THE JOURNEY BEGINS - Rain of Madness - Tropic Thunder

Ho Chi Minh City. I awoke early due to jet lag. The smog is thick, much like the mood of this city. Damien arrived at my hotel room before 7am and seemed eager to show us around. He was mistakenly under the impression that we were there to film just him exclusively. He is an interesting subject though. He seems vain, preening, and is by turns both extremely arrogant and overly optimistic. We set out around 10am for the ‘battlefield’ location. Once there, he showed me and my small crew around the hulking sets and walked us through how he envisioned the movie. However, after a few minutes he insisted we begin to film him. It was only after shooting this piece of footage, that I began to see the scope and the challenges that awaited him in the very near future.