On the strip mall sidewalk outside of Extreme Pizza, a plate of wings starts to go cold as the 12-person crew of “Adam and Eve” clean their equipment with sanitizer wipes. The cinematographer wrestles to repair his camera after an intoxicated cyclist crashed into him on the previous day shooting under the shadow of the Painted Ladies. Actors Cherish Holland and Brian Hooks hide behind masks waiting for their scene, trying to keep a social distance. Meanwhile, the pizza ovens are still on, with Friday night delivery orders coming in fast.
“It’s like a movie every day, even when we’re not filming,” says Holland, who plays the titular Eve.
Like most industries, movie-making ground to a halt at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. After big-budget productions of “Matrix 4” and “Venom 2” took over San Francisco in the spring with helicopter chases and fake shoot-outs, you’d be hard-pressed to find a camera crew on the streets that wasn’t shooting breaking news over the past six months.
"Adam and Eve” filmed for 20 days around the Bay Area, at locations ranging from San Francisco landmarks like the Conservancy of Flowers to Extreme Pizza in Mill Valley.
Blair Heagerty / SFGATEThen, at the end of August, the S.F. Film Commission released guidelines stipulating productions may resume, but with a maximum of 12 people on set. Talent are the only ones allowed to take off their masks. Crew members regularly take rapid tests and a strict straight-to-set bubble system is enforced. Today, producer Jose Montalvan takes the lead on health regulations for “Adam and Eve,” as well as catering, since he’s also the owner of the Mill Valley pizza shop. As you might expect, during the shoot the chemical aroma of Purell overpowers the smell of pepperoni.
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“I’ve lost count of how many wipes we’ve used. You can always wipe things down again. It’s just unconscious, it’s part of filmmaking now, but it takes longer,” says cameraman Charles Duran, whose eyes move during our conversation to the pizza shop door, which he’ll soon disinfect. Again.
Writer, director and star Brian Hooks on the set of "Adam and Eve,” which filmed for 20 days around the Bay Area, at locations ranging from San Francisco landmarks like the Conservancy of Flowers to Extreme Pizza in Mill Valley.
Blair Heagerty / SFGATENaturally, this makes filming a blockbuster like “Matrix 4” in the city impossible, but “Adam and Eve” just might be able to pull it off. The low-budget production is a love story about an ex-Marine struggling with PTSD while running a pizza shop, and although it does shoot all over the Bay Area, they aren’t exactly leaping from buildings in the Financial District. For an independent filmmaker like Brian Hooks, the writer-director-star of “Adam and Eve,” it’s a challenge that plays to his strengths.
“My foundation is learning how to make films with two hands tied behind my back, so to speak. I was forced to know the ins and outs of how to get things done on a budget,” says Hooks, while the crew prepares for a scene filmed in a creek near the pizza shop. “But this is pretty crazy. When it first hit, we didn’t really know when we would be back up and running. How, where, if we’d even be allowed.”
They had originally planned to shoot in March, but filming was pushed back two weeks. Then a month. Now seven months later, Hooks has finally traveled to San Francisco from his home in Los Angeles and scheduled 20 days of filming around the Bay Area, shooting everywhere from Fisherman’s Wharf to Twin Peaks to the Conservatory of Flowers. Plus lesser known landmarks like Extreme Pizza, which is owned by Hooks' production partner Jose Montalvan.
“You could literally turn the volume off of this film, and just with the sights of San Francisco and the history and culture around this building, that building, this neighborhood… you’d still be engaged. It’s like another character in the movie," Hooks said.
Cinematographer Isiah Flores on the set of "Adam and Eve,” which filmed for 20 days around the Bay Area, at locations ranging from San Francisco landmarks like the Conservancy of Flowers to Extreme Pizza in Mill Valley.
Blair Heagerty / SFGATEPerhaps the hardest part of coordinating the shoot was the element of uncertainty. In addition to San Francisco’s guidelines, the Screen Actor’s Guild released their own rules in June. They don’t always align, as on the topic of hair and makeup artists, which the SAG allows but S.F. does not (“Adam and Eve” did have two makeup artists on set). The S.F. Film Commission, which according to Hooks typically has hard answers for queries regarding shooting, seemed to also be figuring everything out as they went along. They were helpful, but some details seemed left to chance.
“Usually you call them and they have the answers. ‘You can do this, this, this, you can’t do that,’" says Hooks. “But now they were like, ‘you maaaay be able to do this, you probably could do that, but I definitely wouldn’t go there.’”
Shutting down streets was one of those definitely-wouldn’t-go-there issues, partly because it was just more difficult to get a hold of residents who’d need to give permission. It wasn’t a hard no, but a complaint could’ve resulted in the production getting shut down, which isn't a risk a budget-strapped independent filmmaker can afford to take.
“What it costs for that day, we can’t do that on a maybe. This is not a Marvel movie, we need to know when we give you this check that we’re able to be there,” says Hooks.
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"Adam and Eve” filmed for 20 days around the Bay Area, at locations ranging from San Francisco landmarks like the Conservancy of Flowers to Extreme Pizza in Mill Valley.
Blair Heagerty / SFGATEAlthough Hooks and Holland traveled from Los Angeles, most of the rest of the crew lives and works in the Bay Area. Gigs dried up after the initial shelter-in-place orders as bigger productions halted, but those working on smaller shoots still managed to piece together a living. For cinematographer Isiah Flores, jobs in March through May completely disappeared and he never received unemployment benefits, but as Gov. Gavin Newsom released official production guidelines this summer, his schedule changed.
“I had four or five months of projects mapped out, all those went away,” says Flores. “But since June 13, I’ve been working nonstop. It’s been crazy. You talk to a lot of filmmakers and you get a different story, but I shoot a lot of agriculture and wine, and those jobs happen in the fields with essential workers.”
The break also allowed some of the crew to focus on personal projects. Hooks spent more time checking in virtually on the at-risk urban youth he mentors through his production company Left of Bang Entertainment. Flores began producing a documentary on a close friend whose Hollywood stuntman career was derailed by severe insomnia. Other crew members also see it as an opportunity for growth.
“There’s plenty of time to be creative. Maybe it’s the time to learn some new skills. Writing, planning your next project. As soon as this is lifted, maybe we can make all these movies,” says cameraman Duran.
"Adam and Eve” filmed for 20 days around the Bay Area, at locations ranging from San Francisco landmarks like the Conservancy of Flowers to Extreme Pizza in Mill Valley.
Blair Heagerty / SFGATEIt’s anyone’s guess how soon film production will return to the old normal, but as for now, the crew of “Adam and Eve” make do with a skeleton crew, each member wearing multiple hats. Aside from the masks and sanitizer, the shoot doesn’t necessarily feel compromised by the specter of the pandemic. The most dangerous thing that happens during the visit is when Flores’s phone slips out of his pocket as he’s maneuvering a steady-cam rig on the edge of the creek, but production assistant Deion Jones leaps into action to save it from a splash (and in the process ends up with a nasty case of poison oak).
After the shot at the creek wraps, the crew marches back to the pizza shop to regroup before driving to another Mill Valley location before the sun sets. They only have two days left of filming, then the editing process begins. The film won’t likely receive a theatrical release, but Netflix and UMC, a new Black streaming service, have expressed interest. There’s no official release date yet, but audiences will tentatively be able to see it sometime in mid-2021, when maybe it won’t feel uncomfortable to watch a pair of actors strolling through the streets of San Francisco without masks.
