Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Teenage filmmakers (from left) Nick Fumia, Peter Wu, Ben Rekhi and Chris Wolf work on all aspects of their films, including acting in their recently completed action movie, "Get 'Em: The Early Years."

Young filmmakers shoot action flicks

By Shari Kaplan

Their names aren't yet on the silver screen, but the teenage filmmakers Nick Fumia, Ben Rekhi, Chris Wolf and Peter Wu already have two movies under their belts and at least one more in the works.

Their second film, Get 'Em: The Early Years, will debut the end of this month at the Los Gatos Cinema. The four 17-year-olds, collectively known as Bean Productions, rented the theater to show off their 45-minute flick to an audience of invited guests.

Filmed throughout the Bay Area, the movie is flavored by such action flicks as Pulp Fiction and Good fellas and is a prequel to Get 'Em, Bean Productions' first movie, which came out earlier this year. Get 'Em: The Final Hour completes the trilogy, but filming has not yet begun.

"We all direct, we all produce, we all do everything," explains Wolf, who attends Bellarmine College Preparatory School along with Fumia. Rekhi and Wu attend Los Gatos High School. All have interests and backgrounds in movies.

In past years, Fumia made home wrestling videos with his brothers; Rekhi, and Wu made a series of Indiana Jones-style videos; and Wolf and Rekhi made a film as part of a Spanish-class assignment that ballooned from a project on language to a cops-and-robbers-type movie.

"We actually didn't do that well with the grammar, but we got lots of extra credit," Wolf recalls with a grin.

As Bean Productions, the quartet makes up its own storylines. Each of the filmmakers acts and recruits other actors, films scenes with a camcorder and uses Wu's multimedia Macintosh-based computer setup to digitally edit the film, put scenes together and add special effects.

"We don't use one detailed script, just a basic storyline. We all change it and modify it and make it work," Rekhi says, adding that they don't even have to film their scenes in order, thanks to computer editing.

Get 'Em: The Early Years offers further insight into the personalities and motives of the characters developed in Get 'Em. Among other things, viewers learn what made cop Daryll McCormick (Wolf's character) "turn bad" and get involved with the shady underworld of mafioso Marco Despuzzo (played by Fumia). Rekhi and Wu portray the more honorable cops Buck and Lance, joined by rookie Jo, played by LGHS student Sarah Beritzhoff.

Some scenes were filmed in Los Gatos. For others, the guys packed up their gear and went "on location" elsewhere. For example, the police station and a kidnapping scene take place at Fumia's father's orange-packing plant in San Jose, and a gunfight explodes at a Chinese restaurant run by Wu's father in Newark.

Rekhi's uncle allowed the guys to "rob" his San Mateo liquor store, and another robbery and an interrogation take place at a glass company in Fremont owned by Wolf's father. Costumes and props are borrowed from others or purchased at thrift stores.

One of the most memorable incidents the filmmakers experienced while filming was when someone called the police during a scene in Fremont when actors were sneaking around wearing masks and carrying guns. Fortunately for them and to the relief of police, the guns were fake.

Another time, a scene required a friend to go flying across the hood of Rekhi's car. The young man hit the windshield too hard and cracked it. Realizing he would need to replace the glass anyhow, Rekhi then allowed his windshield to be hit with a hammer and shattered into pieces for another scene.

Upon graduating from high school, the filmmakers speculate they may go their separate ways. The University of Southern California and Loyola Marymount University--both known for their film schools--are their top choices.

Rekhi, with assistance from his business-adviser father, aspires to own his own movie production company one day. Wu hopes to find himself writing and directing movies. Wolf wants to be a "director/producer." Fumia wants to direct, but also admits, "I've found a new fondness for acting."

The four friends speculate they may join forces sometime again after college, because, as Fumia says, "we all got together because of our love for movies."