Two men's worlds collide when they meet unexpectedly through a routine call for a taxi. With the exchange of a hundred dollar bill, one man's life will be in danger, the other's life will never be the same. Let me first say that Michael Mann is one of my favorite directors of all time. It's unfortunate his last movie 'Collateral' resembled a short story I wrote back in 2002. The plot of my short story is simple. A black taxi cab driver picks up a disgruntled white lawyer in the middle of the worst night of the lawyer's life. From there the night spirals out of control. Sounds kind of like something, (if you watch great films,) you would have seen in the Cineplex a couple years back. It would have a gray haired Tom Cruise and a pre-Oscar winning Jamie Foxx starring in it.
So now you ask, " why would he make a movie that seems like a copycat?" And I mean heaven forbid be one of those film school hacks who tried to remake "Pulp Fiction" over and over again. (In fact, I still believe film students are copying that movie. I don't know, I've been out of the loop.) To answer your question, I thought about it greatly and came to the conclusion that it may be a good idea just to cut my losses and move on. Then some creative juices came for some more original stories, so I thought if nothing else, I would shoot 'Meter' in a weekend for the sole purpose of shaking the cobwebs out. I have done three documentaries since my last actual shot film and even the "last shot film" was improv'd
as well, so tallying up the years it has been since I made a "clacker" worthy film: six years. Yeah.... A long time. This whole film happens in and around a parked taxi cab. It will be easy to shoot and since it all takes place at night, would really give me a chance to work on lighting and actors before I push into my next project, "debauchery," (and now I didn't forget to capitalize it. The movie also has some gun play effects which I have just recently acquired some SFX software that will allow me to insert gunfire digitally without the use of fireworks, squibs and what not. I have yet to open that program so again, this little "copycat" film is more a prequel to hone the craft. Not to mention, the crew I will be using on this shoot, I will also use for the next so it gives me a chance to know our weaknesses and strengths before I pump real money into a real project.
So there.... A overly long explaination or excuse of why I'm shooting a movie that you've kind of already seen. I'm sorry, but you can call me a "horrible" filmmaker, but I refuse to be a called a "hack."
5/1/2006- METER POSTPONED UNTIL AUGUST
-9/20/2006 METER PRODUCTION HAS BEGUN-