Yesterday on the Set

Spent 14 hours on the set of "The Year One" on Monday....8 hours at the standard rate, 6 hours of overtime at time-and-a-half, and twenty-five extra dollars for being an "action extra" which meant we got placed closer to live explosive devices and ran a lot! It was fun! But I got really tired from all the standing I did. Here's some pictures:
This is outside the extras' dinner tent where you can see the "outside" of the city of Sodom. This was an entire city with alleyways, doors, streets, and a large city plaza. Once you were inside you were back in Biblical Days except for the film cameras and modern-dressed film crew members...and the LSU pop-up tent among the other tents in the corner of the plaza. The plaza featured a sacrificial platform in the center and a place of pagan worship with a giant bull's head with fire in its eyes and mouth...pretty cool! At one side was a royal palace and another side with a shopping bazaar.

Here I am the extras' tent in my costume as a lower level citizen of Sodom. I spent most of the day without my glasses and watch which they didn't have back then. It wasn't so bad...I can see well enough, just don't ask me to read a sign! You can see the week's worth of facial hair I grew for the part. It used to be darker when I was younger!

During a break in filming, I'm standing with a couple of other extras, Kate and Kim. There were over 300 of us "citizens of Sodom" and we were constantly being herded on and off the set...felt like we were leaving a sporting event sometimes! I was glad to return to the 21st century at the end of the day!

I drove to Minden at 5 o'clock in the morning and then got on a bus for a drive to a gravel and sand pit near the town of Sibley. It was dark and we went to a large tent where the extras would be set up for breaks and lunch (which was great!). After filling out our paperwork, we were sent to the wardrobe tent to be fitted for our costumes and makeup (which I didn't get). The place was full...there were a couple of rows of mirrors with people getting makeup, half the tent was rows of costumes on racks, and wardrobe people running around trying to get the slow rows of extras moving about. If you were a "slave" you got extra attention at make-up with whip marks on the back and a dirty, filty look. Some women got "kids and babies" to carry around, which were actually manikins.

When we were on the set, we saw lead actor Jack Black all the time. He looks exactly as you always see him, he's a nut, is a little on the heavy side, and entertained us sometimes between takes. The director was a character and briefly dipped into the political waters when he told the extras "How about that Colin Powell?" in reference to his endorcing Obama for president. He got mostly silence which I don't think he was expecting and it was funny to watch him get out of that hole. I liked him but it's obvious we wouldn't see eye-to-eye politically.

I mentioned explosions earlier....in the scene we shot from different angles and in different moments of the scene, the city of Sodom is being hit by meteors (getting it's just desserts from God) and there are impacts in certain spots around the plaza. In fact, we had four of them. One was initiated from an air gun at the sacrificial altar and the other three were genuine electric-blasting-cap-fired explosions that fired chunks of stone-colored cork into the air. These things sounded as loud as Civil War cannons and many of the extras wore ear protection (I didn't). One scene, with two takes, had double explosions for two meteors hitting the plaza...I think our "action extras" were called the X-Group (x-pendable?) because they placed us closer to the explosions but not as close as the stunt men were. That meant we ran a lot when the director yelled action. On the first take I had to run toward a gateway with about 30 other X-groupers and I could feel the concussion of the explosion followed about a half second later of being peppered with a rain of small and large pieces of cork! Lots of smoke everywhere and the wealth of confusion that the director wanted.

We waited until everything was cleaned up to do a second take and one of the assistant directors told me and two other guys to go to the right this time toward another gateway. We hit our marks and on "Action!" I turned to the right....except that the edge of my sandle got caught between two of the pavers and I went straight to the ground hitting my right elbow and hip (but not badly...just surprisingly). A female extra almost fell on top of me and I scrambled up heading for the gateway. So now I've got a bit of bruised hip and a scrape on my elbow. Oh, the things I do for my art. But, anyway, that's how my day went. Lots of running, lots of standing in the sun, a very tasty lunch (BBQ'd chicken, pasta, rice/beans, salad, and chocolate cake), met several new people, and I should be getting a check in a couple of weeks.

AND this time I got in front of the camera! If I make it into the movie's final cut, I'll have to see if I can find myself in the crowd. Might have to wait for the DVD to come out so I can go over the film frame-by-frame.