Silver Car, Silver Screen

How my Porsche 928 took on a starring role in a short film.

So many stories I can spin, from the sensational to the sickening, owe themselves to my choice of college. I attended a school in Los Angeles, a film school. My most cinematic tale from the Loyola Marymount era starts with a stroll to my Porsche 928 in an underground garage. Shit, what’s that paper tucked under my wiper, a parking ticket? Nope.

“YOU HAVE A COOL CAR,” the parchment exclaimed. A compliment?

Yes, a compliment. Further research revealed that a film student, Gearld Canaday, had left these slips on a couple of campus cruisers, hoping to find one for the purpose of fulfilling his artsy vision. Would I be willing to lend my silver car to the silver screen?

The 928 has some impressive movie credits (Risky Business, Scarface), and contributing to such lore — in my own, tiny way — seemed like fun. Call off the other cars! Mine will be a star.

Before long, my day of service approached, and I drove to the shooting location of Castaic Lake — a must-visit if you have a body you need to bury. Upon arrival, it took me several moments to realize that filming was going on down a dirt road, away from parking lots, restrooms, and so on. I began to wonder if the day would end with my end, if I’d be bludgeoned to death with a spade I had just used to dig my own grave.

No, I didn’t really wonder that. Still, guard raised.

Make-up tent, meet 928.

Eventually, I encountered the crew bringing Canaday’s dreams to life. The day’s work constituted a significant portion of his senior project, and everything around me trumpeted ambition. Massive sun shades, substantial cameras, hair and make-up, an intimacy coordinator (what’s a student film without nudity?), the whole nine yards!

For the most part, I was told to engage in some classic hurrying up and waiting. Yes, folks, it takes hours to get a minute or two of solid footage. People who don’t know anything about L.A. may think that shooting movies is all fun and games. Nah, it’s a bitch.

Not Risky Business, but still serious business.

My car didn’t move an inch, and, in general, neither did I. Over the afternoon, my presence oscillated between the crew surrounding the 928 and sitting in the back of the obligatory van full of things.

Following the day of shooting, I waited. Waited more. Even more than that. Hell, enough time passed that I forgot the name of the film. Months and months down the line, I engaged in some digging — Canaday and I didn’t really stay in touch — and uncovered what became of my brush with student cinema.

“Obscura” is a strange odyssey, unfolding in a Lynchian fashion. (You just know I had to use that term, for the cinephile culture.) So what’s it about? I don’t really know, but “a photographer goes blind and something disturbing is found in the woods,” according to the YouTube description. You can view it below, if you have 12 minutes. Yes, it’s age-restricted…remember the nudity I mentioned?

For the impatient among you, my car appears just after the 9:00 mark. Due to potential copyright conflict (I'm guessing), the giant “PORSCHE” script on the back of the 928 got erased in post-production. Oh, and check out my name in the credits, mom!

If you’re a car enthusiast, you may be disappointed. Where’s the engine revving, the badass drifting, anything putting the “motion” in “motion picture,” huh? Everyone’s a critic, as they say, but I’m going to leave that role to all of you. I’m happy with how things turned out, and Canaday (plus his team) had an air of friendly professionalism.

I’m not a Porsche diehard; however, I am one of those nuts who thinks that cars have potential to transcend their vehicular duties, to become something more. Thanks to Canaday and his crew, a belief of mine became solidified: the Porsche 928, a front-engined, water-cooled, V8 middle finger to the brand’s iconic 911, is art.