The first time I knew bonfire was going to be sort of an overfed, maybe slightly indulged

feast was in our first text scout lunch.

That's Chris Soldo.

Chris was the first assistant director.

He was his job to orchestrate crowd scenes, help with scheduling and generally keep order

on the set.

He realized early on in production that everything about bonfire was going to be outsized.

All the usual problems of making movies would be just a little bit bigger.

Chris had this revelation before filming began.

It happened at lunch.

The scouting crew went to a restaurant on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, a place famous

for its huge Italian feast.

We sit down within moments, six plates of fried calamari and antipostom are laid out

before us, right?

Just to get started, arugula salads, mozzarella and tomato.

Then pasta, sausage, pasta meatballs.

At this point everyone's categorized looking around at each other.

It was really time to get back on the road.

Then came the second course.

Pork chop, steak, all this meal, all these meats start coming out.

You know, choreographed, being brought by like these waiters.

More Brian De Palma.

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