The DailyBeat One of the pictures you shared – the one taken by Lu Anne Henderson’s (Marylou in On The Road) daughter, Anne Marie Santos – shows you on the set of the movie. How much time did you spend on the movie set, and what was your role?
Gerald Nicosia: Well I was at Beat Boot Camp, the first drill instructor, in a big loft in Montreal, in July 2010, but that was before shooting started. I was working intensively with the actors Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, and Sam Riley, as well as talking with Walter and answering questions from various members of the crew, such as the cinematographer Eric Gautier—one of the sweetest men I ever met—and the wardrobe guy, Danny Glicker, who was also very sweet and carried his little dog (it might have been a Pomeranian) with him everywhere. That was three days and nights of solid work. Then I was on the set for a day in December in San Francisco, just before they wrapped the shoot. But I talked with Walter several times on the phone in between, exchanged emails with him, and gave him several pages of detailed notes on the script.