An entry into The Carrie Diaries

Anna Sophia Robb as the young Carrie Bradshaw

December was starting to look pretty bleak on my background calendar.  Perhaps Hurricane Sandy had put a damper on the filming industry for a while -stalling all previously scheduled work.  For me, there were no call-backs until mid-month when I got a notice to go for a fitting at Steiner Studios for the Carrie Diaries.  I’d been submitting to this on Central Casting for quite a while and FINALLY I got the gig.   I began doing my research on IMDB to see who the principals were.  Just wanted to make sure I’d recognize them in the event that they would actually be in my scene.  Of course, I was hoping to see the main character of young Carrie Bradshaw: Anna Sophia Robb.

Two days later I self-reported to a college in the Riverdale section of the Bronx in the afternoon.  It was an upscale neighborhood and parking was easy on the winter-scaped campus.  Holding was in the gym and I camped out at one of the sparse tables in the front near the PA’s station.  There were about 80 extras, most of whom were teenagers taking part in a high school dance (I wasn't slated for that scene).  They were cute but rather blasé about the whole thing -their 1985 period shoes seemed to offer only discomfort and torpor.  An hour or so later, my table began to have more life to it as five guys and a tall young woman found their places here.  Since we weren't going to be used until dark, our dragged-out conversations got livelier and livelier.

The tall young lady at our table discussed health foods and safety on the subway, then left for long periods of time. As expected, whenever you have a couple of guys left alone at a table, the conversation always turns to sex.  One of the 50-ish guys began commenting about how he generally has sex thrice a day!  That certainly made him the immediate center of frivolous commentary from the rest of us.  Another guy began to tell about all his encounters with big-name stars like Marlon Brando.  Since he didn’t look that old, we all began to side-glance at one another with questionable looks –but listened intently nonetheless at his anecdotes.  The third guy was a youngish actor who really preferred to work in theater on the stage rather than in this obscure background gig.  He liked being the life of the party and told me about how he’d been turned down for theater auditions even before he had a chance to show his stuff.  In his words, “At the Broadway level of acting… EVERYONE’s talented!”  But only the “insiders” really land the jobs.  Newbies only have a 1 in a million chance.  Still, he liked the business and so he persisted.  The guy on my left was a writer and was trying to break into getting a publisher (other than himself)… he found it very tough, but he continued to believed in himself.  And then there was “Broadway Bob”!

Broadway Bob, as he wanted to be called, was a short well-dressed elderly man with a snappy cigar in his jacket pocket who had just gotten into doing extras work recently.  Comedy and tragedy exuded from his lips for the better part of our afternoon.  He began by pointedly asking us if we could tell that he was wearing a taupe?!?  He had very neat hair –but now that he called our attention to it, we noted the flaky sides starting to curl up from his scalp.  We all played “dumb and dumber”.  Other stories dealt with him crossing paths with the mob and shyster lawyers who fleeced him during a divorce proceeding that included an inadvertent police arrest.  It was one personal story after another –all of which had an increasingly deeper emotional effect on him.   There was a point where his eyes welled up with tears and his voice began to strain –but it seemed that he just had to get it off his chest.  I soon realized that our little circle of men was really acting like a group therapy session for him.  He was genuinely giving us a rare moment of reality –absorbing our attention with his natural George-Burns-like character in the world of a Broadway Danny Rose.

 At some point after it got dark, we were called to the set.  It was a theater scene in which Carrie’s father, played by Matt Letscher, and her sister played by Stefania Owen had exited the theater after seeing the Nutcracker Suite and we extras were placed around them.  The call-sheet showed that Nanette Burstein was our director, but most of the shots were apparently being directed by a very exuberant woman with stringy white hair. She was stern but friendly.  I was paired with a short woman who was to exit the theater with me (as a couple) and we would mime to each other “What a great presentation we just saw!”  As we chatted between takes, it became clear that we were both unemployed from similar industries and doing these gigs was a kind of “escape”.  Her story was not much different from Broadway Bob’s angst-ridden plight into this world of fantasy that seemed much friendlier than any of our respective “realities”. 

A second shoot that was to take place outside had been cancelled due to the inclement weather and we were released early.  I was second on line to get my voucher signed by the PA when Broadway Bob sat down at this table, began to fill out his form and constantly kept  peppering the PA with questions about filling out the form (not unlike Peter Falk in the Columbo TV series).  It was another half hour before I (and a series of other frustrated extras) got our papers processed.  Nonetheless, you had to love Broadway Bob –he was a natural!

My longstanding astute observation that “the real show takes place backstage” was yet again validated.

Immigrants hanging out in a Winters Tale

Not Howard Stern

I met Ron on the set of Winters Tale and just had to take a picture with him because he looked soooo much like Howard Stern.  In fact, when we chatted he told me that he was actually on the Howard Stern show at one point -discussing a script (about a guy who looks like Howard Stern etc.)!  As soon as I had my picture with him, all the other surrounding extras immediately came over and asked to do the same.  Luckily Ron was good-natured and generous.  Unfortunately for him, the production asked if they could cut his hair -which he wasn't going to do... and so they didn't use him in the shoots.

Although there were a lot of big stars in this movie, none of them were present for this two-day shoot of the Ellis Island 1895 period scene filmed at the old Williamsburg Bank in good ole' Brooklyn, NY. But we 300 extras kept ourselves entertained during the breaks.  On one of our extended outdoor hangouts, one of the women was taught to juggle three boxes.  This was one of the best photos of the day:

Period pieces are fantastic because they really put you into the mood of that era.  And I have to say it wasn't that much of a stretch for me since I was born in Budapest and emigrated to the USA when the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 broke out.  But the real coincidence of this shoot was that I met two others who were also Hungarians... as well as a wardrobe person with whom I jovially exchanged Hungarian expletives as I was incorrectly hanging my drab and "distressed" costume back on the rack. The only Hungarian word he knew was "lo fasz" and so we kept calling each other by that moniker!

Some of my fellow immigrants on break

The wardrobe location was situated inside the bank's vault!  For some, this created a kind of claustrophobic apprehension because of the huge vault doors that were ominously suggesting a "what if they closed in on us" imagery.  This, of course, invited numerous gallows-humor conversations along the extended waiting lines during our wardrobe checks.

The set that was built inside the bank was majestic.  Numerous pipes and benches recreated the Ellis Island-type of scenery that was needed for the immigrant medical inspections. A number of us had been marked on the back with letters to indicate our various diseases (H for hepatitis, etc.).  In one scene, a woman is traumatically (screaming, crying, clutching) dragged through the set because she is being deported.  Colin Farrell plays one of the characters in this story and in this scene his parents are part of the deportation decision with a baby in the mother's arm. A real baby was used -and what do you know, the baby cried on cue!???

Although this was pretty much the first scenes of the movie, I expect it should be coming out sometime next year with great anticipation due to the phantasy subject matter and the plethora of stars involved (Russell Crowe, William Hurt, Will Smith, Jennifer Connelly, Eva Marie Saint... oh how I love name dropping)!

Clocking in at the Zero Hour

It was episode 5 already, but it won't be seen until the next season -most likely in 2013.  The show is about a "conspiracy" regarding some secrets uncovered from antique clocks... that spans across centuries of history associated with secret societies guarding a ...secret.  And of course the nefarious agents pursuing its reputed powers to "rule the world".  Anthony Edwards from ER (and my favorite role of his as "Goose" in TOP GUN) stars in this series; as well as Carmen Ejego -with whom I was in a Spike Lee TV pilot (M.O.N.Y.) a few years ago.  But I was really hoping to see Michael Nyqvist (who played the editor in Girl With The Dragon Tatoo / Sweedish version).  Alas... none of these guys were present in this scene.

The set was in DUMBO at a pretty little park by the Brooklyn Bridge, where we extras had to wear tuxedos to a gala affair taking place outside under a few white tents.  As we interact with some of the principal characters there is a "flashback" scene with a walking man changing into that of a "priest in medieval garb", walking along the East River's railed banks.  Spooky!

The director, as it turned out, was none other than Mario Van Peebles... whom I remembered as a young man from watching the old Cosby Shows.  Later on he became a director in his own right.  And now, here he was placing me in front of the cameras with a couple of ladies and another white guy.  But after a few glances through the camera lens the other white guy was replaced by a black guy and one of the ladies was replaced by a cute young extra.  The man has a good eye for balancing out the scenery!

I asked one of the women to take a photo of me -but she had a real shaky hand!

As it turned out, my African American companion began to tell us that he knew Mario from "way back when", he even knew his father and provided us with some fascinating anecdotes from his friendship days with Mario.  Sure enough... Mario soon came over and chatted with him -even took an iPhone photo of the four of us and told my new friend to type in his email so that he could send out the photo and reconnect with him.  WOW! Now that's what I call a once in a blue-moon opportunity for an extra to make some headway into a better role.

Our holding area was interesting also... it was at the Water Street Restaurant, the place where I first appeared on DAMAGES (with my talented "costar", Glenn Close).  Of course our holding area was subterranean (i.e. in the basement-bar area) -luckily it was air-conditioned).  And so it brought back some memories of how it felt seeing Glenn Close for the first time: something akin to "majestic".

I also met some of my buddies from Boardwalk Empire... and a longer acquaintance, Eddy the "Super Cabbie" (one of his fantasy scripts based on his taxi driver days). Eddy gave me his card; said things were really working out for him.  I liked hearing that (with mixed feelings).  He'd been around since I first got into this business -so I figured he'd paid his dues.  But I also knew how short a period "success" lasts in show business.   See you on the next set Eddy!

Later on I got a call from one of the casting agencies to go for a fitting for Winter's Tale.  It's an Ellis Island scene from the 1890's.  Oh boy...here comes another short haircut!

Watching myself on Boardwalk Empire and being on the season's final episode

Tonight, the first episode of season 3 aired on HBO -and 21 minutes into the hour-long episode, I got to spot myself over Richard Harrow's (Jack Huston) target shooting rifle!

I was asked to stand behind Jack at the last moment and got some screen-time

Two days ago I was finishing up an overnight shoot on the Greenpoint set for the last episode of season 3 -so seeing myself was kind of a full circle closure for me.  It's really gratifying to know that my eight appearances over the past seven months have somehow contributed to an exciting production.

The lights of "Atlantic City's boardwalk" during tonight's shoot

Although this scene was relatively "calm": a dour Nucky Thomson walking alone on the Boardwalk, pausing occasionally at the railing in a kind of self-reflecting mood, while the rest of us extras provide a populous effect in his wake.  The only time we saw Steve Buscemi crack a smile was when the director, Tim Van Patten gave him some funny comments near the Chop Suey part of the set.

What made this shoot interesting was the consequential banter among us extras.  In the holding area, one of the guys was making fun of the other guy's fake mustache (he had to keep his fingers pressing down on it in order for it not to fly off during our conversation).  Later on, a heavy accented person provided some un-political commentary about the upcoming election that caused the guy next to me to stand up and leave.  When we lined up for obtaining our props, I was given a heavy pick-ax which brought immediate guffaws from the film crew when I appeared on the set and very quickly a replacement walking cane was provided for me instead of the dangerous and out-of-context prop.

On the set with my new prop

The incident with the malapropriate tool provided me with a number of conversations from several of the people around me, one of whom became my female partner in the upcoming "walk-on-the-boardwalk" scenes.  The two of us had a lot of fun chatting it up as well as faking conversations when "background action"  was called.  We swapped actor experience stories as she told me about her cosmetics commercial gig and I told her about my blog.  She was one of the most pleasant people I've had the pleasure of meeting.

My partner-in-crime for the night

Toward 4 in the morning we saw the character of Chalky White being set up for a scene... but most of us were wrapped a half hour later, so we never got to see him in action. At this late hour we could live with that and were happy to leave 1923 behind so we could check out and get back into our 21st century street clothes.  Funny thing about changing into our usual duds... it was hard to recognize each other... somehow the magic dust disappears.  Oh well, perhaps gossip from the hairdressers will come true and there will be a 4th season to continue the funtacy.  I hope so.  I really got to like working on this set, visiting the Steiner Studios, working with the actors, the fuss over the period clothing (the clothing designers must have given me a million wedgies to get my pants to stay up), being treated to decent food... and those short haircuts -the fact that I haven't had to pay for one all this year... LOVED IT!

Poster in Steiner Studios' haircutting room

Party at 666 Park Ave.

The person on the other side of the casting-phone immediately asked if I had a tux?  Which of course, I did! And I was immediately given a checkin number with instructions on what to do in order to be on episode 5 of 666 Park Avenue. Sweeeeeeeeeeeet!

It was my first time at Cinemagic Riverside Studios located near the Williamsburg Bridge and not too far from my "steady haircut joint", Steiner Studios.  I arrived a bit early and so did another person.  We asked the guard which was the best way to get to holding and he told us "through the front door".  Together we roamed around the studio's offices until a very festidious office worker told us exactly how to get there.  To our surprise, it was straight down the path from the guard's location.  It would have been easier to just let us go through a few steps... but nooooooooooooo!

Anyway, we didn't mind the jaunt because we got to see the prop shop, the wardrobe department, the makeup rooms, accounting, shipping and receiving, the bathrooms... and finally the holding "deck".  It was a georgeous day and a large white tent was set up for us non-SAGs to sit in  -of course SAG members were given inside window seats.  But we didn't mind it too much because the scenery of being on the edge of the East River, overlooking the NYC cityscape between the awsome bridges... well, it was breathtakingly unique, especially hearing the water splashing against the banks and watching the river traffic go by.

Breakfast was ok and soon we were called to the set inside. It was built to mimic the lobby of the title building's envyrons: a long corridor decorated for Holloween, complete with spider webs, archaic candle stands and of course a DJ and colorful spotlights (just to keep things familiar on the modern day scene).  Originally, after doing some web research on my own, I thought we'd be going to the Ansonia building on NYC's upper west side since this was the image of the building being used in the series.  But the disappointment was shortlived due to the ambiance created inside (and outside) the studio.  We were all given unique masks, a prop drink and paired up with various people during the numerous scenes.

I was wondering if  this would only be a template or if the real actors would show up.  My wonderings were soon answered.  ALL of the actors were there!  Terry O'Quinn appeared in his tux and smilingly bantered with a couple of extras as he was placed on his mark. Vanessa Williams was in front of me, engaged in friendly dialogue with a couple of the other young principals.  I was paired up with a zany gal who provided a lot of laughs with her running commentaries.  Our direction was to walk through the crowd at various moments.  One of the other guests was "Elvis", who stuck a make-believe microphone toward me during every take of that scene... I "Thanked him very much!".

 

At other times, an unmasked ax-man was stalking after someone in the crowd; a goth-themed female impersonator was hanging out with a "medi-evil" king;

Cleopatra was cavorting with a cowboy and a Tippi Hedrin character dressed in Ann Taylor type suit was decorated with stuffed crows on her collar and sleeves; a nun-character was dancing with a devil... no  wonder that the episode was entitled "A CROWD OF DEMONS".

Each of us held glasses with "drinks to sip".  (Note to self:  Never take the wide martini glass.  It always spills, and then the PA's give you dirty looks as they run to wipe the floor... while courteously saying that "It's no problem!".  Sorry about that guys.)  During breaks the food was plentiful and no one bugged us when we snuk into the SAG-food area for some of the baklava cakes!

At nightfall we were back outside taking photos of the twinkly lights outlining the Woody Allan-esque city across the East River -a clear full moon was above (how apropos).  I almost didn't want this day (or night) to end.  It was so cinematically magical.  It's rare that one can experience such a beautifully framed work-day.  And to get paid for it... albeit not much pay -but pay nonetheless.

I was second on the checkout line and packed up my bag, chatted a moment with a new friend and headed out to the street by way of the "forbidden driveway".  It was just about pitch black but the walk was nice and short to the street and I waved good-by to the erstwhile guard who prevented our entrance earlier in the day.  He snorted a "So long!" acknowledgement and went back to sleep.  Midnight was beckoning and I hurried to my car down the block... I wanted to make sure that I witness the moment when it turns into a pumpkin!

Walking through fire… on season 3 of Boardwalk Empire

The residents of Greenpoint, Brooklyn –and for that matter, anyone listening to radio yesterday, got warned about the staged explosion… the eventuation of which, exceeded our jaded “heard that before” expectations. In fact, the call sheet designated the scene as "Ka-boom!".

Yesterday started some busy karma-burning for me… I got an early call in the morning from a cousin who needed a lot of time-consuming help with his computer that put me on a tight schedule. Soon I had to rush my shower-routine for a real-life-job interview in Manhattan… barely made the train to the city. The interview was great and lasted for a couple of hours -but then I had to rush to catch the train back home so I could jump into my car (in my interview-suit) and do the late afternoon rush-hour drive to Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Of course I got stuck in traffic and had to roam around the neighborhood to find parking. But then I remembered the "BE Crew" parking lot!

The signs in front of the lot were foreboding: "Not for extras!" but I made a gesture to one of the three people guarding the gate and as each of them thought I knew one of the others... well, I just drove past them and into the deep recesses of the lot that held a bunch of huge Haddad trucks. Found a spot near the fence, Crook-locked the car, and headed over to the set just a few blocks away on Commercial Street. All in all, I got to the set a half hour late. And as I was filling out my I-9, the PA behind the desk said, "Oh, I was just calling you!". Felt bad about that because I'm usually early... but they were short of people for this overnight shoot, so I knew they wouldn't make a big deal about it.

A bunch of people were on line for wardrobe and I was about to join them when one of the elder guys behind me said, "They're not open yet -why don't you get yourself some food while it's still there.". A brilliant suggestion since I didn't get a chance to eat at all today due to my crazy schedule. At 6:35 PM, I realized that I was suddenly hungry. Stacked up my plate with lots of yummies and had a restful meal in the nearly empty holding area.

Wardrobe fitting was relatively quick and then came hair and makeup. The stylist made some small adjustments to my sideburns and I was getting ready for the green-goop that usually gets to plaster down your hair (feels like you're wearing a helmet)... but surprise, surprise -all he did was a light spray over my hair and I was done! I guess the hair wasn't going to matter that much in tonight's scene.

The hundred or so extras were taken toward the set at sundown. We were separated into two groups: CLEAN and D-GROUP! Wondered about that designation while we were taken near the set and held there for an hour as the night darkness became prominent. Helicopters were constantly hovering above us and people outside the set's fence were now increasing. The spectacle was about to begin!

Up we went to the make-believe boardwalk and scattered around the area for the pre-explosion template shoot. Our direction was to listen to the assistant director's cue (a demure pronunciation of "ka-boom") and then provide a "shocked reaction" by ducking down in a frightened repose. Some of the people among us were called "stuntees". Professional stunt-actors who literally hit the deck rather hard when "ka-boom" was cued. There were several retakes of this scene and we started to feel bad for these guys. The straw hat on one of them even separated and the brim of the hat came down over his face while the rest of the hat remained on top of his head... (almost comical). But overall, we were disappointed by the lack of the loud noise everyone was supposed to hear in order to "really" react.

Suddenly a "Safety meeting" announcement was made and all extras were taken to holding. Some time later our PA announced that no one was to leave the holding area -this was being strictly enforced. A minute or so later a huge KA-BOOM shook the entire building as the "controlled explosion" went off. DAMN!!! I thought we would be out there -able to see the pyrotechnics. But the "safety first" considerations of the production company sequestered us from any harm. Later we found out that only the film crew and the firemen experienced a scarry rush of heat as the big-bang fireball rocked the set. But it went off well; no retakes; and best of all -no one was hurt. Still it was a disappointment not being able to see the spectacle from a safe distance... the way that everyone else outside the set's fence was able to see it. In fact, the whole scene was on the news and YOUTUBE about 5 minutes after the event (we were watching it on one of the iPhones)!

The third part of this overnight shoot started after midnight. The D-group, as it turned out were the DISTRESSED group of extras selected to be made up as "blast survivors" (or messy dead people). Their wardrobe and skin were covered with fake "soot and blood"... and they really looked like the walking dead. Some of the principal actors were also distressed and we watched "Nucki" (Steve Buscemi) stagger from the "the ashes of the aftermath"... along with some of his "gangster partners".

The "ashes of the aftermath" were quite real as firemen and stage crew worked together to create a fiery scene that we actors had to walk through. Yes indeedy... many of us clean people, along with the distressed people were selected to participate in this final scene. Our direction was to help the distressed people out of the carnage while negotiating a path through the "controlled smoke and fire piles" that were set up on the boardwalk. I was "helping a young distressed woman" as the firemen were repeatedly lighting up the nearby area with some liquid accelerant goo and hidden gas grills that provided plenty of heat during our retakes.

The first run through the fire was daunting and we rushed like hell when "action" was called. The second time, we took it a bit slower as we stepped across the bodies and bumped into other "survivors". By the third, fourth and fifth retakes we were taking it easy with our jaunt through the fires of this boardwalk's empire. It's all psychological. Once you experience danger and survive it -there's a feeling of "Hey! It's no big deal." attitude. I wondered if firemen train this way... and then just as quickly stopped wondering when a mild flashback to 9/11 skipped through my gray matter: the distressed people were a bit too real all of a sudden... like the ash covered 9/11 victims I walked with on that day...

At 5:AM, we were released and I went to get my car from the lot. When I got to the entrance, a huge gate had been closed and I realized that I might have to take public transportation back home. OH NOoooo! But I'm resourceful and hate to accept defeat when there's a glimmer of an adventure ahead. I noted the foot-high gap between the bottom of the fence and the ground... a moment later I was doing an Indiana Jones roll underneath it and wound up with a flashlight shining in my face.

"Hey! Didn't you see me shinin' the light to let you know I was comin'?". An elderly watchman was stirred from his slumber as my noisy clambering under the fence woke him up. I told him my situation, showed him my signed I-9 paper and he apologized for locking the door, but due to the valuable equipment in the trucks, he was instructed to secure the area. The trucks were now parked in a completely different array and I couldn't even see my car, much less imagine getting out of the lot. But the old watchman assured me that a path had been left and I should follow him. Sure enough, I found my car and a back-path was left open for cars like mine to exit. Which I would have done, had the gate been opened. The watchman went over to unlock it but after about 10 minutes of fiddling with it, there was no result. I shined my headlights on the gate but still no result. He got anxious about the lack of results to his futile attempts and aked me to wait a moment as he turned toward the nook next to the fence and took a pee. A minute later, his renewed attempts proved fruitful as the gate opened. I bade him good night and wished he had taken a pee earlier.

When I got home, I noted that I had been up for 24 hours straight and crashed on my bed for a three hour sleep when the door bell rang the next morning. The gas man had to be let in to take a reading... it was going to be another karma-burning day!

Men Who Built America on the History Channel

Managing without a hat

The GPS said one way... but I knew a better route from the travel experience I gained through my previous gig last week.  Up I95 and over to the west on I287 until you're almost at the Tappan Zee Bridge.  This was Tarrytown and the set was at a huge estate called the Lyndhurst Mansion.

The History Channel was doing a documentary re-enactment of the Men Who Built America (Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Edison, Ford, etc.).  This was episodes 4 and 5 and the three scenarios were centered around the first use of the electric chair by Edison; young Ford making a decision on whether or not to keep his job or continue to work on something called the "automobile"; and Carnegie getting bad news affecting his fortunes.

I was selected to deliver a few lines to young Ford as his manager (along with my assistant).  The director, Patrick Reams, asked me to do a quick reading and decided to use me in the scene.  My lines were simple:

Manager:

I'm promoting you to chief engineer.

Ford:

Thank you... sir.

Manager:

But... you'll have to stop working on your... "automobile"

Ford:

(looking shaken and indicisive)

Manager:

You can either stay or go.

The choice is yours.

Ford:

I'll stay.

Manager:

Good.

(turns to assitant with a quick glance and leaves)

There were about seven takes... I kept saying "you can take it or leave it" at times. After each take the director provided additional descriptions and pointers to indicate what he and the AD wanted from the short scene.  He was very kene with recognizing that I had "some sort of European accent"... and that I had been in a "managerial position before".  He wanted the lines delivered with a "high brow attitude" and little emotion.  I was screwing up the initial takes with too much facial accentuation (raised eybrows, sniffing nose, bulging eyes, tonal inflections).  Once I was able to be aware of my "overacting" face, the scene was able to be completed.  It was shot from two different side angles -one fairly close.  Now let's see if it stays in the story.  It's supposed to air in October this year.

Other scenes for me dealt with make-believe chatting while drinking congnac and a silhouette shot of discussing business while Carnegie lay on his sick-bed caughing and attended by a nurse.  The nurse, by the way, was the estate's manager who was recruited to be in the story (since the production company wasn't able to get any women to come to Tarrytown).  I think there were about 15 extras in all.  Most of them being used for witnessing the first electrocution death penalty in the other parts of the mansion.  The crew was terrific and we all got along very well during break times and even swapped some pretty good engineering stories (in addition to the usual "When I was on Spiderman..." showbiz brags.

This was a memorable gig for me.  Wow! I actually got lines to say this time.

Can A Song Save Your Life (a.k.a. the Adam Levine Show)

I submitted for this gig (CAN A SONG SAVE YOUR LIFE?) a number of times but never got picked.  Then I got a notice in my email from BE IN A MOVIE (dot com), that they need audience people at Grammercy Theater in NYC for this movie.  One glitch with this agency: no pay!

But I'm a Maroon5 fan and really like Adam Levine's tunes so I sacrificed a day to "hang with the man"... and 300 other extras at this small venue.  It was well worth it!

We were divided into 2 groups: one in the "mosh pit" area in front of the stage and the other group up in the seats.  I was in the pit, about 10 layers of people away from the stage.  The scene was about Adam's character, Dave, longing to hook-up with the love of his life by playing a song that they both worked on in their past relationship.  He screwed up the relationship and now wants desperately to reconnect with her. At the end of his usual set, he sets up a guitar on stage, hoping desperately that she will be in the audience -and will come up on stage, pick up the guitar and join him in singing the tune.  Sadly... the girl never materializes.

This tune is repeated an endless amount of times throughout the day in retakes -each time we cheer with various intensity as per the director's whim.  Luckily, the song was really good.  But even better, Adam's banter with the audience was unstopable.  He was constantly toying with us... at times asking us to tell a joke, or to yell out songs he could sing... and he did a great job with each song -from Beatles tunes to Cee-lo Green's unadultarated F-U mantra.  In fact the centerpiece of his commeraderie with us was incessent cursing. Not too many sentences went by without some curse-word just for the heck of it... and then the director got up there and did the same thing... cursed out the audience (albeit in a friendly way).  It was like being at a frat house...FUN!

As the day went on, I camped out by the bar and chit-chatted with one of the photographers.  He told me that the movie was sold, looked good and would most likely be a success -but he had no idea as to when it would be released.  And as the day wore on... I gravitated toward the seats which were concealed by darkness, and sank into one of the remote comfy theater seats by the wall.  I never enjoyed a theater seat as much as this one.  It seems I'd been standing on my feet for hours on end in the mosh pit and was in too much of a euphoric state from all the entertainment to realize that my legs needed a rest.  I have no idea if I'll be seen in this movie at all... but after sitting in a comfy chair, being entertained by "Dave", and doing it all for free... I just didn't mind.

NISSIN noodle commercial at Yale

Just gimme some noodles and no one gets slammed!

My wife on the left side and me on the right in circles.

The casting agency reached me in a frantic request to bring people along to New Haven, CT... they were short on warm bodies for a noodle commercial.  And that inspired me to volunteer my wife, who was sitting at the dinette table with an incredulous look (i.e. What's this about???).  The caller asked if she was under 50 -so I lied and said she was 47 and some three months old!

"O.K....bring her!  Bye."

...and suddenly my wife erupted -flagrantly upset at me.

"They're going to ask us for our id's... drivers license -and then they'll know...and then they'll send us home after a two hour trip!" ...and blah, blah, blah.

I reassured her that I "knew the business" and that when casting is short of people, they will take anybody.  Of course  I WAS RIGHT! (this time).  We got up early to make the 6:30 AM call and arrived at a tennis stadium near Yale.  At first things were sparse but then people started to condense at the not-so-well marked parking space and we found the air-conditioned holding area under the stadium.  We were here to be tennis audience extras -used for "layering" so that 100 people can be made to look like thousands during a tennis game (thanks to subsequent CG treatments).

Kei Nishikori

The crew was Japanese and I immediately thought that this gig would be similar to my previous "Lost In Translation" encounter with TV-ASAHI back in March 2006. And although there were similarities, this crew was much more professional.  After all, they were shooting this noodle commercial for one of the biggest Japanese noodle-making giants (you know the one: Ramen noodles... just add hot water and the mystery packet ingredients).

Stadium at Yale

On center court (there was only one court), played the #1 ranked Japanese tennis player (ranked #18 in the world), I believe his name was Kei Nishikori.  A very athletic performer with high jumping return serves -he certainly impressed all of us.  But the gist of his appearance here was to endorse the noodles.  His direction was to play hard and then sit down to refresh by eating multiple offerings of noodles on tennis racket-like strainers from 5 different cooks.  One of the cooks actually dropped the entire serving on the tennis court and quickly picked it up with his hands, putting it back on the strainer. YUM!

Throughout the day, we were all mixed up around the stadium's seating arena, and the day got hotter and hotter.  Some of us were putting towels on our heads or holding up whatever opaque object we had at hand to block out the sun.  The PA's were busy distributing water and sun-screen spray cans.  Bio-breaks were provided at reasonable intervals -however, the bathrooms were at the top of the long stadium steps.  But it was worth the many hikes for a few minutes relief from the sun. 

After our bagged-lunch break (you would think that at least they would offer us some noodle soup), my wife and I encountered a person who said he was responsible for the stadium's maintenance and he began to tell us the strange situation surrounding it's politics.  Apparently, for the past 25 years, the stadium was put into use just once a year -for one tennis tournament (named after the Bank-du-jour that sponsored the event).  It seem that the inhabitants of this area (professors et al) had control of the stadium's activity and they did not want any additional noise or traffic (e.g. from rock concerts) in their neighborhood.  Ah... but this control-by-contract was expiring this year and new plans would be forthcoming once this freedom from academic control was to be transferred   After all, the economy wasn't so good now and the town needed to make money.  What better way than to provide a venue for rock concerts, exhibits, crafts fairs or whatever else a stadium could be utilized for. Other interesting stories from the stadium's custodian dealt with how the entire stadium shook and swayed during last year's east-coast earthquake.  Exciting!

One of the PA's told us that this commercial will be released around the time when the U.S. OPEN takes place in September, however it will not be seen in the U.S.!? (But I'm sure it will wind up on YouTube at some point.)  And then it was time to "layer the stadium" again... so back into the hot bowl of noodle-tennis mania we went for the rest of the day.  My wife was having a sweaty good time -even with me laying into her about how she worried we'd be "deported for not being under 50"!  The "martini shot" of the day came when we had to do some fake clapping and cheering -all of which became very real when they paid us in cash.  My wife was smiling all the way home... welcome to the world of PAID extras honey!

Ben Stiller points out Walter Mitty

GET THAT GUY!!!

Ben Stiller was shooting The Secret Life of Walter Mitty on  the Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan.  At break time he took a short walk off the set with his ice tea when some fans began to approach him for autographs -my wife and I among them, shouting "Good luck with the movie BEN!".  At first he panicked and alerted his handlers to shoo people away... but soon relented, and was genially posing for family photos with a couple of  kids.

Ben's a good guy and we watched him for a short time -he was doing both directing and acting for the feature movie... soon to be in a theater near you (next year).  For me there's always a strange feeling that permeates my being when I pass by my fellow extras lined up in the street... basically you want to be there among them.  So I quickly got on Central Casting and submitted myself to this project -but I never got selected by the casting director. Maybe it's my Boardwalk Empire haircut -it's way too short for a contemporary look that this set required.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to be content with getting a glimpse of Ben and having him acknowledge my good wishes (read: maybe he'll remember me) for his film's success. Ben humbly replied "Thank you.".

Gentlemen prefer Megan Hilty

My wife and I went to see Gentlemen Prefer Blondes at Town Hall in NYC.  It was a limited engagement and since it was Mother's Day... and since we both like the TV show SMASH... well, I got my order in time to catch the next to last show.  Apparently this was quite a feat because my wife's friend, who goes to see just about every Broadway show, was unable to scoop a ticket for herself -and was flabbergasted when we exercised our bragging rights.  That too, is showbiz!  The show was EXCELLENT! Megan Hilty definitely deserves the part of Marilyn!!!

The week after Mother's Day was pretty busy for my backgrounding "career".  I did another stint in Boardwalk Empire, this time as a handcuffed prisoner in NYC's Surrogate Court (which doubled as a Washington D.C. court for BE) behind City Hall.  Steve Buscemi was also handcuffed along with the rest of us for violating the Volstead Act (Prohibition).  He, and everyone else, was fined $5 by Babcock the judge, and released -all to the chagrin of the prosecuting female attorney.

From what I could note during my vantage of him, Steve Buscemi is rather low-key and easy going.  Nothing seemed to ruffle his feathers -in fact he whistled to himself while waiting for the next take and occasionally sat in the chairs in front of me.  He would give us a sideward glance every now and then but no chit-chat was initiated... although at times I kind of felt like he wanted to.  Neither side broke the unspoken barrier that exists between extras and the principal actors:  "Don't speak unless the principal speaks to you first!". Such are the components of loneliness (and, I might add, job-security).

A day later I was back as an extra on the set of Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight... reluctantly.  Somehow I felt that this wasn't going to be anything like the last time.  After all, they were winding it up, so this must be "filler shots".  Still, the lure of filming it in the NY Public Library (simulating the great hall of the Supreme Court) got to me and I relented. 

The scene was hippies and veterans being removed by cops from the Supreme Court's hallway. So what about the advocates -where do they come in? Could their scene be on the cutting floor of the editing room?

Preparing the entrance hall of the NY Public Library to double for the Supreme Court entrance

Holding call time was for 5:15 PM... we were released at 5:15 AM the followng morning. Me... and a number of us, never being used!  But for some reason I didn't mind it as much as I usually do.  I guess it was because I got to be in close proximity of Christopher Plummer.  He was walking with his handlers on 40th Street when I arrived -and I was very tempted to ask "where the holding area was", but thought better of it when he looked away (probably thinking that a tourist was going to bug him for an autograph).  Later in the evening, he was going up the freight elevator that we all used for getting to our floor (with his handlers again).  I stepped in and he gave me a once-over look.  I had this urge to tell him that I worked with his daughter Amanda in a horror movie... but chickened out.  I'm such a chicken at times!? Maybe if he was alone...???

Then, near midnight, the lights went out in the holding area. Wasn't Ghostbusters filmed here?  And didn't they say that the library was haunted??  Kewl!  Unfortunately, the lights came back on (albeit without an  explanation as to why they went out in the first place).  Hmmmm... if  I remember right, there was also some paranormal activity at the mansion where I was an extra in the filming of Satan's Little Helper with Amanda Plummer.  Hmmm...what's the connection -I wonder?  Are the Plummers haunted -or is it just way too late in the evening for my brain to accept the simple explanation of a circuit breaker gone bad?

So I got home at 7 in the morning and took a well-needed shower... later on we got together with friends and saw an inspiring movie entitled Follow Me. Who needs sleep anyway when showbiz keeps you active and awake?!

Still walking the Boardwalk Empire

No scarf this time!?

The parking logistics got better for us extras... we didn't have to search for any parking -they had a huge lot ready for us with a large parking sign: BE CREW.  One less thing to worry about at 6:00 AM on this Monday morning in Brooklyn!

Makeup, hair and wardrobe were quickly attended to by the army of production assistants and we were made camera ready in a very short time -so that we could concentrate on the most important part of an extra's arrival: BREAKFAST.  This time I went to the juicer and had a healthy mix of apples, beets, ginger, celery and carrots. Great waker-upper!

Soon we were herded out to the lot where we were told to wait while the black curtains were pulled over the enormous blue screen backing up the set.  We entertained ourselves by taking photos of each other before being placed on our marks.

Steve Buscemi and Kelly McDonald were on the set, but I only caught a quick glance of Steve as he was greeting some friends who were visiting him.  They were a middle aged couple dressed in jeans, who were taking photos of us extras while they took in the BE experience. For the most part, Steve was inside a parlor of sorts and only the "fancy-shmancy" dressed extras were used to do "passerby" roles in that scene.

I had an interesting experience -which was most likely an extra's-phantasy.  I decided to go outside after sitting for some time inside the holding house.  I saw a nearby platform with a wooden top and a young lady in period clothing sitting on it.  The sun started to come out and I heaved myself up on the platform also... to warm up.  A short conversation ensued about the number of episodeds we had done on BE.   I mentioned that this was my third stint, to which the young lady under the wide-brimmed hat answered that she had done "twenty or so... episodes"!  Wow... "...you must be a pretty good extra..." I said, as we were called back to set.  Later at home, when I was checking out the web's photo collection of Kelly McDonald, I noted the striking resemblence to the young lady I had the conversation with.  Hmmmmm.... I honestly don't know for sure if that was her or not!?!  Serves me right for not doing my IMDB-homework before coming to set this morning. (Hmmmm.... "20 or so... episodes".  Last 2 seasons' total was 24, plus 5 this season... equals "20 or so"!!!) DANG! I still can't remember her hat-shaded face clearly enough to say whether it was her or not... I mean... really... what would a principal be doing hanging out with the extras -they usually sequester themselves in their private trailers... STILL, she did relate an interesting story to me.  As I mentioned the incredulous ending of last season where one of the biggest "heart-throbs" (Jimmy Darmody, played by Michael Pitt) was killed off... and I ranted about "How could they do that... he was a major draw to the show?" She told me that she saw Michael Pitt being a "difficult actor" who had arguments with Steve Buscemi and was late to set, and various other tempermental situations with him, and that it was most likely because of that for which they "killed him off". WOW - I hadn't heard that before!  She must have been someone close to the "inside"... so....more Hmmmmm's.

Later on, the rest of us mixed-class extras were called to set.  There were over 100.  A couple of us were put inside an ice cream parlor, where we chatted it up until "Background Action" was called -at which time we exited and walked back and forth on the boardwalk (once in "winter clothes" and once in "spring clothes").  At least we got to sit on the parlor's stools between takes and discuss "giving up meat"!  All in all a fun day at "work" for the "unemployed" -like me.  Last week, I had a pretty good interview for a real-life paying job, but so far no call-backs. Like the inside of this ice-cream parlor, the prospects are pretty dim.

Promoting Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight

Mockup of Supreme Court chamber in Brooklyn

There are times when you feel that your background role is really a part of something very big, and this was definitely one of those times. HBO is definitely getting better and better by tackling sensitive issues that were part of recent history's major events. Like when the champion boxer Cassius Clay converted to Islam and became Muhammad Ali, a conscientious objector to fighting in the Viet Nam War -the case went all the way to the top in 1971. And here we are, 40 years later, recreating the event -with me as one of the advocates. (Seems like I've been typecast for lawyer types in the past few months i.e. Damages, Blue Bloods -"trials and tribulations" not withstanding through the inadvertent preoccupation with Acting Strange.)

I was cast as one of Ali's advocates

You would never think that a studio existed in the middle of one of Brooklyn's major Jewish orthodox neighborhoods, but there it was, off of Avenue M, looking just like any other building in the old neighborhood. It seems that the sunset TV serial, As The World Turns, was taped here... back in the day. The studio had history and a lot of clunky equipment all over the place -as we soon discovered. As you walked through the fire doors you entered a football field sized hall with high ceilings and lots of hanging chains and struts for setting up just about any kind of set.

Holding area

Half of it was used as our holding area, where the PA's had to stand on chairs to make themselves heard. And the other half was utilized as the movie set for the Supreme Court chamber, where most of the action took place with a star-studded cast. The Supreme Court judges were played by the likes of Ed Bagley Jr., Frank Langella, Christopher Plummer, Barry Levinson, Harris Yulin, Fritz Weaver...(Danny Glover as Justice Thurgood Marshall, recused himself and I didn't get to see him at this shoot). The major lawyers arguing the case were played by Peter McRobbie and Tony winner Chuck Cooper (who bantered generously with us extras in between takes).



Chuck Cooper Peter McRobbie

Chuck even sang a song (acapella) for the entire cast in the "courtroom" while we waited for the director, Stephen Frears, wearing an orange scarf, to set up the camera angles. Now THAT singing performance was an unexpected treat!!!

Stephen Frears

I loved watching the court scene go down with the eloquent voices of Chris Plummer and Frank Langella. Frank was constantly joking around. At one point when the bare-necked preoccupied director tried to tell him something, Frank complained that he didn't know if he should listen to him without his ever-present orange scarf.

Christopher Plummer and Frank Langella

Stephen naturally went to get his scarf before continuing with Frank. An instance of a dialogue change was needed when a document was referred to as " 6 inches...". Somehow it didn't sound gramatically correct and I mentioned it to the guy next to me. It seems that the "judges" felt the same way because after a number of tongue-in-cheek side-comments and retakes, one of them raised his hand and asked the script writer for a correction. The guy next to me and I just looked at each other and nodded in satisfaction as the words "6 inches THICK (with a hand gesture)" was now part of the script's liturgy.

I have to say that this was one of the most professionally run sets I've been on for a long time. Besides the adequate food selections, we were constantly treated with updates of everything that was going on -from every scene description to the reasons for the lighting adjustments. Wardrobe and makeup went smoothly and the voucher sheets were adjusted without any recriminating admonishments of how the I-9 was missing a "1" in the appropriate field. At wrap-up we all shook hands with some of the principals and came away with a sense of... equality. Great crew!