F U N N Y    F A C T S    2

Paths Twice Crossed
As a child, Eugenia Yuan lived in Montebello, CA across the street from Eric Byler’s uncle, David Tom, whose name appears in the “Charlotte Sometimes” credits under “This Film Would Not Have Been Possible Without.” Although he visited his uncle’s house many times as a boy, Eric did not meet Eugenia until the year 2000, when Eugenia joined the Lodestone Theater Ensemble where Eric was directing.

Skeleton Crew
Key scenes in “Charlotte Sometimes” were shot with a one-man crew. Eric Byler filmed the following scenes alone, without a crew, with only an actor present. (1) “Michael” digs through “Lori’s” desk to find photographs-- Eugenia Yuan waited while Michael Idemoto performed his final scene as “Michael.” (2) “Lori” throws “Justin’s” belongings into a box-- now it was Michael’s turn to wait while Eugenia performed her final scene as Lori. (3) “Lori” opens her front door to find the box is now empty, except for a garage door opener left behind by “Justin.” (4) “Annie” hurries across the street to tell “Michael” that “Darcy” has returned.

The Cactus Method
In the above-mentioned scene, Kimberly-Rose as “Annie” performed her most important moment in the film without the benefit of a scene partner. Michael Idemoto had shot his part of the scene the day before. To create the proper eye-line, director Eric Byler asked Kimberly-Rose to pretend a nearby cactus was “Michael,” which she did without complaint. To this day, Byler marvels at the warm, sweetly conflicted smile she managed with only a row of cactuses staring back at her.

Mystery Gift
The book that “Darcy” gives to “Michael” on their final night together was special ordered by Jacqueline Kim for Michael Idemoto. Director Eric Byler asked Jacqueline to choose a gift, and inscribe it as “Darcy.” Idemoto opened the gift, and read the inscription for the first time when the scene was shot. Byler never saw the book, or read the inscription. Idemoto still has the book, and says no one else has read it either.

Death or Voice Over?
At a notes session based on the rough cut, the above-mentioned “mystery gift” was one of many causes for Visionbox publicist Michael Saltzman’s suggestion to add voice over to the film. The other causes were a note that “Darcy” leaves for “Michael,” the contents of which are never shown to the audience, and various other details that are left unexplained. Director Eric Byler told Saltzman he’d consider the suggestion. Moments after Saltzman's departure, Co-Producer and post production guru Chris Miller pointed very emphatically at Byler and said, “If you put voice over in this film I’ll kill you!”

Overlooked Improvisation
In Funny Facts 1, the list of improvised scenes excluded the orange eating (or not eating) scene. Director Eric Byler told Matt Westmore as “Justin” he was exhausted from work and wanted only to eat his microwaved leftovers and go to sleep. He then instructed Eugenia Yuan as “Lori” to come down the stairs and get his attention some how.

Sex Sounds
Eugenia Yuan, Matt Westmore, and Jacqueline Kim were all asked to make "sex noises" in the ADR studio during post production. However, none of it was used. Yuan, whose voice is most often heard in the movie, recorded some sound bytes that would have been great in the film. But the file was somehow lost, forcing Sound Designer Brad North to use the same sounds from production for three different scenes. Did anybody notice?

Film Geeks 101 (only for Film Geeks)
Eric Byler’s short film “Kenji’s Faith” relied heavily on point-of-view shots to create the subjective experience of a four-year-old child. In “Charlotte Sometimes,” he set out to use the point-of-view shot very sparingly, if at all. He felt this device in “Charlotte Sometimes” would compromise the illusion that the events of the film were real, photographed by an unobtrusive camera, rather than crafted with cinematic planning. The following is a list of point-of-view shots in “Charlotte Sometimes” and how they ended up in the film. (1) “Michael” looks up at “Lori’s” window before deciding to drive back to the club and introduce himself to “Darcy” -- Byler shot both a POV and a non-POV shot, using “Michael’s” car as a framing element, then chose the POV shot in editing. This choice cleared the way for the others. (2) “Lori” looks down and sees the garage door clicker left in the box by “Justin.” -- Byler added the shot in reshoots after his uncle, and co-financier Dennis Tom, advised him the scene was confusing without it. (3) “Justin” watches “Darcy” walk to a roadside diner. -- This shot was planned, with no alternative shots. (4) “Michael” imagines “Lori” and “Justin” having sex in brief, almost subliminal images. -- These shots were added during editing. The footage employed was really an afterthought, tagged on to the shooting of the Whipping Off the Sheets scene.