“I love you, and you don’t pay me...”

Original watercolor sketch for the Campfire set in ‘My Own Private Idaho’. This scene was one of the most intense in the film, where Mike expresses his love for Scott, as played by River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves. Gus wanted the time, focus and control for shooting this scene which could best be had by working on stage. I did this sketch to guide the creation of a desert set – which we constructed in a warehouse – with sand, greens, fencing, a special effects campfire, and a painted backdrop. We rolled Scott’s Norton Commando bike into the background. The music cue is a Bill Stafford pedal steel track recorded for the film. The title is a line of dialogue from the actual scene.