“It Was 115 Degrees at Its Peak” | Meera Menon, Didn’t Die
Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why?
The most significant day on this film’s journey was our shoot in Joshua Tree. It was 115 degrees at its peak, and Paul, the cinematographer, nearly collapsed from heat stroke with the weight of the camera rig, which was apt for a film about survival. We were really out of money at this point and [producer] Erica and I were chopping and melting candle wax ourselves prepping the candle making scene. We filmed that moment at perfect sunset—it was gorgeous and both of us turned to each other and laughed about how if we made this film for a large budget there would have been 20 meetings about the candle making scene, but we just went to Michael’s and drove to Joshua Tree to find that perfect light.
That’s the whole movie in a nutshell, for me.
See all responses to our annual Sundance Question here.