........Making Me Thirsty.
Lights, Camera, Action!
Tinseltown, here I come!
<Editor's note-- Minutes before publishing today's blog, I made a grocery run. This was the temperature registered on my car's dashboard when I left the store. 108F deg. My, oh my, that's some serious heat. Poor Car, sitting out in that parking lot. Poor me, too. What a hot, hot day. Anyway, back to the featured story, already in progress....>
Again, "These pretzels are making me thirsty."
For the last few years, I have been tuned into the film industry, as movie production increases here in the state of Georgia. Lots of tax breaks, huge movie production studios such as Tyler Perry and Marvel, a pool of trained professionals, and a wide variety of different settings (large metropolitan city, mountains, rural farms, suburbs, lakes, quaint city squares, the world’s busiest airport, coastline and beaches, 18th century buildings, swamps, etc.) have lured movie makers to our fair state. The Walking Dead, The Hunger Games, Ozark, Good Girls, Stranger Things, Vampire Diaries, a slew of Marvel movies, and many other productions come through Georgia on their way to the big or small screen. I have been following local casting agencies on their social media accounts to find out when they are looking for background extras, no skills required. Being an extra on a movie set has been on my Bucket List for a while.
It’s time to get the marker out and cross Become a Background Movie Actor off the ole Bucket List. I have just finished acting in a movie as a background character. Yay me!
If you didn't understand the pretzel reference in the title of this blog, it comes from the Seinfeld gag when Kramer was selected to be a background actor for a Woody Allen movie. Set in a bar, Kramer's only line was, "These pretzels are making me thirsty." True to form, things don't go well, and Kramer singlehandedly disrupts the entire movie production, much to the amusement of the Seinfeld gang.
In actuality, that was my fear. What if I was cast as a background extra, but I messed up, or didn't understand, or caused delays, or screwed things up for everybody? That'll be Take 99, folks. Please try to get it right this time, ma'am. I feared that I might not be able to play my part correctly. But, I summoned up the courage to set my fears aside and go for it.
My big break came just a few days ago. Some of that day’s experiences will be hush-hush until the movie comes out, confidentiality and all. I have, however, determined which things are OK to talk about, without revealing too much info. If the post-production movie police come to get me, all I can say is that it’s been nice knowing ya. But I think I’m safe in revealing the following details…
I was cast as A Pedestrian in the movie Law of Toughness. Law of Toughness is a reboot of The Naked Gun series, a set of spoof movies with a clueless detective, played by the late great Leslie Nielsen. His character bumbled his way through the action, somehow managing to solve problems and catch bad guys. The old Naked Gun movies were full of funny gags, zany activities, and much silliness.
The new movie, Law of Toughness, stars Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Cody Rhodes, and others. FYI, Kevin Durand and Danny Huston were the only stars I saw on the set. Theirs were not names that I automatically recognized, but I did recognize their faces, from various projects, when I saw them.
On the day of the shoot, I drove from my suburban home to downtown Atlanta and parked in the designated parking garage. I had been cast with My Car as an optional character, so My Car had to be near the action, too.
After checking in with the crew, I went to Costumes and then Hair & Make-Up. We had been told to bring several clothing options with us. It was a lovely 100+ deg F, a real sweatshop of a day. Unfortunately, our climate was to be Winter in Los Angeles, so I had long pants and long sleeves in tow. Costumes switched out my sweater for one of their “lighter” long-sleeved cotton blouses, thinking it would allow for better air circulation.
About 30 of us Pedestrians were then led back to the same parking garage, where a holding area had been set up. Basically, we sat in the garage on metal foldup chairs, waiting for something to happen. Did you know that parking garages get hot when the temperature is blazing? Yeppers, they do. My borrowed cotton blouse was not doing it for me. It reminded me of the stiff cotton pillowcases that my grandmother would starch and iron. The blouse was crisp and scratchy. I concentrated every ounce of energy to keep myself from sweating profusely all over the blouse. I could feel the blouse absorbing every tiny micro drop of liquid that came anywhere near it. And spreading out into a big dark spot. Don’t sweat; Don’t sweat; Don’t sweat, I told myself repeatedly. In retrospect, I shoulda gone with my original outfit plan. Wearing a tank-top shirt, and then adding a light sweater when I was in camera-shot. The sleeveless tank-top would have been so much more comfortable during the 5 hours that I sat in the parking garage. That’s what I said—5 hours of waiting.
During our time in the garage holding area, they selected 5 of us to go get our Cars and bring them down to the bottom of the garage, so they would be ‘at the ready’ if Cars were called for. Cool! I was picked for a special assignment! But, shortly after that, the other 25 Pedestrians were sent onto set to act. We 5 Pedestrians with Cars had to stay in the holding area, waiting for the call for our Cars. The call that never came.
What I didn't know is that no one knows exactly how the shoot is going to go, because it is an ever-evolving entity. They might plan to use Cars in a scene, but then they scrap that idea because the logistics just won't work out. Or they might revise a scene to have fewer Pedestrians to make it tighter on screen. Or they might need an abundance of retakes to finalize a scene, or the outside lighting might cause unexpected problems, or something else might throw a wrench in the production, which messes up the schedule for the rest of the day, cutting out some parts of the shoot. All that to say that getting booked as a background actor for a specific day does not guarantee that you will actually get to act. You report for duty, and then it's a waiting game to see if they need you or not.
That’s show biz.
As the day wore on, and our patience wore thin, it appeared that they weren't going to need the 5 of us Pedestrians with Cars. We could not see the real movie action from where we sat. But, we watched the other Pedestrians come and go in the sweltering garage, as they acted their way through multiple scenes and then came in for a break. Finally, someone in the crew musta felt sorry for us, because they came to get us Pedestrians Without Cars, the last 5 fresh faces. Leaving our Cars behind, we were escorted onto the busy streets of Atlanta where all the equipment was staged and ready to go.
“Lights, Camera, Action” is a bogus phrase, at least on this set. Instead, the Production Assistants called “Rolling!” to start the cameras. "Sound Speed!" to turn on the microphones. “Background!” to get us Pedestrians in motion walking down the sidewalk. “Action!” to cue the main actors to begin their interactions. “Cut!” to stop filming. “Reset!” to go back to our starting marks to re-act the scene. Over and over and over and over again. I could never see what the main characters were doing, because I was acting my part as A Pedestrian, with my back to the actors. But, I did see the cool futuristic car that they were driving. In one scene, a few of us Pedestrians were told to look towards a particular building as we crossed the street, because it was a ‘bank that had just been robbed.’ So, I laced my nonchalant Pedestrian acting skills with targeted curiosity as I neared a building whose alarm was supposedly sounding. Of course, we had to pretend to hear the alarm; it wasn’t actually going off. I did my best to play the part. I think I nailed it.
Throughout the shoot, regular Atlantans and other people were driving and walking by, gawking at the goings-on with all the equipment, sunshades, people, and commotion on this busy blocked-off corner of downtown Atlanta. As we Pedestrians waited instructions to restart our scene, a hesitant bystander approached to see if he could cross the street. We explained that they were shooting a movie, but it was OK to go across the street now. When the action started, though, he would have to get out of the way. He asked us why we were just standing there on the sidewalk instead of walking past. We told him that we were IN THE MOVIE! He was so surprised and impressed. I was pretty impressed, too. And amazed that I was doing this thing.
-sorry, no pictures allowed from the movie set-
After the last hour of filming with us final 5 Pedestrians, they were finished for the day. The shoot was completed. We all went back to the casting building and wrapped things up. I peeled off the sweaty, odoriferous cotton blouse and apologized profusely as I turned it in. Costumes didn’t care; they had been sweating out on the torturously hot set, too. As our group of 30 Pedestrians signed out and left the building, another 200 background actors started arriving for an overnight shoot where they would be bused to a different location. The days and nights are long in the movie business.
Law of Toughness is scheduled to be released in 2025. I’m sure you can’t wait to see it. Perhaps I’ll have a viewing party. Send me your deets and I’ll be in touch. I will SO enjoy watching the scenes that I was in, seeing how all the camera angles get worked together. Of course, we’ll have to pause the action, rewind, stop-frame, zoom in, get a magnifying glass, and squint to maybe pick me out of the Pedestrian crowd in the distance. That is, unless my scenes are edited out and land on the cutting room floor. Them’s the breaks in show business.
In summary, I spent about 8 hours at the movie site. Seven hours getting ready and waiting. One hour acting. Did I mention how hot it was? Nonetheless, it was a fun, exciting experience. The people who "handled' us background actors were all great. They gave us good food and kept us hydrated and safe. The extreme heat was out of their control, but they were mindful of everyone's health and kept an eye on us. Everyone in the crew was very nice, and very professional. They seemed to enjoy their jobs and seemed to be very close-knit, encouraging one another along the way. When actor Kevin Durand finished acting in our last scene, it was his final take of the movie, and the whole crew congratulated him by breaking into raucous celebratory applause. That was pretty cool.
Of the 30 Pedestrian actors, I was one of 2 people who were newbies and had never been on a movie set before. Other Pedestrians included people who were between jobs, people who acted on their days off, people who background acted as their main source of income, and people who hoped to break into the movie business on a larger scale. I don’t plan on becoming a background extra on a regular basis. It was a very unique and interesting experience. But, now that I have scratched the itch to see a movie production up close and personal, I can turn my attention to other Bucket List items. Unless, of course, the perfect role comes along, and I want to get back on set one more time. If that happens, I’ll be sure to let you know.
I'm very happy with my movie shoot experience. It might be time to resurrect an old nickname that was bestowed on me during my younger red-convertible-driving, hair-flying-in-the-wind, dark-sunglasses-wearing days. In my 20s, they used to call me "Hollywood." Sounds fitting, dontcha think?
All that's left now is collecting my paycheck. They say the check’s in the mail.
"That’s a wrap!," folks.