We Can't Tell You

Oh, you mean that Keith

“Ron, we need you and your gear in Lima next week,” said the producer. “Why? What’s going on?” I asked. “We can’t tell you.”

Fortunately I had worked with the Peruvian producer on a couple of past projects, so I said “Sure, let’s get the budget approved and we will start on the paperwork.” And then my favorite response, rarely heard, “Budget’s not a big deal on this one, whatever it takes.”

Every country has its own set of rules to get $500,000 of custom gear into the country. Peruvian customs were one of those where you had to hire the right guy who knew a guy who would pay off the right guy and within a half hour I was on the curb, breathing the humid air of Lima, nine cases of gear on three luggage carts.

Cars were honking, cars cutting in and out, airport mayhem, not much different than LAX. Then a small pick-up truck pulled up and a guy holding a hand-written sign “Mr. Ron” stopped next to me. We loaded the gear into the back, sweat already dripping down my face. Sitting, rather squashed between two equally sweaty guys, jostling through stop-and-go traffic, our pricey kit ratchet-strapped in the open air of the truck bed. I assumed the driver was taking me straight to the helicopter to rig the gear, but my Spanish is all but unusable.

Nine of us crowded into the makeshift pre-production room at the hotel, the too-loud window air conditioner wheezing its last breath of freon-deprived air. The director leaned over the table and, in a hushed voice, he revealed, “We’re here to shoot aerials for the Rolling Stones, they need a sequence to open up the Lima segment for the South American tour film.”

Screenshot of Lima, Peru from the author’s work included in the “The Rolling Stones Olé, Olé, Olé!: A Trip Across Latin America” film. The film is available on Amazon Prime.

The director wanted that classic reveal shot, the one where you start from three miles away, find the skyline and then zoom in on a specific feature. He did his best to explain to the local fixer who did his best to explain to the pilot. I had shot it a hundred times before.

Screenshot of Keith Richards from the author’s work included in the “The Rolling Stones Olé, Olé, Olé!: A Trip Across Latin America” film. The film is available on Amazon Prime.

“You’ll find Keith sitting on the rooftop, by himself, playing guitar,’ said the director. “Oh you mean that Keith,” I said, checking to make sure the formats and camera details were set correctly.

We banked hard left - I was looking straight down at the Pacific Ocean - then leveled out at a hundred miles an hour just a few feet above the waves, Lima and Keith Richards perched in the distance.