License to Kill a Mockingbird
From The Extended Group
License to Kill a Mockingbird was a movie made in Mr. Kelly's Freshman English class by Brett, Jason, Lukas and Stuart. The video was one of the earliest creative expressions by the group in High School.
The Making Of
Shooting commenced in the late fall of 1999, with most actual filming taking place (on location) in Shorewood Hills II, based out of Stuart's house. The idea was to simultaneously spoof To Kill a Mockingbird as well as incorporate elements of James Bond and other pop culture references into it. So many comedic devices were eventually included that it lead some to question whether the movie was even following a plot. Scenes featured Brett, Stuart, Lukas, as well as John Edwards, Chris Goiney, Doug Rooke. Jason, despite being in the class only played the part of Tom Robinson, accomplished by wearing a black afro-style wig, which covered most of Jason's famously Asian face.
Stylistic traits in the movie included:
- "Dill" being played by a small stuffed monkey who's first appearance was with tail deliberately placed between legs in a phallic fashion. Laughter can be heard even in the final cut of this shot.
- The intro scene from James Bond was filmed with Lukas as a Teutonic Bond shooting up into the air instead of at the camera. Feathers then fell to the ground in place of blood.
- Atticus Finch (Brett) was actually a Batman-type figure who wore a paper-plate mask and paper cape.
- Narration was by all members of the group and was done in a series of fake southern accents (with varying degrees of effectiveness).
- The rabid dog was played by Stuart’s dog Zack who was "killed" by being shot at point-blank range with a "nuclear cannon" (actually an old super-soaker 50). The subsequent explosion was taken courtesy of the History Channel.
- Many things found in the knothole of the tree, including a tube of Preparation H.
- An extensively edited courtroom scene featuring Judge Judy as well as Chris Goiney as Mayella Ewell, John Edwards as Mayella's father, Lukas as bailiff, Stuart as Sheriff Tate, Brett as Atticus Finch, as well as Jason as Tom Robinson.
- Boo Radley (Lukas) was considered so ugly he always wore a paper-bag over his face. He disposed of Bob Ewell by tossing him into the air and stabbing a corkscrew into his heart. In this unintentionally hilarious scene, laughter could still be heard in the final cut by those off-camera.
- The credits were run as slowly as possible to allow for several minutes of outtakes, some of which were staged, others purely spontaneous hilarity.
Post-Production
Video was edited at the Einstein Middle School library for unknown reasons. Fortunately Stuart was able to check the computer out to finish editing at his home. Brett, meanwhile, spent many agonizing hours looking over more than six hours worth of "Judge Judy" episodes to find the best sequences of dialogue. A semi-nervous breakdown after two marathon sessions (along with subsequent editing later that evening) led to a rare scene of (a perpetually laughing) Stuart trying to calm Brett down by walking him around the Einstein walkway.
A small controversy happened when Lukas and Brett wanted to play "Licence to Kill" from the 1989 movie by the same title, but Stuart wanted to play a song by rock band Eve 6 instead. Stuart eventually conceded, and the video was rendered and printed to VHS tape. The video was shown to Mr. Kelly's class to much laughter. Mr. Kelly apparently enjoyed it enough that he showed it to some college students under his guidance. The movie has become a cult classic among certain group members.
