"If you could meet Death, what would you say?"These words, soft, but meaningful, fell from the lips of Sterling McHan as his eyes bored into those of the woman opposite him. He was Death himself, at least until director Bill Jackson cried, "Cut!"Then McHan and leading lady Annette Rosenheck relaxed in a corner of the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. The walls were wired with lighting and the area was enclosed by cameramen, large black screens and sound equipment littering the floor. Jackson is filming a movie called The Fall Season, and Monday's shooting took place in this corner of the museum. With the proper shots and lighting, it resembles an anteroom of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Jackson said."It's about a woman whose child was killed and the lack of contact between people in a metropolitan setting," Jackson said, "So it's necessary to have the impression of a city."Jackson, who is originally from Oklahoma, said he uses lots of extras and cars to create the illusion of heavy traffic in city shots of Tulsa, where the majority of the scenes are being filmed."I'm making it in Oklahoma because in New York and Los Angeles it's so expensive," he said.Jackson wrote episodes for television programs such as Doogie Howser, M.D. and Quantum Leap before deciding to make an independent feature film, he said. The Fall Season will be entered in international film festivals such as Sundance and the New York Film Festival."The scene filmed here takes place about three-quarters of the way through the movie," said producer and actor Edward Howard.Howard plays a college student who becomes an assistant to Julie (Rosenheck), a newspaper reporter.Rosenheck, an actress from Tulsa, said she had to audition for the role more than once, despite such previous movie experience as roles in "teen slasher movies" and HBO movies."This is a wonderful role," Rosenheck said. "The loss of a child to a mother is about the most devastating thing that can happen to a woman."Death, played by Sterling McHan, holds down a day job rigging sailboats while moonlighting as an actor with theater companies, he said."When I take on a role, I'll try to figure out within the dialogue what the character represents," McHan said. "(Death's) purpose is to be the god C.P.A."Jackson said he apologizes for the lack of violence onscreen, but he did not intend its absence to be a statement."Morality plays a strong role," Jackson said. "The movie is not preachy; it is a fantasy in which a woman manages to talk to Death after the death of her child about the meaning of life."Jackson said he could not say for certain when the film will be completed or released.Tuesday, November 21, 1995
