The Distorted Jaime Sandwich

Jonathan and I tend to remember the morning filming began quite well.  I pulled into the parking lot, saw him filming Jaime and thought, "What the hell?"  Conversely, Jonathan saw me driving towards him and thought, "Oh shit, we're in trouble."  When I got out of my car, he told me he had just bought his camcorder and was making a small film.  I asked if he wanted me to act in it and suddenly the air was cleared and the soon-to-be "epic" trilogy was set into motion. The misanthropic exploits of James Neat a.k.a. "Jaime" were at the center of the film.
Actor/director Jonathan Lyons reacts to Ian Huff playing pocket pool.  To give a bit of background information to the era of Apex this occurred in, it was when I was presiding over the Village Eight.  General manager Tami Skaggs left on maternity leave and during that time I found myself in charge of the theatre.  It was hardly my first time at the Village.  I was there for about a month in October and for another month in December (each time being after a manager was fired and I was slated to fill in).  Never that long, but enough to get to know the staff members who were involved in the film fairly well.  My stay at Village this time would  last seven months.
It hardly took seven months to complete the film.  As I recall, the movie was essentially done in a little over a month.  Part of the film was simply composed of: "Let's see what we can do with this new camera" scenes.  Another part of it was making up scenes based on who was working at the time the camcorder was brought in and how they could be worked into the plot.  This sort of filmmaking actually worked though.  Not knowing where the next day's filming was going to take the story gave the film a nice spontaneity.   Ian Huff impulsively "digs for gold" on the way to see Jaime after 4 years.
Garrett McGill is victimized in the brainwashing subplot. In the end, the plot that did congeal went a little like this: Jonathan and Ian go off to college while Jaime stays in Louisville to work at the theatre.  For four years, Jaime is miserable as two sadistic managers toy with him every chance they get.  After graduation, Jonathan and Ian return to Louisville to check up on their old pal to see how he's getting along.  They find him downtrodden and decide to cheer him up.  From here, it's Jaime existing in a flux of loyalty between his friends and work.  There are also strange subplots, such as employee brainwashing and Jaime's love for Molly-Moo, that get tossed into the mix.  In the end, Jaime is fired, killed and tossed in the dumpster.
Molly Murphy plays Molly-Moo, Jaime's love interest in the film. My personal slave, Garrett, takes on my likeness before dispensing quality service.  "Here goes that unrelated subplot thing again," warns narrator Shannon Warren.
The film was obviously an accurate reflection of what life was like at that time for so many involved.  Jaime, Ian and Jonathan, having just graduated, were about to go their separate ways.  Many staff members regarded me as evil since I had replaced the general manager they were familiar with and/or preferred.  Yet it became more than that as the summer rolled on.  The staff got involved and it brought everyone together under a like project.  It initiated a veritable renaissance at the theatre, if you will.  Two sadistic managers: Robert Boston and I share a laugh after firing Jaime.
I'm seen here playing the needlessly-perky film host.  By far the most entertaining night of filming was the evening we shot the infamous Apex Training Film.  I played the obnoxiously jolly training film host, and everyone else played the naive, yet eager to work, new staff members.  We had quite a lot of fun taking our "Rule #1: If we don't take care of the customer, someone else will," sign to extremes.  Half the shots in the training film, including those in the men's lavatory, had that asinine sign in them hanging somewhere.  The motto for the training film also happened to be: "Number one works for me!" Ah, self-parody at its best.
I preach the value of Rule #1 as the famous sign sits right beside me. "If we don't take care of the customer, someone else will!" a happy staff says. "I'm getting the hell outta here!" says Matt Adams, demonstrating the time clock.
As for a premiere, it consisted solely of a small group of employees gathering in a theatre to watch the film on a small TV.  At that time, we didn't know that there would be a sequel, much less two. After all, Jonathan was going off to college and I was to return to the Baxter soon. Plus, Jonathan had done it for sheer fun and didn't intend for it to achieve some form of iconic status.  It wouldn't be until new employees came to work for Village and heard of the film that it gained sort of a "cult following" among the staff members.  Then it grew to a point where a sequel was inevitable.  But that's a different story that can be found here. Octogenarian employee Fran Steves finds herself aroused by Jaime's ass.
Jaime flips the theatre off (to the shock of actual customers) after being fired. Shortly after gaining freedom from work, he's hit by a car and killed. The crowning touch of the manager's office.  The Jack Elam pencil sharpener.

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