The lynchpin of my Bermuda short was a scene with Johnny Barnes, a famous local who, each and every weekday for the past thirty years, has taken upon himself to blow kisses to commuters on the morning rush into Hamilton. Nobody in Bermuda thought I could get Mr. Barnes to agree to be in my film — apparently he’s very religious, and I needed him to scowl at my star actor — and so it was a long, nervous walk up to his perch to introduce myself last Monday morning.
Thankfully, Mr. Barnes was into it; not only that, but I got some pretty decent takes out of him. And now, with a finished edit of the film in the hands of the BIFF jury, I’m crossing my fingers that scoring this local celebrity will help me score me a slot in the festival next March.
Andrew Currie 