As part of the 25 Days of Sine Fine Films extravaganza leading up the 25th Anniversary I have decided to write a series of posts celebrating the 25 actors who have been the most dedicated by participating in the most productions.
Actor of the Day: Kate Weber
Kate joined the company during its first production - Destiny. She has participated in 14 productions as cast and/or crew.
I've known Kate for over thirty years. She was the first friend I made after I moved to Illinois when I was eight. She is still one of the smartest and funniest people I know. Since all of my friends end up filming with me, it's no surprise that Kate got drafted early on.
She appeared in the first film - Destiny - as one of a trio of silly sidekicks known Milly, Molly, and May who are part of the O.O.P.S. (the Organization of Out-of-work Prostitutes and Singers). She was cast as Molly along side Jen Weber as Milly and Rachel Anderson as May. Probably the worst part of filming as Molly was the ridiculous costume that was supposed resemble Robin Hood's Merry Men but just looked bizarre. It was a green sweatshirt that was way too long and had sleeves that were too short. Also, since we were filming in summer and they were sweatshirts it was also very hot for filming.
Kate reprised her role as Molly in Destiny II, although the character was incognito as a maid along with Milly and May. When I ended up needing someone to play the Drunken Tavern Wench in one of the last scenes, I called up Kate who was the only one available to film. She did a great job being a silly drunk but also showed a few moments of seriousness when the scene turned dangerous for the wench. If I had been paying closer attention I would have noticed her potential at this moment, but I didn't.
By the summer of 1997 I had already decided Kate was great at comic relief. Kate returned as Molly in Destiny III, part of the silly duo of Molly & May. It's revealed in Destiny III that Molly & May are actually fairies (which makes sense since Milly turned out to be a fairy in Destiny II) and can perform magic. They can magically change their clothes and make coffee appear, but that's pretty much all they do. You'd think they could magic up some nice outfits, but no.
Molly & May appeared in a lot of scenes, but had very little to do in most of them. In a few scenes they were important characters, but most of the time they stood in the back and provided laughs. This left Kate and Rachel with a LOT of time on their hands during filming. I remember there was one day with an eight hour shoot where Kate very politely asked if I could film her shot so she could go home. It was like five hours into the filming and she literally had one shot in the twelve scenes we were filming that day. Oof, that's a lot of wasted time. Sorry Kate. Thanks for your patience.
By this point I had come to think of Kate and Rachel as almost a single unit because I paired them up so often and I did that because they are both hilarious and play off each other really well. Put the two of them together and you'll get a lot of laughs and in my case, notes and jokes for Molly & May. Unfortunately this resulted in me type casting her for years as nothing more than comic relief with small parts and as extras. Next up was the total disaster that was Frumpy Gets It. Frumpy is a murder mystery that was completely improvised and a failure of epic proportions. Kate and Rachel were cast as the two detectives Frank & Francois who were, once again, the comic relief, although honestly almost everyone was comic relief in that movie. Right after Frumpy is murdered, Frank & Francois make a grand entrance wearing bright orange ponchos which they proceed to remove in unison once they determine that Frumpy is dead.
They decide to investigate the crime, but rather then immediately questioning the suspects, they instead make a beeline for the dinner table and help themselves to cake and cola, either of which could have been poisoned. When this is pointed out both Frank & Francois look startled, then concerned, then shrug and keep eating. It was hilarious, but it wasn't planned to be funny, that was a bonus. - They were eating out of necessity.
Frumpy Gets It is centered around a dinner party which I basically catered with a large bucket of fried chicken and sides from KFC. Only those on screen were able to eat the dinner and since Kate and Rachel didn't appear until after dinner was over they did not get to eat. There wasn't really enough left for Kate and Rachel anyway. They kept trying to sneak into the kitchen to grab snacks, or otherwise plead for food but they kept getting into the shot so I told them to wait. They waited for almost three hours and by the time their characters finally arrived on scene they were both starving. I am cruel.
The two characters, despite being comic relief, played an important role in moving the plot along. Frank revealed some secrets about one of the characters, and together with Francois they more or less figured out the culprit and then arrested everyone. The only reason the movie had an ending is because of Frank & Francois.
The next production Kate appeared in was screwball comedy, The Perfect Combination, where she played an extra - one of the villain's lackeys whose job it was to chase the heroes around and try to steal a diamond necklace that secretly contained microfilm. The only reasons she ended up filming with us that day is because we needed more extras and she happened to be on set. Because the set was her house. I needed a nice looking place to film a New Year's Eve party and she volunteered her parents' place which turned out to be perfect. Thanks Kate! Thanks Kate's parents!
While filming the comedic chase montage, Kate had the brilliant idea to hide the diamond necklace in the ice dispenser inside the freezer. When her character goes to get a drink after running around chasing the heroes, the necklace drops into her glass instead of ice. It was hilarious and is my favorite bit from the whole chase sequence.
In 1999 I was working part time at PCETV (Parkland College Educational Television) and convinced them to let me broadcast a TV show. I turned the Destiny Trilogy into a 12 episode mini-series that was aired to the public. I took the chance to film some scenes I had been unable to previously for various reasons and gathered all the actors together again to film voice overs and other shots.
One of the things I needed to shoot was footage for the scene where two ships are fighting. Originally I edited in clips from pirate movies of ships attacking each other, but I couldn't do that when airing it on TV. Someone offered their model ships and Kate helped create the footage by playing one of the ships, which literal attacked each other like swords. It was hilarious and way better then using pirated pirate footage.
While I was finishing up re-editing Destiny as a mini-series I began work on a new TV show called Pandora's Box. That summer I needed to cast someone to play a villainous character named Ryaka in Episode 14. Although Ryaka is only in one episode she is one of the most pivotal characters in the whole series. In a world where good and evil are murky, where villains turn into heroes and vice versa, Ryaka is one of the few villains that is and stays truly despicable.
An ex-army captain turned rebel, Ryaka gained the trust of Cat, played by Margaret Olson, and joined the rebellion, working her way up the ranks to be the captain of a small squad. Ryaka told Cat that she ran away from the army because she hated the way they treated people and that she know longer believed in the principles of the Army Faction. That's partially true, but Ryaka is not as morally upright as she appears to be. The fact is that Ryaka didn't run away from the army. She was kicked out by her commanding officers for insubordination and mental instability. She was a talented strategist with determination and strong leadership skills, but she always put her own interests above her assigned missions. This continues when she joins the rebels, although now her targets are any commanding officers in the Army Faction.
She blames all officers who have a rank higher than Captain for her dishonorable discharge and wants to kill them all since she can't kill the ones who did it personally. She sees every commanding officer in the Army as a threat to the rebels - and herself - and swears vengeance on those she sees as her bullies and tormentors. Anyone who questions her or is suspicious of her motives becomes her enemy. When Turlo, played by Jacob MacLeod, becomes suspicious of her, she turns against him and becomes paranoid.
After screwing up one too many missions for selfish reasons and getting the rebels she commanded killed, Cat - who she respects and idolizes - has finally had enough of her and exiles her from the base, throwing her out of the rebels. She is furious and in this moment her true insanity is finally revealed.
It's been hinted at before, but at this point it bursts forth and she screams that she'll get revenge on them and do what she has to do. She declares that she's a real rebel and she'll prove it. Cat now realizes how dangerous Ryaka is and that she could seriously hurt the rebellion's image and moral if left unchecked. She goes to kill Ryaka but Diyara stops her and convinces her to let Ryaka go. This is a HUGE mistake.
Ryaka runs away, determined to create her own group of renegades. She is actually quite charismatic and has some admires who follow her out of the base and join her new group. They travel around, looking for army officers to kill. After hearing rumors about a retired general, Ryaka hunts down Thebe Rackon. Her minions drag Thebe outside and Ryaka sneers at her, declaring her a traitor and sentencing her to death.
Thebe fights back and we see just how pathetic Ryaka is when the tables turn against her and Thebe wins their duel. Ryaka is all talk and is nothing when facing a true warrior. In a cowardly move Ryaka begs for her life. Thebe grants it, telling her to leave, but is suddenly distracted by Zarina's arrival. Ryaka uses that moment to grab the sword and stab Thebe, proving once again how truly evil she is. Zarina rushes to her side but Thebe dies in her arms.
Ryaka declares Thebe's death a victory for the rebels, then says that Cat and the rebels are the ones who ordered Thebe's death. It's a total lie, but Zarina believes it. In a fit of rage she brutally murders Ryaka, then swears vengeance on the rebels, declaring that she will annihilate them.
Ryaka's actions and final words are one of the greatest turning points in the show and directly lead to the failure of the rebellion and death of the heroes. If Thebe had lived or if Ryaka hadn't lied then Zarina would not have had the motivation to rise in the ranks of the Army Faction and take over. Her sole purpose in doing so wasn't to regain the power she once had, it was to get revenge by destroying everyone who she believed was responsible for her mentor's death.
At heart, Ryaka is a coward who loves power, but is always able to twist her words to make her goals sound noble. She gets people believe that what she wants is what everyone should want. She's clever, dangerously charismatic and also insane, although she hides it well. Ryaka genuinely believes that anything that goes wrong is not her fault and she is a victim of injustice and people bully her because she's too smart and better than them and they're jealous of her. She is narcissist with borderline personality disorder.
Obviously this part needed to be carefully cast because it's so important. I needed someone with a charismatic on screen presence who is able to be serious, yet subtle and dramatic without over being over the top. Naturally I wanted to cast Kate's sister Rebecca Weber because I thought she would do a great job in the part. However, Rebecca wasn't available and Kate volunteered to take on the role.
Honestly, I was hesitant. I wasn't sure if she had what it took to play the part because I only saw her as comic relief at this point. Those are the only parts I ever let her play up until now. Ryaka was a role that required nuance. In the end I agreed to let her play the part and boy was I glad I did because Kate blew away with her incredible performance.
Seriously, she was awesome! Dramatic as needed, but never too much - clever and crazy but subtle - she played the part to perfection. I suddenly saw her true potential and realized that I had been wasting her talent all this time with my narrow type-casting. Don't get me wrong - she's great at comedy, but she is also amazing at drama and I was cursing myself for limiting her ability for years. I was determined to cast her in more productions if I could.
A few months later I was in desperate need of someone to play a Tavern Wench for a few scenes in Episode 16 of Pandora's Box. Kate was back from college for winter break and was willing and able to film with us that day. The part was small, but had a few lines and Kate did a great job with the sassy wench. As always her comedic timing was perfect.
Sadly, just as I was determined to cast her in more productions fate forced us apart. And by fate, I mean college. She moved to another state and I moved my filming from CU down to Carbondale when I went to SIUC. Even after I moved back to CU in 2003, I was not able to film with her again until 2006 when I shot the 10th Anniversary movie The Cursed Destiny of Pandora's Gift Box.
Cursed Destiny is basically a spoof of all my other productions up until this point. All the lead characters are combinations of lead characters from other movies and TV shows. It follows the adventures of the three Silverfeather sisters as they travel through time, thwart evil, and try to end the movie before it turns into a 24 episode TV show.
I wanted to cast people who had played at least one of those parts if at all possible. So when Kate said she was available to film that weekend, I cast her as Minwah - the middle sister who is a combination of Minerva from The Gift Bearer, France Wah from Pandora's Box, and Molly & May from the Destiny Trilogy/Mini-series. I was so happy to cast her in a lead role, even though it was yet another comic relief character who had occasional moments of sanity. Kate was hillarious! She has the unique ability to say stupid lines with complete seriousness which makes it even funnier. Her comic timing is flawless.
In 2007 I decided to do an experimental film called Quatrain. Four writers would write four different versions of a specific scene using certain requirements. Then four different people would direct those four scenes and four main actors would perform them. Additional actors could be used for the final set of scenes if needed. When I sent out the call for Quatrain writers Kate was the first to answer it. She joined in the writers workshop and chose to be Writer 2 and write all the Scene 2 scripts. Her parameters for the scene were that the lines be exactly the same, the characters had to basically be the same but the settings and situations all had to be different. She wrote four fabulous scenes with Bruce and Susie, played by Jacob MacLeod and Brittany Ann Whalen.
When we finally filmed it in the summer of 2008, I cast Kate as one of the actors in scene 4D. The scene has lines so generic they can work for any situation (it's amazing how flexible it is - thanks Edward Stasheff!) I decided to set it in a graveyard and have Kate and Bryan Kieft play ghost hunters. The one problem is that I filmed it during the day and slapped a "night filter" on it in post-production which did not fool anyone. The performances were great, however. Kate was perfect as the sassy, sarcastic skeptic.
In 2009 I again sent out a call for writers to see if anyone wanted to write some short film scripts for my Twisted Tales series. The idea of Twisted Tales was to take a traditional fairy tale and do some kind of twist or spin on it. It could be set in modern times, or genders could be swapped, or have a different ending. Kate chose to do Cinderella but her twist was to switch the genders of all the characters accept Cinderella herself. She had two step brothers (who were ugly but not wicked), a fairy godfather who got the wrong addresses, and of course a princess instead of a prince. It was actually my first lesbian pairing and it was nice to have that diversity. It's a great little movie that I filmed with two new actors (Antastia Powers and Bri Arnold) in Kansas City, so sadly Kate could be there to watch us film it.
Although she participated in Twisted Tales as a writer, I wasn't able to film with her again until the summer of 2012 when I did a filmtastic weekend shooting one movie and three short films. The first production was The Gift Bearer: Time After Time. It was written filmed to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of The Gift Bearer and was set ten years after the TV show ended.
The film is basically a frame plot linking together a bunch of flashbacks. I wrote new scenes to be included in the "flashbacks" even though they were not actually part of the original production, just for fun. And for costumes. I can't film a movie about time-traveling sisters without costumes, right? I was able to reunite the actresses who played the lead characters, but all the other parts still needed to be cast.
One of the characters in the show was a shape-shifting sorceress named Hela who almost always took the form of a blonde woman. Since Kate is blonde she was a perfect fit. Yeah, that was really the only requirement for the part. The Hela scenes are set in the very early 1900s in the Edwardian era. Hela and a friend (played by Jen Weber) are taking a stoll when the sisters are appear in swimsuits looking for the Roman baths. Having Victorian morals, the women freak out and Hela attempts to fight them off with her walking stick. It's hilarious.
In a later scene Hela declares she will take care of them in order to reform them from "bunters" into morally upright women. Peri doesn't take too kindly to being called a prostitute and a fight ensues over the statue. It's a cute and funny scene, but watching the footage you can see the actors are sweaty and wilting despite being mostly in the shade. That's because we filmed those scenes on the hottest day of filming ever. Seriously. it was a 102 degrees. I had always joked about making the actors dress in heavy victorian clothing and filming the hot sun, but I never expected it to become a reality. Sorry, Kate.
Kate also brought a fun surprise with her to the set - a boom mic! And a boom pole! Although we have filmed with boom mics over the years, it had been a while since we had one on set. And as a bonus she brought along a wind sock to filter out the loud wind that was almost always present at the MacLeod Farm. Of course since it was sooooo hot that day there wasn't actually any wind for once, but it made a nice wig for Berry so it was still useful.
The next day we filmed Fortunate Ones: Forever. Fortunate Ones is a series of short films with the same basic premise. The main character wishes for something, then gets their wish only to discover it's not what they wanted to all. In Forever, the main characters are a vampire who just turned her lover into a vampire as well and then kidnapped two strangers for her first meal.
The strangers both happen to be in altered states at the time. One has a really bad hangover and the other is totally stoned, which explains why neither of them is freaking out over waking up in a basement tied up after being kidnapped. I cast Kate as Samantha, the stoned stranger, because I know Kate has great comedic timing and can deliver even the most ridiculous lines with a seriousness that makes them even funnier. There wasn't really a lead in the film as all the characters were equally important and had a fairly equal distribution of lines, so my goal of casting Kate as the sole lead had not yet been fulfilled.
Luckily, the whole thing was filmed in Kate's air-conditioned basement so they didn't have to be outside in the 100 degree weather. Unluckily, Kate had to be tied up and sitting at an awkward angle on a stone floor for over two hours so...that wasn't fun. Yet again I torture Kate. It's a fun way to pass the time.
Later that day we returned to filming outside to finish the "flashback" scenes for The Gift Bearer. I needed some extras to be at a Ren Faire and Kate brought her own Ren Faire garb with her, which was awesome. It was slightly cooler than the previous day - only 100 degrees instead of 102! However, it rained while we were filming the Ren Faire scene which left the actors wet as well as hot and raised the humidity to an unbearable level. I like to make people miserable because I'm a clearly a sadist.
On the third and final day of filming we focused on the last of the Fortunate Ones scripts we were shooting that weekend. Finally, I had to chance for Kate to star in her own short film. I wrote Fortunate Ones: Magic-8 specifically for her because I really wanted her to play the lead in a serious role. Kate needed a chance to finally shine all on her own.
Magic-8 is the story of Heather, a woman who is unemployed and having trouble finding a job. She just had an interview with a company she really wants to work for and wishes she knew if they were going to hire her or not. Her friend Cathy, played by Rachel Anderson, gives her a Magic-8 Ball as a birthday gift. Heather asks if she will get the job and the ball says yes. Cathy asks if she will win the lottery and the ball says yes. They laugh about it until the next day when Heather finds out she got the job. She calls Cathy only to discover that Cathy won the lottery - not a lot, but she did win something.
Curious if it was just a coincidence, Heather asks the ball other questions but doesn't like the answers she gets. It takes a dark turn when the ball gives answers that shouldn't exist on the toy and gives her a cryptic warning. It doesn't end well for Heather after she throws the ball away, afraid of it. Kate did a fantastic job portraying the light-hearted scenes at the beginning, then showing the growing fear and eventual panic in the later scenes.
The best part was that we filmed most of it indoors in Kate's air-conditioned house and for once I didn't torture Kate too much! There were a couple of scenes filmed in her car, but they weren't too long or too bad at least compared to the other days. Yay! I should probably edit that movie at some point. I imagine Kate would want to watch it and honestly I would like to watch the finished product as well. I mean, it has been ten years since we filmed it so...I should get on that.
Sometime between 2010 and 2013 Kate sent me another script called Mary Contrary about a woman having a debate with herself - literally. When she has to make a big, life and career altering decision she accidentally summons five versions of her personality and the try to help her decided what to do. The script was originally intended for Kate to star in (and she would have been great) but since she lived East Coast and I lived in the Midwest - and moved to the West Coast later on - we never seemed to be in the same city at the same time to meet up for anything longer then a meal. There certainly wasn't enough time to film a movie.
It's a tricky character that requires a really good, really funny and versatile actress. Other than Kate there were only three other people who really fit the bill and only one of them still lived in CU. Luckily Jen Weber was available for an afternoon and we filmed it in her apartment in 2013. Although I would have loved to see Kate perform all the characters, Jen did a great job with it. I love the script and I really enjoyed filming and watching it. Thanks for writing such a wonderful script Kate!
Sadly, I haven't been able to film with Kate since 2012. Distance, schedules, and life in general has prevented us from being able to film together, although we have been able to see each other many times over the years - just never for a film shoot. I would dearly love to film with her again and hope to be able to soon in the 25th Anniversary Reunion production we'll be filming in 2023. Please? Please will you film with us Kate? Pretty please?
Over the years, Kate has been more than an actors. She has been a dedicated member of SFF since the beginning as a writer, crew person, audio engineer, talent scout (she got me permission to use music from Binary Souls/Other Dimension), as well as a photographer. I didn't take photographs while filming Destiny, but she did. She took photos on the very first day of filming and gave me copies of them. They are the only actual photos I have the set of Destiny - all the other pictures are stills I made from the raw footage.
She is also a web designer who built, designed, and ran the first website for Sine Fine Films. It moved to two different servers, but sadly no longer exists in its original format. All of the information she gathered including scanning press articles and writing summaries were used in the creation of this blog and I owe her a huge debt for our online presence. Also, she did some fan art so that's awesome. Thank you SO MUCH for everything you've done over the years, Kate, you have been such and important part of SFF and your patience, talent, and humor have made these productions - and my life in general - so much better.
Kate isn't just great, she is much more. Kate is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!
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