Tony Cavalero Talks ‘Ghost Team One’ Filming

Tony Cavalero is currently starring as Chuck in Paramount’s comedy-horror film Ghost Team One which will be in limited release in theaters and VOD on October 11th. Tony had a pretty incredible experience filming the new flick, and he has written about his experience exclusively for FanBolt below!

Filming Ghost Team One was like a crazy acid trip, but one of those happy trips, not one filled with paranoia and terror. From the first time I auditioned for one of our wild directors, Scott Rutherford, I knew it was going to be an awesome experience and I wanted in! The audition was almost entirely improvised and, as a member of the Groundlings Main Company, I thrive in improv-heavy environments, so it was a blast.

Once I got the part, I couldn’t wait to get to set… Then I got to set and felt a little differently. It was what one might lovingly refer to as a ‘sh*thole’ old house in a very bad neighborhood, and we were going to be shooting at night, all night, for a few weeks. I was pretty sure that a movie wasn’t going to be the only thing getting shot. The cast and crew, however, were so welcoming and nice. Fernanda Romero, Carlos Santos, JR Villareal, Meghan Falcone, and our directors, Ben Peyser and Scott Rutherford, became my family very quickly. Being thrown into long hours in close quarters brings people together as I had discovered earlier working in the Sunday Company at the Groundlings. The film really proves that the relationships off-camera are very important.  We all got so tight-knit that, by the third day, we would be finishing each others’ inside jokes.

Filming was super intense, as I was performing at the Groundlings and shooting another project simultaneously. Each evening I would come to set and there would be all kinds of changes to the script, but it worked because we were all working together, improvising, and flying by the seat of our pants. Scott would be upstairs showering on set while our other director, Ben, would be going over the set up for the next scene.

It was truly unique how everything worked, very much like an improve troupe. Sometimes we would get on each other’s nerves, but luckily those instances always seemed to happen when we would have to do a scene where we all hated each other. Shooting long hours at night tends to make everything a blur, so by the end of shooting, I truly had no idea what was to become of this whacky film. Low and behold, a few months later I got word that it had been accepted to SLAMDANCE.

I warned my girlfriend that I had no clue of how the movie was going to be, but it ended up being absolutely hilarious. The long nights, ghetto set, improvised scenes, and family feel resulted in an awesome film.

Article By: Tony Cavalero
Photographer: Joana Pak
Grooming: Cat White

—————

Tony can also be seen in Glamour.com’s original comedy web series The Single Life, and will be guest starring on 2 Broke Girls and Hart of Dixie. Tony is a main member at the legendary Los Angeles improv company The Groundlings. Tony and his girlfriend Annie will be starring in Tonnannie at Groundlings on October 22nd, directed by Mikey Day.

Responses

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *