Early in the week Bryan got an email at work asking if anyone would be interested in being part of a test audience for a new movie staring Christopher Walken and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Of course he jumped at the chance and so last night we went to an office in Times Square to watch the first draft film of "The Late Quartet". The movie is about a string quartet that have been performing professionally for 25 years and at the start of season 26 issues arise that each of them must deal with.
So when we got to the location last night we were ushered into this private theatre with the most luxurous seats. There was about 60 of us in the test audience. Prior to the start of the movie we were told about scenes that were not completely finished. For example, one scene is set inside a taxi. In the background there is a green screen where they have to yet put in the filmwork of shops and buildings passing by in the background.
But what was amazing was that these little things did not really distract you from the film. The acting of course, was amazing. It was a fantastic movie, one I definitely would recommend (launch is 2012).
After the film ended they asked us to complete a questionairre where we had to write down what scenes we liked, didn't like, rate the different scenes, and provide any additional comments about what worked and didn't work.
Once we had finished that the director then came out and introduced himself to us and asked the audience to provide him feedback, so for about 10 minutes people talked about what they had written on their feedback form.
On the way out Bryan and I went up to the director and introduced ourselves to him and congratulated him on such a great movie. He was extremely appreciative of our feedback. We also met the producer of the film. She was also very nice and very appreciative that people would take time out on their Friday night to see a movie that was not yet "finished".
It was an amazing experience. If you ever get the chance to be part of a test audience I would highly recommend it.
After we left the screening room we decided to head down to our favorite sports bar to see the end of the last game of the world series in baseball (Texas Rangers vs St Louis Cardinals). Times Square was showing the game on one of their big screens. We noticed that it was at the bottom of the 7th innings (only two more innings left) and the people traffic was chaos, so Bryan hailed down a push-peddled tuck-tuck. We got in and he cycled us down to our sports bar.
Now, these push-peddled tuck-tucks are a lot of fun, but they can be quite expensive. I say, have a ride when you're here on holiday but it is definitely not something you want to do all the time. For the distance we went it would have probably cost $5.00 in cab, in the push-peddled tuck-tuck it cost us $25.00 - but don't forget you got to tip as well! So it ended up costing us $30.00. Expensive - Yes, but it was fun!
