telling the world he really co-produced but never received proper credit for this from George Martin. Elvis backed him up on this and even wrote a forward for it. He said it's a fun read.

Elvis isn't in our film. Joe Cocker is though. He'll play a few different characters as he sings "Come Together". I'll say no more!

I watched Joe record "Come Together" the other night. He NAILED IT! In 5 fast takes.

I cried. For so many reasons.