Surf Samurai from Atlantis… Kinda funny, I hadn’t thought about that film in a long-long time.
 
To tell the story… It was a title and concept that I came up with a long-long time ago. Somewhere around the timeframe of nearing the end of filming on, The Roller Blade Seven.  It was a high-concept idea. A film that I planned to shoot but, up until this point, I never did. …Well, at least, never finished.
 
Donald G. Jackson and I were shooting a lot of films back-to-back once upon a time. We were going all the time. At one point, we had met this one sweet young actress who had no problem doing nudity. Don was really into her. Me, not so much. But… One day, he looked at me and said, “We really need to do something with her naked, you got any ideas?” I did, Surf Samurai from Atlantis.
 
With this, we planned to shoot the next day. We got our crew together. We also got our cast together; namely: her and I. I brought my samurai sword, a wet suit, my Nikon F4S still camera. Don bought the Sony VX1000 and a Sennheiser ME66 microphone. We were good to go.
 
Don had the idea to shoot the establishing shots for the film along the coast at this nude beach he knew of North of Malibu. All good with me.
 
We drive there. Cast and crew and all. It was a hazy, cool, Southern California afternoon.
 
Initially, we shot some establishing shots of my character emerging from the water and swimming in with a samurai sword over my back. Then, we shot some stuff with the young lady and myself. Then, we got some shots of her doing rituals and stuff. We also did a lot of Production Stills.
 
Now, I’m going to tell you a little bit of a side story here… A message in how things can go astray on a film production really quick…
 
As this was a nude beach, one of the very few in So Cal, we were not the only people there. Most prominently was this one guy. As we shot our footage and our stills, I could see him over to one side… How can I say this nicely??? He was jerking off to my cast mate.
 
Me being who I am, this pissed me off. But, as he was off there in the nearby distance, I let it go.
 
Okay, done with the shoot, we packed up and are heading down to Hermosa Beach to get some establishing shots at a surfboard shop I knew about. I noticed a newish, white Corvette sitting in the parking lot. I saw it when we arrived and I was aware of it as we left. Obviously belonging to that one aforementioned guy, as he was the only other person left on the beach.
 
We packed Don, the actress, and one of our PAs into my ’66 Mustang and drive on. I’m driving… As I am very aware of all things around me, every now and then I would notice that white Corvette. The guy was sly but no match for my watchful eyes. That mutherfucker was following us! This really pissed me off. Thankfully, the crew members, who was riding in the backseat with actress, kept me chill, because I was about ready to pull over and kick the guy’s ass.
 
By the time we get down to Hermosa, it was night. That was great! The lights from the shop and street really stood out. I kept my eyes peeled for the Corvette, but I didn’t see it. I assumed he decided to stop following us.
 
Done with the shoot, we are heading back to our offices in NoHo. (North Hollywood). As I was pulling off the 101 onto Vineland, there he was again. I saw the Corvette. He had remained hidden in Hermosa but was now revealed. Goddamn it!
 
Don suggested we go and eat at Art’s Deli instead of going back to the office. This we did. Dinner done, I checked everywhere very carefully, but I guess that guy finally bailed.
 
Now, this was one of those situations, brought about by someone else, that could have really gone South. Don was strapped, as he always was, so he wasn’t too worried. Me, I was mostly concerned about the girl. I mean, I was sure she wasn’t as street savvy as me and would most probably never realize she was being followed by a psycho. And, who knows what could happened to her.
 
For whatever reasons, however, disaster avoided.
 
The reason I bring all of this, and the film up, is that just yesterday my lady had found a bunch of undeveloped film and decided to develop it to see what was on it. When she was done, she handed me one roll and exclaimed, “These are all shots of you and some naked girl.” Those were some of the Stills we shot that day. They made me smile. Forgotten for so long. Yet, there they were.
 
For whatever (forgotten) reason, Don and I never went back up on that movie. And, I never picked up where we left off. Again, no real reason??? I guess I just never found the inspiration. I did add some of the footage we shot that day to my film, Vampire Blvd, however. So, if you want to see what it was all about, you can view it there.
 
So, for all of you Zen Filmmaking historians out there, that’s the story about, and what became of, Surf Samurai from Atlantis. I know I have been asked questions about that film every now and then over the many years since we first filmed those scenes, as it has been listed in my filmography in some books and stuff like that.
 
Surf Samurai from Atlantis, just one of those great examples of what could have been, but never was in the realms of Cult Cinema, or many better stated, Zen Filmmaking.