It's 10 in the morning, and, having been on set for five hours already, director Andrew Black is surprisingly relaxed. In between takes he talks rapidly to the camera crew and the actors, giving quick feedback and direction. They listen with intent faces, and jump back into their scene.
Welcome to a day in the filming of the newest movie to join the Mormon culture genre. 'Pride and Prejudice: A Latter-day Comedy' is the brainchild of former BYU student Jason Faller. In the year since he graduated in 2002, Faller has been immersed in work on his project: 8 months of development and 4 months of pre-production work.
Faller said he intends to raise the bar on the Mormon culture genre with 'Pride and Prejudice.'
'I looked high and low for a good story from local writers and found wanting, so I decided that I'd go to a story that was tried and tested,' he said. ''Pride and Prejudice' is a great story.'
With a cast that is only one-fifth LDS, 'Pride and Prejudice: a Latter-day Comedy' faces two major challenges. The first is wooing their key audience: the LDS community.
Mormon culture films are notoriously controversial amongst LDS viewers.
'We're to make a film that appealed to both insiders and outsiders,' said Black. 'It's almost like 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' where the culture is just a backdrop.'
The second challenge is placating the droves of devoted fans of 'Pride and Prejudice,' both the novel, and its highly popular BBC incarnation. Black admits to some concern over fans of the novel feeling that too many liberties have been taken with the story, but says he is not too worried.
'We also know the novel very well, and even though we're playing around with it, we are treating it with respect,' he said.
Filming is expected to continue through the next few weeks, and post-production should wrap up in early fall. Black said the release will be sometime in the fall.
Are they nervous? Black sums up the feelings of everyone on the set: 'I want people to like it; do something that's polished and that hopefully other films that follow will say we can do as well, or we can do better.'