More photos from the set of Howl:

James Franco, with directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, on the set of Howl.













Director Jeffrey Friedman watches a scene play out in the courtroom















Director of Photography Ed Lachman



























Director Rob Epstein in the courtroom set.

















Script supervisor Tony Pettine discusses a scene with directors Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein in the courtroom.










Assistant Director Tom Fatone and 2nd 2nd Assistant Director Kim Thompson in the courtroom set.

More photos from the set of Howl:

Photos from production photographer JoJo Whilden

Directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman on the set of the Six Gallery.

Photos from production photographer JoJo Whilden

Howl composer Carter Burwell makes a cameo in the Six Gallery playing the bongos.

From a scene in Howl- a Cezanne painting that partly inspired Ginsberg's style.

Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman filming in the streets of the East Village. They go over a shot while director of photography Ed Lachman checks his light meter.

Thursday, March 19, 2009:

Yesterday and today we recreated the Six Gallery in a vacant West Village storefront. The Six Gallery is where Allen Ginsberg read Howl publicly for the first time. Our ingenious production designer Therese DePrez (High Fidelity, American Splendor, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) created an extraordinary space - a funky gallery, complete with artwork wherever you looked, low-hanging lights, mismatched tables and chairs, a piano, a hookah, and all of the odds and ends you would expect to find in this place where a group of poets gathered in 1955 to hear Ginsberg's revolutionary new kind of poetry. Theatrical smoke was pumped through the room as a final touch to add more atmosphere.

For the first day of shooting at the Six Gallery, over thirty extras filled the space, as well as the actors playing Kerouac, Cassady and Orlovsky - they each reacted to Howl in their own personal ways, as different stanzas meant different things to each of them. Kerouac passed around a bottle of wine and shouted, "Go! Go!" just as he was reported to have done that night in 1955.

James Franco recited the poem as Ginsberg did, only James had to do it take after take for two days (the first day with extras, the second day by himself). He tirelessly recited it with as much conviction on the evening of the second day as he had the morning of the first day. Even when he was off camera, James read the poem full out in order to get the best reaction shots from the crowd. James commitment was extraordinary and his passion evident in every take. He made his way through the lengthy and gut-wrenching poem, finding both the humor and heartbreak in each verse of Howl the cadences of James voice brought to life the spirit of Ginsberg. James' months and months of research on Ginsberg for this movie was evident even in how he carried his body when performing as young Ginsberg - the way he raised his hand in the air for emphasis was just like Ginsberg's gesticulations in various photographs.

We also filmed a small moment between Ginsberg and his longtime lover Peter Orlovsky, sitting back-to-back on two opposite park benches (based on an actual photo taken of them in Paris). Though they weren't even facing each other, the intimacy between them was palpable. Peter is played by Aaron Tveit, who will be seen in the forthcoming Broadway musical Next to Normal. (Also, he will play the Leonardo DiCaprio role in a musical version of Catch Me If You Can on Broadway next season).

Thursday, March 19, 2009:

Tuesday, March 17, 2009:

We shot in Allens old neighborhood today - the East Village. Our filming locations were literally blocks away from where Allen lived. The day began with recreating the aftermath of a car accident when Allen got a ride in a car that turned out to be stolen and was full of stolen goods. (This is what lead to Allen checking into the
Psychiatric Institute on 168th Street, where he met Carl Solomon, to whom Howl is dedicated). Our prop master, Jeff Butcher, had a busy day, as all of the stolen goods from the car that were showered onto the street after the accident, the smoke coming from the car, and the 1950s car itself are all considered "props" and all within Jeff's
domain. He had to make sure that all of the "stolen items" were in position for each take and that the right amount of smoke was coming out of the car at all times.

Next we moved to Tompkins Square Park to film a moment of Ginsberg and Kerouac sitting on a bench together and struggling with their early writings. And then the entire crew hauled their equipment a few blocks away to recreate a San Francisco storefront where Allen jealously took a picture of his friend Neal Cassady and one of Neal's many girlfriends.

Today we also recreated two classic photographs: Jack Kerouac smoking on the fire escape and Ginsberg laying outside on museum steps and smoking a joint.

While we were walking up to the third floor apartment to film on the fire escape, our director of photography, Ed Lachman, noticed how beautiful and in period the staircase was, and we decided this would be a perfect way to end the sequence we shot yesterday of Allen walking through the "negro streets at dawn". Allen would finally walk up a flight of stairs at his apartment building and stare up blankly to what lay ahead.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009:

Monday, March 16, 2009:

Today was the first day of principal photography! We shot a series of moments in Ginsberg's life that inspired him to write Howl. We began with a sequence of Allen walking through a number of alleyways, disheveled after a long night, dragging himself through the "negro street at dawn," as he would later write in Howl. He sees various street characters - hustlers, junkies, etc. We were able to use three parts of one alleyway in Queens to make it look like he was walking through three different sections in New York.

We then shot a sequence of Ginsberg walking through images that influenced the style of Howl - a Cezanne that Allen saw at the Museum of Modern Art. (As Allen says in the film, "Part of Howl was really an homage to Cezanne's method. In a sense I adapted what I could to writing. Cezanne is reconstituting by means of triangles, cubes, and colors. I have to reconstitute by means of words, rhythms and phrasings.") We also shot a sequence of a drugged out Allen literally walking through an image of William Blake that was being projected onto his face and the room around him. Another scene we filmed was Allen's day job working as a copyboy, frustrated as he tried to come up with a toothpaste ad, and leading a more or less "normal" existence before deciding to take a very different path in life, which ultimately lead to the creation of Howl.

Day One was a success - now only thirteen more shooting days to go!

Monday, March 16, 2009:

Friday, March 13, 2009:

Today is the final day of pre-production, so all of the trucks are being loaded up with equipment, and we're getting ready for the shoot to begin on Monday!

We are very excited to have Howl produced by Werc Werk Works CEO Elizabeth Redleaf and President Christine Walker, alongside directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, who are also producing; Gus Van Sant (Milk, Good Will Hunting) and Jawal Nga (Last Chance Harvey, Married Life) are executive producing with Redleaf.

We also have some brilliant actors who joined the cast: Bob Balaban (Midnight Cowboy, Gosford Park, Waiting for Guffman), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Alessandro Nivola (Junebug, Laurel Canyon), and Treat Williams (Prince of the City).

Friday, March 13, 2009:

the color palette for the movie as created by the art department:

the color palette for the movie as created by the art department:

Location Scouting: Courtroom

Location Scouting: Courtroom

Location Scouting: Six Gallery

Location Scouting: Six Gallery

Tuesday, March 10, 2009:

Today we did the hair and make-up camera test. In the film, Ginsberg ages approximately seven years, so we were testing out both the younger Columbia grad look and the older post-Howl bearded look on the actor portraying Ginsberg, James Franco. We also did a hair and make-up test for the actor playing Jack Kerouac. The transformation was extraordinary, as the crew watched the characters of Ginsberg and Kerouac come to life. The make-up and hair stylists even made James Franco's ears stick out, just like Ginsberg's.

Today was also a chance for our remarkable DP Ed Lachman (Oscar nominated for Far From Heaven) to shoot the make-up tests and see how the make-up, hair and costumes look on film. There are number of different film stocks he tested that we're using throughout the movie - 35 mm color for the trial reenactments, 35mm black and white for the Six Gallery reading of Howl, and Super-16 for the flashbacks of Allen's life.

It's only a matter of days before principal photography begins and everyone is working tirelessly to make sure that we're all ready to go on Monday...Stay tuned.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009:

Welcome to the HOWL Blog!

Monday, March 9, 2009:

Welcome to the Howl Blog! This is where you will find an exclusive behind-the-scenes account of this innovative new film currently in its final week of pre-production in New York City. This film tells the story of Allen Ginsberg's landmark poem Howl and the obscenity trial that resulted. Scenes from Ginsberg's life that led to the creation of Howl and reenactments of the trial are intercut with Ginsberg's actual voice reading Howl while the poem's imagery is brought to life through the animation of Eric Drooker. The cast includes James Franco (Milk, Pineapple Express, Spider-Man) as Allen Ginsberg, as well as Jeff Daniels (The Squid and the Whale, Terms of Endearment), David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck), and Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds) as the courtroom participants who battled over the literary merit of Howl. Stay turned for more cast announcements coming very soon.

Howl starts shooting in NYC next week, and so today we went on a tech scout to all of the film's locations. Twenty-two crewmembers crowded onto a bus and drove from location to location - the production designer and art department took measurements and mapped out how they would design the space, while the director of photography discussed with his gaffer how the scene would be lit and spoke with the directors about camera angles. The locations department found a beautiful courtroom in the Bronx that captures the look of the courthouse in San Francisco where the actual trial took place in 1957. The crew also visited a vacant storefront in the West Village where the Six Gallery will be recreated - this is the place in San Francisco where Allen first read Howl in October 1955 (Jack Kerouac later recounted a fictionalized version of this night in his book Dharma Bums). Various apartments on the Upper East Side will stand in for Allen's New York and San Francisco apartments. When the entire crew went to scout one of these apartments, the lock was jammed and the landlord could not open the door, so our 1st Assistant Director, Tom Fatone, climbed up the side of the building to the second floor and into the apartment window, and he was then able to open the door from the inside!

We next scouted locations in the East Village, including Tompkins Square Park, Alphabet City, and the exterior of an apartment building where Ginsberg actually lived. We will be referencing a number of period photographs, including one of Jack Kerouac smoking on the fire escape - we will be shooting this close to the actual location it took place!

Stay tuned for more updates as we count down to the beginning of the shoot next Monday...

Welcome to the HOWL Blog!