A major section of Survival Quest was written to take place on a river. The only real body of flowing water within a couple hundred miles of Los Angeles is the Kern River and its swift flow makes it extremely popular for white-water rafting. Sounds perfect, right? It was, except for the fact that this location was nicknamed the “Killer Kern” and was notorious as one of the most dangerous rivers in the region. On average, half a dozen people a year drown in the Kern.
* * *
While location scouting, Roberto and I learned this on our very first visit, the hard way. We were checking out a desolate stretch of riverbank for a location when Roberto casually stepped too close to the water. All the river rocks in proximity to the water were coated in a very slippery slime and, before he knew it, Roberto’s feet shot out from under him and SPLASH, he was in the water. I busted out laughing because one minute he was standing beside me, and the next, right into the river. I reached down to grab Roberto’s arm and my foot slipped on the same slime and SPLASH, I went right into the river. Within moments we both found ourselves submerged up to our necks in the cold Kern, hanging on for dear life to the slime-slippery rocks. No one else was around. We were on our own. And we had no clue about the level of danger we were in. We were still laughing at each other. Later we learned from trusted river guides that if we had lost our grip on those rocks on that stretch of the Kern we both would have drowned. The only way out was to crawl, so we slowly inched our way back up the rocks and collapsed on the riverbank. Welcome to the Kern River!
* * *
Once we started shooting, the process of getting to the selected river locations often required humping the camera and equipment half a mile over the rocky riverbank. I have always been of the belief that small crews where everyone is working toward the common goal is the best way to go. I actually find that lugging equipment makes me think more clearly and takes my mind off the day’s problems. I’ve spent time in the luxurious trailers of director friends on big movies and I just think it’s entitled bullshit. It separates you from everyone, including the actors and the crew. I like to be with them, working. And I love to see actors helping the crew. It makes us all part of a team!
One major action sequence required the actors to get into the river and, while hanging on to their backpacks, ride through a reasonably tame set of rapids. We stuffed buoyant foam rubber inside the backpacks for flotation. Each actor had a river safety guide waiting a hundred yards downstream to pluck them out of the water at the end of the shot. This was important because past the river guides was a Class 3 rapids, which ultimately led to a waterfall. We had planned the sequence carefully and everything was under control, until it was not.
When I was casting Survival Quest, a young actress came in to audition for me who had never had a featured acting role in a film. She came dressed demurely in a simple flannel shirt and hiking shorts. I was genuinely impressed with her quiet but strong demeanor and her simple, natural beauty. I cast her for the role of Cheryl in the film and as we started rehearsing, and then shooting, her dedication to the role became clearly obvious. She had a strong desire to get her performance right and was always focused on improving it. She was so dedicated to her role that she insisted on doing her own stunts; I can still remember her not flinching during a take as a three-inch wood splinter was impaled into her palm as she clambered over a fence. Catherine Keener has gone on to a highly successful career, receiving multiple Oscar, Emmy, and Golden Globe nominations, but I don’t think she has ever risked her life for a role like she did in Survival Quest, her very first film.
I was operating the Arriflex BL camera from a large rock on the riverbank. My last instruction to the actors was to not let go of their backpacks as they rode them down the rapids. We rolled film and on cue the actors jumped into the river. Within moments they were caught up in the strong current and carried toward us in the swiftly moving water. The shot looked great!
Unbeknownst to me, there had been one mistake made by the crew, which we were all completely oblivious to at the time. The actors’ backpacks were filled with flotation foam, but Catherine’s had been mistakenly stuffed with rock climbing ropes from a previous scene. As the water flooded her bag, the ropes absorbed it and suddenly her backpack doubled in weight and started to sink. As always, Catherine was a dedicated actress striving for realism, and if her director instructed her not to let go of her backpack, come hell or high water she’d be damned if she released that bag. So as the actors swept by us, Catherine struggled desperately to keep that sodden backpack from sinking and her head above water. She could not do both.
While watching through the camera viewfinder I could not tell that Catherine was in difficulty. It just looked like great, authentic acting to me. Roberto, my ever-vigilant producer, was standing right behind camera and he watched this impending drowning unfold. And then he made a huge mistake. Just as the take ended, Roberto dropped his walkie-talkie to the ground and hurled himself into the river to save the drowning Catherine. It was a noble act of courage and a foolish act of stupidity at the same time. All the other actors made it safely to shore or were picked up by their river safety guides. Even Catherine was plucked up by her guide and dragged onto his raft. But there was just a single safety guide for each actor and nobody looking after Roberto. Where did he go? No one had eyes on him.
We all ran down the rocky riverbank and around the bend to the exit point. On the walkie-talkies I could hear the assistant director screaming that they couldn’t find Roberto. As we reached the exit point the raft guides were dragging Roberto up onto the rocks. He was unconscious. He had been trapped beneath one of the river guide’s rafts for several frantic minutes. We got him up to the nearest road and into a car for transport to a hospital.
During preproduction Roberto had been interviewing candidates for his key assistant position and he was very happy with his final hire. His choice was a young woman named Celeste Beard. Although she had just started working in film, Roberto was impressed with her background as an intensive-care nurse. Roberto kept telling us her intelligence and experience with extreme situations made her perfect for the movie business. His instincts turned out to be right on the money.
As the car carrying Roberto raced over the dirt road to the highway, Celeste was searching for his pulse but couldn’t find any. She immediately began CPR and during the forty-minute drive to the nearest hospital Celeste battled to resuscitate him. His heart stopped twice. By the time they arrived at the ER, Celeste had managed to revive Roberto and get him breathing and pulse stabilized.
Back at location we were all stunned by the turn of events. It was really hard to restart production after an accident like that. We managed to get shooting and limped through a few more land-based scenes before the sun set.
Once Roberto recovered, the final week of river shots went surprisingly smoothly. So well that the actors decided to have some fun with me. Dermot and Lance (and other unknown conspirators from the cast) decided to get a laugh at my expense. They bought half a dozen cartons of crickets from the bait shop adjoining our crew motel and proceeded to funnel them right into my motel room, under the door and through the window. I was just dozing off when I started to notice insects in my bed and when I turned on the lights was stunned to find thousands of the little creatures completely infesting my room. With no other choice, I spent the rest of the night sleeping in my car. Good actors should know that, as Shakespeare once aptly wrote, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” Even though a couple of decades have passed, my advice to those two is that they had better stay frosty.