By Carmela Hayslett
Back in 2010 and about three years after Mr. Director and I became the most awesome couple in the world… we made Booley. It was the first feature film Christian directed and the first feature film I ever acted in. You never forget your first, do you? Luckily, I shared my first on set experience with a lot of awesome people. Oh my goodness… I’m a tramp!
Christian had written a script entitled, “Bitter Heart”. It was well-written but not a script I was big on. For some reason it was going to cost a lot of money to make. It seems weird saying that now since Christian is known for making huge films on micro-budgets. So, out of nowhere, Christian writes Booley, a film about a nice guy who’s too nice and gets pushed around. A very relatable story up until he finds the strength to stand up for himself and starts killing people. At that point, it’s a comedic take about something that a lot of us go through from time to time except the main character stops fantasizing about what he’s going to do to his tormentors and actually does it. He’s living out what we’ve only daydreamed about doing. I loved the script. I played the main character’s daughter– Rose Booley. Rose being named after Christian’s daughter, Katie Rose. (Fun factoid).
Christian Grillo, Sal Governale, Richard Christy, Warren Hemenway, Myself, Scott Kaufman, and Tom Detrik on set of “Booley” in Brooklyn, NY
Something I will always advise to anyone starting out in acting is to do what you know first. Don’t jump into a character that is completely opposite from you on your first go around. Be a character you can relate to, one you understand very well, and see how convey that in front of a camera. Until you master that… don’t be in a rush to challenge yourself. I played a teen girl who got bullied in school… this was me reliving the adolescence I never wanted in the first place.
When Christian and I started dating I never for one moment wanted to be an actress until I became interested in what he was doing. I didn’t just want to became an actress… I wanted to become a Jill of all trades. This movie quickly became my first for a lot of things including editing and still photographing.
Oh, like I was saying… when I started dating Christian he had a lot of talented friends who adopted me into their lives right away. All creative people with big hearts and a hunger for filmmaking. These were the people who surrounded me every day we were on set. Some of those people: The star of the movie, Tom Detrik, his lovely wife Bonnie Loev who played Detective Phelps, and his bestfriend Susan Hughes who was not an actress but was in the movie and did an awesome job. That’s just a few people… others I would come to know and love. Some I miss and some I don’t understand why they’re not around anymore.
Tom Detrik and I acting out a scene with my actual Grandmother.
Another thing that was really cool about filming Booley was that a lot of my family were involved in it. My Grandmom never ever did movies but she would never turn down an opportunity to be a movie star either. Tom and I got to act out a scene with my Grandmother who played… my Grandmother. I’m very shocked Christian got her in a moo moo. It’s never been her style to wear those. As I predicted… everyone loved my Grandmom on set. What’s not to love?
I also shared a brief moment on screen with my Mother who played the school librarian. It’s funny because it’s supposed to be a Catholic school and my Mother is wearing a pentagram amulet around her neck. My cousin, Bill Gechman played a police officer and my other cousin, David Gechman joined our production team as the visual fx supervisor. David has been with us ever since and a good friendship formed between him and Christian… one that’s borderline bro-mantic.
Me and Gina Lynn
Christian hired adult film star, Gina Lynn, to be my bully. She was the oldest of the high school actresses and it was poking fun a little at movies that would cast older women to play teenagers. They used to do it all the time in TV shows and movies. We filmed most of her scenes at George Washington Highschool. Christian used to often brag that he directed a porn star in his old high school for his film. It actually is both funny and impressive.
I didn’t know what to expect from Gina Lynn. At the time, I wasn’t very open towards people in that industry. Gina was very intelligent and friendly. She was also a very good actress as well. When we first picked her up I introduced myself and said, “I’m the girl you’re going to be bullying.” In fact, one her lines that she says to me is, “Hey Ugly!” She took a look at me and exclaimed, “You’re not ugly!” So, that’s pretty cool that a porn star thinks I’m pretty. Also, as our producer John Kent put it, in Christian’s “mavericked wisdom” Christian did not have Gina get naked in the film. No. People would have expected that. So, there’s a scene where Tom Detrik acts in his underwear and she remains fully clothed. I don’t have an answer for you.
Booley was done on a budget of $10,000. It was the lowest budget we ever worked with and we worked with it. Christian would make a film for zero dollars if he absolutely had to. This was everyone’s school though. I think there’s like one scene in the whole movie that was actually lit. It looks like it was made cheaply but the charm is what really put it over with people. It was funny, it was relatable, and it was a passion project. A real passion project. It didn’t get anymore Independent Filmmaking than this. But we were all so happy on set. We all took our jobs seriously and at the same time there’s plenty of room to goof around. The great time we all had on set is very much reflected in the behind the scenes featurette I made. You can see that we were having a blast.
I think some people who worked on the movie forgot how much of a blast it was. Not me. I’ll never forget and unlike some people I don’t take myself anymore seriously than I did then. Why? I just want to do what I did when this film was being made… I want to have fun.
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