It had been several weeks since I’d heard from Tricia Menke. Tricia is the owner and trainer of Kit Casanova, a cat of some exotic breed that I’d never heard of (and can’t recall off the top of my head just what he was)… definitely not a tabby, that’s for sure. Anyway, Kit was the cat we were using in our movie, Code Enforcer.
Since this is my first entry in this blog, readers who have no idea what I’m talking about are most likely already lost. So a brief summary:
A couple of years ago, I began working on an idea for a screenplay about the ridiculous “codes” and “restrictions” that hoity toity neighborhood associations impose on their residents in an effort to keep the neighborhood from becoming, well… one of those neighborhoods. I bounced the idea off a writer/actor friend of mine, Greg Dorchak, and coincidentally he, too, had once started working on a script idea based on his experiences with his pesky Home Owners Association. We collaborated back and forth and before too long we had a completed script for a movie entitled, Code Enforcer.
Well to make a long story short (if it’s not too late), one of the characters in the script has a cat who plays a heroic role in the movie. Since we were self-producing, I knew we’d have a challenge finding a cat that could do some of the things we had written into the script. Then I remembered Kit Casanova.
I first met Kit when a photographer friend of mine asked me if I’d be interested in video taping a cat who jumped through hoops. He had been hired to shoot pictures of the cat jumping through the hoops and the owner, Tricia Menke, wanted the photo shoot to be documented on video. The pictures would be printed as postcards and sent over to Iraq with the caption, “Jumping Through Hoops for the Troops.” The free postcards could then be used by members of the military to send messages back home to friends and family members.
An unusual idea? Yes, but obviously motivated by a good heart to do something to help cheer up our men and women in uniform, so I agreed. The video was posted on youtube, the cards were printed up and shipped over to Iraq, and that was the last I thought I’d see of Kit Casanova or Tricia Menke. But now we were shooting a movie that had a fairly prominent role for a cat, so I called Tricia and asked her if she thought this was something Kit could do. The answer was yes.
As well-behaved and trained as Kit was, the noise and chaos of a movie set (especially our movie set), was a bit much for the skittish Kit. I knew I was in trouble the first day he was scheduled to be on set when Tricia, who had problems finding the location, showed up a few minutes late and explained that Kit was “a bit anxious” because “he hates getting lost.” Wow, a cat who can not only jump through hoops as a self-less expression of support for our military, but can also communicate complex emotions based on idiosyncratic hang-ups! We had the “Lassie” of cats in our movie!
I quickly learned, however, that the portions of the script involving the cat would have to be substantially modified. Kit, who has actually been trained to “use the potty,” had a little bit of trouble with what I naively believed would come easily to him. After all, this cat could jump through hoops, take a leak in a toilet, AND express concern when lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood. All I wanted him to do was scamper out an open door… several times… and in a specific direction. Was that asking too much?
In hindsight, I realize Kit was actually pretty darn good, considering most other cats would have just darted out the door and run off. Even so, I had broken yet another one of those cardinal rules first-time moviemakers should always be mindful of: no children, no SAG members, and NO ANIMALS. I still had a lot to learn.
Which brings me back to why I even mused over all this stuff today to begin with. A couple of days ago, I was driving around the neighborhood where we were filming Code Enforcer and I noticed the tell tale signs of a movie set—big white trucks, honey wagons, signs pointing to “crew parking”—and I got curious. I did a little research and it turned out to be the set of Robert Rodriguez’s latest action-packed, blood bath thriller, Machete.
Okay, I thought, that’s cool… he’s actually making the movie based on the faux trailer of the same name that screened before his notorious Grindhouse films. And it stars Robert Deniro… even better. But then today I get an email from Tricia Menke asking me about the “rap video” we had discussed for Kit (more on that in a future blog) and in passing she says, “Oh, BTW, Kit has been recruited to play a part in the movie, Machete, produced by Robert Rodriguez.”
Oh, how I’d love to be a fly on the wall of that set…
