The Summit

Driving north to Deerhurst (resort)

As a last minute decision I was told that I would be travelling off to Deerhurst. A resort somewhere north of Barrie to do some 24 frame playback on a CBC mini series called the Summit starring Christopher Plummer. Greg, the guy in charge of the 24 frame operator deployment kept telling me "Bring your camera. It's nice this time of year.".

I think the thought of staying in a motel room and just getting out of the city seemed exciting enough. True to Greg's words though the autumn colors were all over the place. I wanted to stop the car a few times to take a few photos on the way. Unfortunately I was in a rush. I had to get there for 11am to be ready on set. It was already 9:30. The drive up there was calculated to be about 2.5 hours.

As it turned out things went pretty nicely. I had arrived on set just as they were moving into the space where I was supposed to be set up. The first shot, the cameras were looking in the direction opposite to where my monitors were to be so that gave me time to set up the equipment.

As I was rifling through my tubs of gear Christopher Plummer came on set looking to see if anyone had a chocolate bar. I still had a Mars bar in my bag from the Monster Records shoot. Brigitte had picked it up for me to eat but I never got around to it. I looked at the bar then looked to the AD. She shrugged and said "Offer it.". So I did.

"Uh, Mr. Plummer would you care for a Mars bar?" I came across pretty geeky, I must say, maybe even intimidated. As a note, Christopher Plummer has quite the presence. I'm not sure if it's the way he holds himself or if it's his voice. When he said "No" I must have looked deflated. He walked over to me and squeezed my arm slightly, "Thank you very much but it's a bit bland...". He then turned around and shouted, "Can we get some dark chocolate from craft services?".

It was an odd way to start the day. "Wow, cool, I just talked to General Chang.", I thought to myself. (the main Klingon antagonist in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - for all you non Trek geeks) . The day progressed without a hitch and eventually it was time to check out the motel.

The motel was located a few minutes away by car. Because of it being dark, it was night after all, I had missed the road with the motel and had to circle around before finding the road entrance. The motel in my head was one of those one storey motels with a little swimming pool and maybe a small water slide that had been neglected for a few years. The motels you might see in a movie. To my surprise the motel was a large building with brand new rooms.


The Motel 6 sign.


The motel 6 building.

The blankets on the beds were a bit freaky. The colorful design looked like it belonged in some fast food restaurant. Otherwise the room was quite comfortable.


My room.


Autumn colors

The Deerhurst Resort sign


The looming clouds outside the motel.

The next day I woke up early to take a few photos. Worked on set and was wrapped and back at the motel by 6pm. I was feeling a bit exhuasted. I thought I'd drive to Barrie, see how I was doing and if I was getting sleepy I'd stay at a motel/hotel. As it turns out all the hotels I drove to were full up.

I asked one receptionist if there was some event going on in Barrie. She told me that it was just another normal friday night. Weird. Not really knowing Barrie other than the stops from the time I drove through with Ted (on the way to Sudbury), I decided to go to Hooters for the honey garlic chicken. I knew where it was and I needed to get off the road for a bit.


Clam chowder


Honey garlic wings


Rachel

I felt better after eating. Once done I continued the drive back to Toronto.