Ugh, Hollywood got up early today. The alarm went off at 4:15 am....get cleaned up, shave....load my 4 changes of clothes into the truck, and left by 5 for the "home base", which is what the little cluster of tents at the Municipal Auditorium parking lot is called for the production of "Blonde Ambition", the newest movie being filmed in Shreveport. It features (shall I say it again?) Jessica Simpson, Luke Wilson, Penelope Ann Miller, and Andy Dick.
It's dark at home base and I get my paperwork that needs to be filled out if I have any desire to be paid. There's several rows of tables with chairs in the biggest tent. I was one of the first to show up but everyone gets there by 5:30 or so....it's still dark. The head of wardrobe, Sara, looks through everyone's collection of clothes and selects what she wants people to wear for the shots scheduled....we're not changing into four sets of clothes like I thought, we're wearing the best combination of what we've got as Sara desires. When she gets to me, she takes a very quick look and says "I like what you have on already...I like the jeans....just put on your sport jacket and keep your overcoat with you, wear it or don't wear it. You're fine like that!" Well, that's less work for me. Everything else goes back in the truck and I get on the "people mover" (bus) to go to the 900 block of Milam Street.
The PA's, or production assistants (Felicia was one), and director (Kevin) made it very clear that all cell phones had to be left in our vehicles or turned in to be picked up later. I could understand that, you don't want a phone going off while a scene's being filmed. Later I heard another reason....two people had been kicked off the set last week for taking photos with their cell phones! And Simpson has been in the paper/tabloids a lot lately....they're trying not to add to what's been going on with her.
We're dropped off at a former guitar store next to the old Capri Theater on Milam....the last time I saw a film in the Capri had to be in the early 80's. There's sixty of us extras ("background" as we would be called all morning) in the building and we wait a while as it gets lighter outside and the weather is threatening....it had rained earlier. Around 7:30 the PA's come in and make a few announcements, then the director comes in and goes through the commands that will be barked out during the filming. For instance, he will place the extras at a starting point for each scene, all of them scattered out along the sidewalk to give that random look. That starting point is Position One, so when he says "Everyone back to their ones!" that means to go back to the exact place you started. "Reset" means to go back to a previous position, usually the ones. When actual filming starts, everyone yells "Background!" which means we all start moving, then "Action!" is when the primary actors do their bit. Yes, they still say "Cut!" to stop everything. We had to be aware of our surroundings and actions so that we do the same things each time we redo the same scene so there's some semblance of continuity.
Oh, and don't look at or wave at the camera....or the actors...during filming. And if the director sees any cell phones, he will take them away and NOT return them. He's a young guy but he sounds serious. And he's way full of energy....I get tired just watching him run all over the place.
The first scene has Penelope Ann Miller as a bike messenger who rides up the street and is almost cut off by a taxi, where she hits the hood of the car and calls the driver a bad name. Then she gets a call on her cell and talks to "Jessica". While she does this, the "background" is moving across the street and up/down the sidewalks. I was selected to be a "crosser" which means there's 10 of us who cross the street in random order in front of the entire scene as foreground action. I was the first one to pass by the camera on the three rehearsals and three filmed segments....probably means I'll be the first cut out! But after I would cross, off camera, a PA would direct me down the sidewalk, so maybe I'll be seen walking away as Penelope talks on her phone. I remembered looking at Penelope and thinking "I've seen you naked!", which is true since I saw her in "Carlito's Way" a few years ago where she played a striper.
But I digress......
Next scene shot was with Simpson where she's on her bike and having trouble maneuvering thru the streets of New York. It was the job of the "background" to give her room as she weaves up on the sidewalk as she yells, "Excuse me....sorry...coming through...." and yet still look like we're going about our business. She showed up after we did a couple of rehearsals and then we filmed it about 3 1/2 times (one take was cut short). I walked away from the camera on all the takes and walk right by her as she rides up the sidewalk each time. She seemed a lot shorter than I thought she'd be after seeing her in "The Dukes of Hazzard" where she looked kinda tall. She's attractive but, sorry, Jessica, I'm already taken!
Anyway, during all this it was a cloudy sky with occasional drizzle and was much warmer than it had been the last week. Being in place for both scenes took a couple of hours, with positioning of the "background" and moving cameras around for different angles, including closeups. It was very interesting. The crew certainly knew what they were doing and I noticed they were very good at watching each other's back....it was the norm, for instance, to see a PA set a foot out on a cable that's being stretched out so it didn't knock anything over, and nobody asks them to do it. The grips would coil cable and cords so that when they were stretched out again and again, they wouldn't tangle up....seems simple but I was impressed by it all. I was wondering how much sleep they all get during production! It can't be much.
I was impressed with how the production designers made Milam Street look like a smaller New York side street. There was a NYPD police car, 8 yellow cabs, a New York Times newspaper box, NYC traffic signs on the street, a simulation of a steam vent on the sidewalk...THAT was pretty neat, even a Shreveport city bus with NYC Metro decals all over it, a few sedans, and a few box/moving/loading trucks here and there. Physically it wasn't a lot but it was convincing enough to fool someone if they had been dropped in the street without being told where they were.
So we were done by 11 am (the sky then dropped a ton of rain...good timing) and returned to the building to turn in our paperwork to Felicia. Our checks will be sent in the mail but I'm not quite sure how much I'm getting paid. The wage base rate written in on my form says 55/8 which I'm going to assume is $55 for 8 hours. Normally I interpret 55/8 as 55 multiplied by 8 but I don't think I'm going to get a check for $440! It would be nice though, wouldn't it? Anyway, if I get called again, I'll mention it. Hopefully, I've made it to celluloid immortality for a film that will probably be distributed as a DVD within a week after it is released to the theater!
Of course, I'll buy a copy.
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