Weapon of Mass Destruction Movie

PRODUCTION NOTES

WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION is a prime example of no-budget filmmaking; making up in spirit and creativity for whatever it may lack in “production values.” The film was written in a fiery four days -- in the week following the Invasion of Iraq. It is an effort to tell the story of the everyday American’s experience of the build-up to the Iraq War.
At that time, no mainstream production company in America had the courage to confront the political hot potato of the Iraq War and the White House policy surrounding it, but the makers of WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION, boldly exercised their freedom of expression – speaking out with passion and irreverent humor in a grass-roots, home-style project. WOMD was made for less than $18,000 with a crew of two people and a cast of 60 actors and actresses.
While the story takes place in Los Angeles, the oil fields and marketplaces of Iraq, CIA headquarters and the woods of Camp David -- the project was shot almost entirely in a fifty foot radius of the director's kitchen – in his driveway, backyard, garage, living room, bedroom, hallway and mini-van -- using large cardboard sheets harvested from area dumpsters to create the sets. Indeed, it is perhaps the most elaborate home-video ever attempted.

WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION began pre-production in May of 2003, casting a wide net among Los Angeles’ talented pool of actors and actresses. Casting went on for over six weeks and as July rolled around, the filmmakers were anxious to start into production. What was to follow was 7 weeks of concentrated filming – with breaks being called whenever cast members had auditions or more lucrative work. Locations and sets were improvised as needed. By the end of August, the project had shot over 40 hours of digital video and it was time to begin editing. The picture was cut in seven weeks and sound work began. A series of unhappy delays pushed the completion of the project until Spring of 2004. But as of mid-summer, as the 2004 election heated up -- this WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION was finally starting to be discovered!
WOMD ran for four weeks of midnight shows in Los Angeles, went to festivals and even found its way to Japan and the former Soviet Union.
Who cares if the streets of Baghdad look like Los Angeles, Camp David and the surrounding woods bear more than a slight resemblance to the scrubby hills around Dodgers Stadium, or that the inside of the CIA plane that flies Lincoln home shares interior design similarities with a Toyota Mini-Van? With the tight control of the media these days, the no-budget approach was the only way to get this politically “dangerous” movie made.