Friday, June 14, 2013.
About twenty years ago, the Hampshire
Gazette, a local newspaper, had an article suggesting that local
people come in and try out to be extras for a movie being shot in
Northampton. Jack was little enough to still be in his stroller;
Amysue Chase met us for an afternoon shopping in Northampton. We ran
into a friend of hers, who thought that I was her partner and that
Jack was her baby (both of them had blond hair and Amy was pushing
the stroller). We went to a downtown office; they didn't ask us to
fill out a card so that was the end of that.
About six years later, “The Cider
House Rules” was looking for little boys to be orphans; it was also
being shot locally. It was August and there was a line of about 1000
kids lining the Northampton High School parking lot. We never got
interviewed and just left Jack's photo and my contact information in
a box. On the night before Jack's last day of school before Christmas
break, I got a telephone call, asking us to stand by in case they
were going to shoot one more day. They didn't shoot, so Jack's big
chance was over before it started.
A couple of more movies were filmed
locally but by now, the casting agency had gone online. I posted my
information but rarely clicked on the “available” button as all
of the movies seriously conflicted with my full-time teaching job. I
got a stand-by call once, for three days on “Here Comes the Boom,”
but I never got the final call to confirm.
A few weeks ago, the casting agency
sent an email, asking for extras who could use tools and who were
familiar with DIY projects. I've been a tool-user since I was a
little kid, painting the baseboards at age six and helping with the
bottom end of wallpapering when my parents finally finished their ten
room house (five kids – we NEEDED ten rooms, which included a
mother-in-law apartment!).
I had started to put an addition onto
my own house six years ago, with the money I won on “Who Wants to
be a Millionaire.” I've built lit and smoking guitars, bookcases,
installed tile flooring, constructed stud-walls, and I really like
wood-working. And archaeologists are all tool users, so I sent a
photo of myself at the hackerspace, standing in front of the drill press,
along with my DIY resume. To my surprise, I got a call last week,
asking if I really was a tool user, and inquiring about my
availability for next week and the following Monday. I'm currently
unemployed, so the calendar was bare. Of course, I said yes for tool
user. Then, the agent asked if I could play softball. I was surprised
at the question but I played on a co-ed team for two years. I said
that I wasn't very good but I played. The caller said, “It's all
CGI. OK.” All of the potential extras, including my file, would go
to the director. I expected that, like every other time, this would
be the end of my movie career. But it wasn't!
This morning, I got another call, to
see if I was still available on Monday. I have a doctor's appointment
but I can change it. Then, I got the “real” email tonight, asking
me to immediately confirm my availability. I did. I've got the job,
for Monday, at least. They might use me for as many as six days! I
could use the money. Monday will be a long day, they say, because of
all of the paperwork and costume decisions. I was asked to bring
several possibilities – jeans or other pants and neutral-colored
short sleeved tops in several colors. No open-toed shoes. I'll bring four pairs of pants – black jeans, blue jeans, a new pair of
khaki-colored pants with zippered ankles, and gray cargos. I've got a
black polo, a mauve tunic, a red tunic, and a dull purple polo set
aside and I may rummage for more choices. And a new pair of black New
Balance shoes, plus my air cast and all of its paraphernalia. This
way, I don't need my open-toed cast and I can walk with both legs of
the same length – which is a lot easier on my knees.
I have to be at the set (a
decommissioned Lowes store) at 5:45AM in Haverhill, MA. It's a two
hour drive. A long drive, worried about getting delayed, is not my
favorite way to start a new job.
Sunday, June 16, 2012
I woke up this morning at 2:30 AM, in a
bit of a panic. I started a course of oral prednisone on Friday
morning to improve my breathing – I've had moderate asthma for over
a month and I was worried that not breathing well might be a problem
on set (I got the first call about availability on Thursday). I'd
been considering starting the course of prednisone for weeks - it
wasn't JUST for the movie that made me start the pills. But,
sometimes steroids cause sleep problems and anxiety and I've got both
in spades, today. Yuck!
It also occurred to me that I never
thought that I'd really get an extra gig. I have applied for so many
jobs in the last three years and only gotten a couple - all of them
teaching, which I've done before, so they aren't totally out of left
field - I thought that I'd never get one of these and if I did, it
would be for just a single day! This seems like it's going to be
different - I got another email this morning from Ashley at Boston
Casting, telling me to bring a reusable water bottle as Columbia is
plastic-free, and giving me the number I'll need to get on set. There
appear to be 15 extras, according to the list - five who are
prioritized and then ten in my group. I'm really scared. I feel like
it's the day before school starts. I don't know what I'm doing but
I'll fake it.
Tuesday, June 18, 2012.
I decided the prednisone was making my
heart race so I stopped taking it. I only got an hour of sleep before
it was time to leave for Haverhill, then I was late in leaving the house so I
drove like a maniac for the whole way. Dawn broke, totally blinding
me for the last fifteen miles of the drive but I made it, just in
time. I filled out paperwork, was instructed to change into my black
Renaissance polo shirt (I had my blue jeans on), and was given a gray apron with a button “I'm
cool with tools.” A bunch of us were then sent for props; we all
got work gloves to stash in our apron pockets. There were a lot more
extras – my group of fifteen arrived at 5:45 but others had
different arrival times. The five prioritized people in my group were
SAG members. I chatted with several; I was the only total newbie.
This area, at one end of the store, became the “background corral.”
The store was HUGE. A set for a house
or apartment had been constructed at one end while much of the rest
was set up as store, complete with a garden center with real plants.
I overheard a costuming person say that the production company spent
a million dollars renting the store and setting it up.
I got called with a group of other extras to be placed. I wasn't used the first time, so I stood around
in an aisle, waiting. After a couple hours, another guy snagged me a
chair and found some boxes for himself, but I only sat for about ten
minutes. I was assigned to stand in an aisle, wait for Denzel
Washington to reach a forklift, then walk down the aisle and out of the
open big loading doors (which were covered with vertical plastic hanging barriers), gloves in hand. I repeated this several times.
Then, they reset the camera angle, so now I had to follow the camera
down the aisle and pass it before exiting. We added a bit where I encountered a
couple coming the other way, turned to point at a rack from where I
came, smiled and nodded to them, then turned back to exit. As I had
originally held my red gloves in my left hand but was pointing with
it, I swapped the gloves from hand to hand as I walked. Then, we were sent
back to the corral, called back for another camera angle, then sent
to the corral for lunch.
Lunch was served by pecking order;
first, SAG and other union members, by the earliest call time, then just by call time. I was one of the last to get lunch as they
called anyone after 5:30 all together. It was good but there wasn't
much that didn't have wheat in it. I ate some salad, cut fruit, and a
chunk of roast beef. it was delicious but I wasn't very hungry as I was not feeling good
(but not bad enough to think I was sick). And, I was really sleepy.
After lunch, I got called out again to
be set, this time on the front corner, to use a price checker and
pretend to do inventory. I also straightened up the contents of the
shelves. Denzel Washington was about three feet (or less) away from
me at the beginning of this scene, but I was facing the shelves, not
him. I repeated the same series of actions seven or eight times,
then again for a different camera angle. Then, I got sent to another
corner, for a “big picture” scene of the entire store, but was
called back as there had been a decision to shoot the price checker
scene a different way.
I went back for the “big picture”
scene, but it was delayed while the “break-room scene” was done
again (my price checker scene was outside of the break-room). I had
been given directions to interact with a customer, so we both sat
down on some lawn furniture while we waited. I dropped off to sleep
for over half an hour, but eventually, all of the equipment came down
to our end of the store and we got new directions to move around.
Again, I interacted with customers and policed shelves for several
rehearsals, then at least four takes. At the end, the director call
that it was a wrap for the day. And for all of the crew to come back
at 6:30.
I turned in my apron (I lost my gloves
somewhere around lunchtime) found my paperwork, then finished filling
it out. Then, I waited again for my turn in the pecking order. I
changed into my ortho boot and wound up second to last. While I was
waiting, I got a call from the casting company; I wasn't needed
today. Which was just as well; I went to the doctor's and it turns out I have pneumonia! I
did get a call today for tomorrow, but I told them I was sick but, if
I was needed Thursday or later, to consider me again.
I stopped by my friend Skia's house on
the way home; the original plan had been for me to stay with her if I
was going to have several days in a row on set. She fed me some
dinner - really good hamburger, eggs, and guacomole. I felt much
better after I ate, so I drove home. And so, I can now say that I
have spent a day on a movie set. It was a lot of running around and
waiting. But it was fun. Probably not as a full-time job, but for a
day – not bad!
Thursday, June 20, 2013
I got called again for Wednesday (and couldn't go), then I just got the call for another
day, tomorrow, but I'm still feverish and jittery. I'm so
disappointed! All I've done is lie on the sofa! With any luck, they'll call me for next week AND I'll
be better!
Everything changed on Friday, June 21.
No comments:
Post a Comment