Amy Brashear - The Incredible True Story of the Making of the Eve of Destruction

In May, I went to the movies with Max. We saw Sixteen Candles . [59] A major motion picture that premiered on May 4, 1984. It was directed by John Hughes. It starred Molly Ringwald, Michael Schoeffling, and Anthony Michael Hall. When Samantha stared at Caroline while she took a shower, Max was doing the same thing. Revenge of the Nerds [60] A major motion picture that premiered on July 20, 1984. It was directed by Jeff Kanew. It starred Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards. was even worse.

Two years ago, Max and I went to Little Rock with my mom for a day of shopping at University Mall. We went over to the movie theater. Mom went to see An Officer and a Gentleman [61] A major motion picture that premiered on August 13, 1982. It was directed by Taylor Hackford. It starred Richard Gere, Debra Winger, and Louis Gossett Jr. with a friend, and Max and I were supposed to see E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial again, but we snuck in to see Fast Times at Ridgemont High , [62] A major motion picture that premiered on August 13, 1982. It was directed by Amy Heckerling. It starred Jennifer Jason Leigh, Brian Backer, Phoebe Cates, Sean Penn, Judge Reinhold, Robert Romanus, and Ray Walston. starring Sean Penn, the greatest stoner of all time. When it got to the Phoebe Cates scene, Max had to leave the theater for a while.

They never showed a guy’s you-know-what. All you ever saw from a guy was his ass. Thank you, Footloose . [63] A major motion picture that premiered on February 17, 1984. It was directed by Herbert Ross. It starred Lori Singer, Dianne Wiest, Kevin Bacon, and John Lithgow.

After the movie, Max was fascinated by Phoebe Cates. I think he was fascinated by Phoebe Cates’s breasts.

“What a wonderfully structured, detailed, and fleshed-out character Linda Barrett is. She has such a huge screen presence. The actress really is a true find. God bless you, Cameron Crowe,” he said, waiting for my mom in the theater lobby.

“I think you mean the structure, details, and flesh of her boobs?” I said.

“Prude,” he said.

“I’m not a prude,” I said.

A lot of parents did not want their children to participate as extras in this scene. Sure, they had no problem with them participating in the death blast. Priorities. Permission slips were sent home, and only the ones who had it signed were allowed to be filmed. Max’s mom did not agree, so he went home after school. Dana and Kathy were here but decided against it when they were ordered to remove their shirts. Terrence was here, and so were Kevin and Rodney. When a man walked in with a clipboard, checking off his to-do list, he took one look at Rodney and dropped his number two yellow pencil to the ground.

“Oh, nononononono,” he said.

That made three.

Isaiah, Derek, Sam, Marcus, and Latitus walked in without their shirts on.

That made eight.

Deidra, Jessica, Andrea, Elise, and Rachel came in wearing nothing but their bras and skirts.

That made thirteen.

Suddenly I could only imagine Mr. Edman’s head exploding. We were in the South, not an all-white region. What was he expecting?

Eve of Destruction became mainstream pretty fast, and I didn’t really know how they, as in the bigwigs in the “industry,” were going to take it.

“I don’t think Hollywood has seen this many black people since Roots ,” [64] A 1977 miniseries based on Alex Haley’s book Roots: The Saga of an American Family . It stared LeVar Burton in his acting debut as Kunta Kinte. Usually I watch him on Reading Rainbow on PBS. joked Deidra to Jessica.

The plan was to intermingle, white-black-white-black-white-black. I bet they wanted to do the entire movie in black and white. A strange problem to have, but it was 1984, and life still hadn’t changed.

“We’re good. We’re good. We’re good,” the director repeated to himself. “This will be good. This will work. We will be fine.”

I didn’t see the problem, but if you’d been to the movie theater recently, you would understand. There hadn’t been a lot of black actors in recent major motion pictures.

“Okay, okay, okay,” the director said. “We need to rehearse.”

Which we did. All of us with no speaking parts just stood in lines and whispered nonsense.

“Shut it, extras. The whispering is hurting my ears,” Astrid screamed. “We’ve done enough practice.”

I wanted to go behind the curtain, grab the needle that the prop department was setting up, and stab her in the eye.

Self-control. I needed self-control.

The director came in and ordered us to practice one last time before we got it on film. Astrid moaned and rolled her eyes. He was calmer than before, when he saw all the extras. He didn’t say anything racist. He didn’t really say anything at all. There were rumblings about the budget, which was already tight and was about to get even tighter. Over budget by a few hundred thousand. Probably over a million by the time the big scene rolled around. I couldn’t comprehend that amount of money. I had five bucks to my name, and that was because Mom gave that to me just in case I needed some spending cash.

“I need more from you,” the director said to Astrid, who was getting frustrated with the direction he was giving her.

She was about to walk off set when he called for a five-minute break.

The director left to take a phone call, probably from a finance man.

I went over to the food service table and grabbed a banana.

“He’s in over his head,” Astrid said, standing beside me and grabbing a grape off the vine in a bowl.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Oh, I’m not talking to you. I’m just thinking out loud,” she said, smiling and taking another grape and popping it into her mouth.

“The light—we’re going to lose the light,” Mr. Edman yelled.

“Honestly, we’re inside,” Astrid said to herself, most definitely not to me.

I dropped the banana peel in the garbage.

The director was literally pulling his hair out. He was literally becoming bald before my eyes. “One take and we’ll film,” he said, yelling into his bullhorn, even though the cafeteria wasn’t that big. “Quiet on the set. Quiet on the set. And action!”

The macabre scene comes after they prick their little fingers to actually test their blood.

They’re given ID cards to carry in their wallets and clutches. Cards with their name, address, and blood type. The circle smeared with their blood. The students wait in line until their name is called.

“Next,” says Nurse Murphy.

Helen moves forward, her arms at her sides. She’s cold in nothing but her brassiere and skirt. She sits on a cot and waits for her turn, picking at the loose thread on her hem.

Nurse Murphy orders Helen to lift her arm. She wipes the X mark. Helen flinches at the coldness.

“Is it going to hurt?” Helen asks naively.

“Only for a bit, but don’t worry—the pain will subside.”

The tattoo gun buzzes as it comes toward her. She screams, but the nurse does not stop. The gun touches her skin. It tickles. She laughs, but the pain comes and she starts. Tears run down her cheeks, down her chin, onto her bosom.

“All done,” Nurse Murphy says. “See, it didn’t hurt one bit.”

Helen’s body, once pure, is now defiled with an O and a positive sign.

The “congratulations; we made it one week” party was tonight. The temperature had dropped, but everyone was still determined to celebrate. So the school administration graciously opened the doors to the high school gym. The same gym where I got pelted during dodgeball last week.