Reader Spotlight: Peter Chan
Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 8:37AM We're getting to know the Film Experience community one-by-one. It's taking a long time, bless you! Today we're talking with Peter, a script supervisor.
Peter working on the set of a movie!
Nathaniel: When and why did you start reading TFE?
PETER: I was referred to it from Kenneth in (212) and thought TFE catered to the fun side of film I adored and come awards season... glued. I haven't looked back.
Nathaniel: You work in the industry, right? What's your favorite part of the biz?
PETER: Yeah. I've been a script supervisor primarily for independent features for close to 8 years. It's still strange to me that I get paid to do what I do. Though there are definitely bad days, I generally love what I do. It's great to be on the scene and be so close to the process. My favorite part of this nutty business on the independent level is seeing how sometimes unforeseen elements (ie. weather, talent illness, location flooded) can force the creative team to come up with last minute solutions to make that particular scene work. It really becomes a collaboration and it's a great example of why I love working indies. Some of the best stuff from projects I've worked on resulted from this.
Terrifying, really!Do you remember your first movie?
When I was 6, my dad brought me and my sister to see The Land Before Time. It was very traumatic. Me and my sister cried our eyes out from all the death and abandonment. My dad had to take us out of the theater because I'm sure everyone was staring. I vowed to never go to the movies ever again, thinking it's just a big, dark room where bad things happen. Little did I know....
Do you have a dream project as filmmaking goes?
Oh boy... As a scripty, I'd love to be part of another smart comedy. I love the vibe it sets to the behind-the-scenes team and the relationship it creates amongst cast & crew. On the far-reach scale? A period musical. Oh yeah... my brain gets orgasmic just thinking about that. Someone should really be remaking Newsies now that it's doing well on stage.
these are a few of his favorite things ♫
Name your three favorite movies in each genre.
Sci-Fi/ Fantasy: Gattaca, The Fifth Element and Blade Runner
Horror: The Exorcist, Ringu & does Stephen King's "It" count? I still can't watch the whole thing in one sitting and am relieved once that spider monster thing appears because I know I made it and now I can just enjoy the campiness.
Comedy: Best In Show, Mean Girls & try to not judge too hard, but Rookie of The Year. I wanted to be Henry Rowengartner so much as a kid.... "Pitcher has a big butt...". That movie will always have a place in my nostalgic heart. -
Drama: Ordinary People, A Streetcar Named Desire & Grave of the Fireflies
Musical: The Sound of Music, The Lion King, Moulin Rouge!
Take away an Oscar. Regift it.
I know Humphrey Bogart was great in The African Queen, but I think it's a travesty that Marlon Brando didn't win for A Streetcar Named Desire. He transformed the way I see how a performance can truly elevate a film.
Which move would you want to live inside of?
As a young kid, it was being a Von Trapp kid in The Sound of Music. As a grown-up kid, The X-Men universe for sure. I don't know what mutant power I'd have (it'd probably be a lame one) but living in a world where it's a reality would be awesome. The strange thing is that I'm not sure if I'll be part of the X-Men or the Brotherhood... Haha.
Hmmm. If you don't know it's The Brotherhood ;) What's the last movie you saw before these questions?
Bluebird, a film I worked on last winter had its world premiere during this year's Tribeca Film Festival. And yes, Roger Sterling is just as cool as you think he is in person!
Reader Comments (15)
Here here for The Streetcar / Brando choice. A performance for the ages!
right? and it woulda been so sweet to have that be an all Oscared quartet.
Peter -- i've decided to give you either Cypher's language mutation or Nightcrawler's teleportation... but not the blue skin or wall walking... as your superpower.
He stole my answer! If I were to ever do one of these, which I won't, but still...Day-Lewis should definitely be the SECOND actor to have 3 Best Actor statues.
rami: I was impressed by Brando's work in Streetcar, but not win level impressed. It's still VERY good work, all things considered, but, for me, it's not even CLOSE to Kirk Douglas's Chuck Tatum.
DJDeeDay -- okay i can't let that go without asking -- why wouldn't you do one of these? too shy?
everyone -- i'm curious to know if THE LAND BEFORE TIME has childhood memories for anyone else. I can barely recall it but then I was in high school I think when it came out.
Re: Land Before Time - I don't remember the movie so well, but I know I loved it, and I can kind of remember the way the dinosaurs talked.
A couple of years earlier was An American Tail, which is the same kind of thing, except that it had Somewhere Out There, which I thought was the saddest song ever sung.
I was in College for "Land Before Time", so don't ask me either.
I will agree with Bogie/Brando. Bogie should have won for that broken heart in "Casablanca".
What I would like to know is how DO you get a job as a script supervisor?
thanks for the shout out to Ordinary People!!! I love the film, especially the performances of Mary Tyler Moore and Donald Sutherland. I know im definitely in the minority when I say that I prefer Ordinary People over Raging Bull..but I don't care
'The Land Before Time' caused a notable amount of trauma as a child for me as well. But as an adult, avoid reading the fate of the actress who did the voice of Ducky. That is some truly unfortunate adult trauma right there. :(
I was 13 when Land Before Time came out and now I feel decidedly middle-aged ;)
Volvagia I never saw that Kirk Douglas performance will check it out
Nathaniel- Yeah, I think I'll probably fall into the Brotherhood. Haha. I'm digging Cypher's power for sure.
DJ- I know! I'm afraid to admit how much Brando memorabilia I have in my apartment. I agree Brando should've been the 1st actor to get 3 best actor Oscars, but minus 'Godfather' and add 'Streetcar' and 'Last Tango'.
Mike in Canada- 'An American Tail'... another tearjerker for me as a kid especially I, too, migrated to NY at a young age. 'Somewhere Out There' is a drunken karaoke go-to.
forever- I kinda fell into script supervising when I first started. I've always been good with paperwork and attention to details and all the cards fell in the right place when I interned on my first movie. I think it also takes a person with a certain personality to do the job as well. Why? You interested? :P
Miguel- 'Ordinary People' is currently sitting at #2 on my all-time fave list and I always defend it when people throw the 'Raging Bull' argument as well. And if I ever was to be on the other side of the camera, I'd wanna play Conrad. What a role.
I'm surprised how many people have similar childhood trauma with 'Land Before Time'. I talked to my sister recently and see if she remember anything from that experience and her exact respond was "YES! I've been waiting to talk about it for 20 years." Haha.
I used to make a pillow tower over the edge of a chair and pretend I was the T-Rex falling into a mattress ravine. :)
Peter: Eh, I agree on Last Tango being good work. Even "very" good work in a tight year. But compared to my actual nominee set (Paul Newman, The Sting, Donald Sutherland, Don't Look Now, Kris Kristofferson, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Martin Sheen, Badlands and Steve McQueen, Papillon), that character, for me, is just too much of an even simpler and more nakedly "extreme" retread of Kowalski, missing out due to the far lower degree of difficulty stakes that that entails. (In all honesty, my entire 10 (also includes Al Pacino, Jean Pierre-Leaud, Elliot Gould and Jack Nicholson) that year is neck and neck before factoring in the relative degree of difficulty. But then I DO factor in that relative degree of difficulty and the placements become far clearer.)
Peter: As for who I think deserves to get to three Lead Actor statues first? James freaking Stewart man. (46, 50 and 58.)