Monday, July 16, 2007

DiCaprio,Winslet & Mendes on a Revolutionary Road


The dream team! I wish I could have kept dreaming but... I had to self-report to the set of Revolutionary Road in Fairfield, Connecticut at 5:30 AM. We, background extras, all needed to get a 1950's haircut and this crew didn't like to waste any time. We had to eat our sumptuous breakfasts while filling out our I-9 forms, obtaining our fitted wardrobes (bathing suits)... and board the bus to the nearby beach: Sasco Beach. A Long Island Sound beach with rough sand and plenty of rocks to walk bearfoot upon. Luckily, the weather was cool and cloudy, so that my "bare bodkin" was somewhat spared by the summer's usual tempermental elements.


My placement was relatively near the principal charachters so that I was able to observe them up close as they went through their thespian routines as well as their personal ideosynchracies.
DiCaprio likes to bite his nails and often uses a toothpick. Kate Winslet likes to keep her hands on her hips and maintains a serious attitude. Both are excellent actors and deliver their lines with the appropriate accurate physical accompaniments (happy-sad-mad) -as the scene calls for it. And the scene called for a lot of "it"... especially from the director and husband of Kate, Sam Mendes.

Mendes is a very meticulous director. He doesn't like to let go of a scene easily. So there were a lot of retakes... in fact we started to call his style "The Groundhog Day" style...named after the repetition-themed Bill Murray movie. Over and over the takes were requested and delivered, until eventulally Sam was satisfied and shook his wife's hand! How nice...romance and gratification. What a team!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi - my son was also an extra at Sasco Beach. I think that everything was fun efficiently and it was an amazing experience for a 6 year old.

He too got that great haircut which we called his "Hollywood Haircut" and he was pleasantly surprised when his check showed up.

He can't wait to do it again!

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