Cory Cowley

Mother of Lost Things BTS Pt. 2

Added 2023-01-24 21:25:46 +0000 UTC

Shoot day is upon us and I’m brimming with excitement. We drive about 14 miles north to a place in the Georgia woods. The residents of the land are friends with Paul, and their backyard is basically where we are filming. It’s wooded, rustic, quiet, and extremely gorgeous. There is something so tranquil about the woods.

Makeup, producer, techs, assistants and cast show up. I survey the land and it’s a steep, steep incline down and up. Our tent and base are at the very bottom where a creek flows between properties. Catering sets up and I (unfortunately) go back up to put my makeup on. Working a film is stressful before makeup, and I say that because you can’t quite get to do what you want to do. I didn’t get to be as precise as I wanted, but I did a good enough job that you couldn’t notice the fuck ups. I put my face and arms on, took my hair down, grabbed my coffee, and descended down the cliff.

Once I got to the bottom, I had to paint my feet. I took my shoes off, lathered them with gray paint, and proceeded to work the rest of the day with no shoes on. Jim protested, but the thing about me, is that I enjoy method acting. I like getting dirty; I like being vulnerable. I had the crew roll me around on the ground, cover me with mud, and fuck up my hair. There was a gigantic wolf spider on me that Jim had to swat off. I wanted to keep it, but the crew flipped a shit after seeing it. Wolf spiders and spiders rarely bite, and being a Tennessean—I’ve seen bigger.

The temperature throughout the day was around 40 degrees. It was cold to the crew, but I was in my element. I met my co-stars, sat back on stand-by, and enjoyed watching the professionalism of such an amazing group of people. I lost my voice, screaming so much for one take, and I somehow traversed the Georgia backwoods barefoot, half-naked, with a bum knee and a (still) broken ankle. Life is weird, but it’s amazing. I can honestly say that this was (to-date) my most favorite project I’ve ever worked on. I have zero regrets.