Domino

Yes, my category was ‘recovering nymphomaniac’ and from the moment I’d learned of it, I was determined to make the absolute most of it…even though I had no idea what was expected of me. They told us to wear stuff that was sexy, but in a support-group kind of way–whatever that meant!

I chose jeans, a little cleavage and my big, tall, crotch-high, black suede witch boots. I was a little late to the set because LA traffic bit me in the ass and I ditched the freeway in favor of side streets only to miss the one-way street and have to go around again. Thankfully, no one noticed that I was late…they really only noticed my boots. They noticed them so much I was worried I wouldn’t get to wear them. The crew guys seemed to like them fine enough, though. 😉

After breakfast, all the extras were herded over to the wardrobe trailer where I crossed my fingers that they’d let me wear the boots. They kept giving people boring stuff to wear and I really don’t own a lot of boring stuff. I just hoped that I’d brought something suitable.

It was my lucky day. They made me change to a different shirt, which wasn’t that much different than the one I’d shown up in, but whatever…the boots were on!!!!!!! They didn’t say they liked them, but they didn’t say they hated them. I was so happy, I was ready to do cartwheels in any case. The boots kick ass and I’d always hoped to wear them on a set someday but never had the opportunity.

When we got to the set, the First Assistant Director [1st AD] started placing us in what looked like a small theater of maybe ten or so rows, about ten seats wide. I guessed it wasn’t exactly a support group meeting.

There was a big sign on the wall that read ‘Nymphomaniacs Anonymous’ and there were bad nude paintings everywhere. I grinned in spite of myself. Somehow, I was soooo in the right place. Yes, half of Ashleigh Raine was a recovering nymphomaniac and needed to come up with a good character in her head because after three rounds of musical chairs, I was in the front row!

…And seated next to a guy who usually does props. Apparently, they’d needed a few more extras because not only was I next to a prop guy, I was in front of an electrician and some other guy who had a clipboard and seemed important. I dunno. I was already having fun and the camera hadn’t started rolling. I did find it pretty funny that no one said anything about my boots…they just stared. That was hilarious.

The scene consisted of our leader talking about how sex has gotten out of hand. Too many people are addicted to it and it’s bringing down society. The director, Tony Scott, told us that the scene is very funny on the page, but for us to play it straight.

I’d been playing it straight the whole time all the while making up my little character in my head. Yeah, I told myself that this was only my second meeting and I wasn’t sure I wanted to or even could give up sex especially since I did so much writing and had to do research sometimes. I never did tell anyone my character backstory. Oh well.

After shooting our leader’s monologue a bunch of times, they did a turnaround…the camera was now looking at the audience from our leader’s point of view.

Well…let’s just say that I really played up my little character. There’s one point where our leader says somethng like “And you ladies mustn’t lure your Great Dane with the pleasure of a peanut butter snatch.” Yes, that’s friggin’ hilarious [not to mention a little icky], but that’s where I really let loose as though I’d just done that the day before.

And apparently Tony Scott saw me…and liked me.

Next thing I knew, the Director of Photography had the light meter right in front of my nose and the camera crew was paying special attention to me…and it wasn’t just the boots anymore. The prop guy struck up a conversation with me and of course Ashleigh Raine came into the conversation. It was universally agreed that I was the right person for the job that day. What a hoot! And all I did was look orgasmic!

I hammed it up like I’ve never hammed it before! I swear, I never try to attract attention, but darn it all, being an erotic romance writer while sitting in a nymphomaniac’s anonymous meeting struck me as downright ironically hilarious and I felt the need to really make something of it because when else would I ever be in that kind of situation?!

Now, my fingers are crossed that the scene makes it into the finished product. I almost always land on the cutting room floor, but maybe karma’s with me this time. Maybe I’ll make it onscreen for once…or at least into a deleted scene on the DVD for a change!

Ummm… I saw the movie in the theatre. Good golly, gracious me, I got in that movie. There’s even a close-up where my head was the size of the movie screen. Jason started busting up. I couldn’t hold it in, either. The people around us didn’t figure it out because it was too dark in there, but if ever I’ve needed to get a screen capture from the DVD, it’d be for this movie… You can’t miss me.

Carnivale (5)

All rightie! This is gonna be a doosy, so ya’ll might wanna grab a cup of coffee and settle in. This Tale will cover the best shoot I’ve ever been on. Ever. Like ever in my whole little career of being an extra.

Admittedly, that isn’t very long (2 years at the end of this coming January) but during all that time, I’ve worked about a hundred days and while some shoots were great because I got out early or the work was fun or easy, this particular shoot was the best because the hours were both long and interesting at the same time. I really thrive on that. Full costume, good catering, stunts and great people. I couldn’t ask for more.

So, without further fanfare, Carnivale…

It was a two-day shoot in the carnival tent on the soundstage which happens to be less than ten minutes from where I live. Usually, I have to drive about an hour or more, so having such a short drive already put me in a great mood.

Once there, I did the usual rigamarole of getting my voucher, then going to wardrobe where the costumers were pretty grumpy due to the previous day having been rained out and half the costumes were still wet. I hadn’t worked the day before, so I got stuck in a different line with costumers who weren’t quite as grouchy. They still gave me a short-sleeve dress, but I’d come prepared with all sorts of stuff to wear underneath so I wouldn’t get cold.

Breakfast was good and there wasn’t a whole lot of down time before we were taken over to the stage and herded into the tent. The prop guys attacked me as usual. I ended up with a glass bottle of Coke and bag of peanuts. Now, keep in mind that I had to carry these two props all day, both days, just about wherever I went on the set. That should be worth a chuckle or two or three in some cases.

So, after collecting props, I was assigned a husband by the 2nd AD (assistant director). So far, John is the absolute best fake husband I have ever had. Wonderful, wonderful man. I hope I get to work with him again. He’s hilarious and when I got cold, he put his arm around me and warmed me right back up.

Okay, so we learn that the scene is one of those healing shows. 1930s carnivals had those kinds of shows where us townsfolk would go in hopes that we, too, could be cured of our illnesses. John and I walk into the tent and hit our mark a few million times before they move the camera and start getting into the real healing stuff.

And my oh my was that interesting. After doing dolly shots with the camera in motion, they got out the steadycam. The camera operator, who’s name is Henry and has long dark hair to go along with those bulging arms from carrying around the camera (yum!), his assistant, the sound man, and another camera guy all literally ran around the principal actors so they could do a nifty effect with each of the three healings.

It’s one thing to see the camera operator moving around with the camera, but to see him hustling plus three other guys all trying not to step on each other or anyone else and doing a damn great job with each take…I was so blown away. All of us extras were.

Oh! I almost forgot the funniest part of my fake marriage to John. Yeah, we were at a healing show, right? Well, we’d agreed that the reason we were there was because he…uh…couldn’t get it up anymore and I was about to leave him if he didn’t get healed. Okay, so we got a lot of chuckles out of that.

…Then, Paul (the 2nd AD) gave me two fake children! Ummm…yeah…we had fun trying to explain to the 12 and 10 year old exactly why Daddy needed healing without really explaining why Daddy needed healing!

For the rest of the first day, me and my fake family had an absolute blast. Toward the end of the night, we’d even added on a couple aunts to our little fake family.

See, on set, things can get boring. It’s the people you meet who keep it interesting. One of the aunts had been on the show a million times before and ended up striking up a conversation with one of the principal actors, too. That was pretty cool because usually principal actors won’t even stand near extras let alone talk to us. Waaaay cool end to that evening.

Once out of my costume, I headed home in torrential rain, once again thankful that I only live 10 minutes away. The rain was hell and puddled across the street in some places.

The next day was a little misty, but not too bad. I went through the whole rigamarole again, getting into costume, having the make-up people douse me with fake dirt, etc. I realized that the shoes I had on were the exact same ones that I’d worn the very first time I was on the show and this time, they were more comfortable, but still hurt my right foot. Oh well. This was still by far my best shoot ever and it was only getting better.

I picked up my props…again…I really hated them darn things by this point, but I’m a good extra…I play along…and went into the tent again. This time we were moving on to some stunts. Of course, when I learned there were going to be stunts, my ears perked up for anything Jen and I could use in Driven To Distraction. I reunited with my fake husband and Paul took a liking to us. We could follow instructions and actually looked like a couple because we got along so well. Anyhow, Paul always assigned us certain crosses right at the top of each set-up.

The first stunt was a guy getting his throat cut. I don’t want to ruin too much of the show if anyone watches it, but it’s kind of hard to describe stuff without a bit of a spoiler…Brother Justin is a very bad man. He goes into the tent and falls to his knees.

When a guy asks him if he’s okay, he pulls out a scythe and slits the guy’s throat. From there, chaos ensues. All of us extras are running around terrified, trying to get out of the tent, but can’t because the guy who got his throat cut fell by the entrance and a whole new pile of stunt people dog pile on him, too.

So, us extras are totally freaking out, running around. And yes, I’m still carrying that damn bag of peanuts and the glass Coke while I’m running seemingly for my life. My good-for-nothing fake husband and I split up, too! That was pretty fun. We claimed that we were looking for our kids who didn’t work during all the chaos.

So, Paul gives John and I special crosses for each camera angle on the throat slit stunt. I must say, that appliance with the fake blood was even icky close up and knowing that the guy wasn’t hurt. Gave me the willies!!!!

Next up was a girl getting the scythe in her back. There were three scythes. One was hard plastic, another was somewhat floppy plastic and another was retractable…for obvious reasons. The real trick with this stuff is the camera angles.

Paul gave John and I a million different crosses during the scythe-in-the-back sequence because it was intricate and the people running through frame had to be consistent and hit their marks every time.

There was one angle where I had to dodge 1) the scythe 2) a camera moving toward me 3) a camera that wasn’t moving and 4) a whole bunch of camera dolly track laid all over the floor, not to mention 5) all the crew guys. Yeah, talk about intense… I really felt like I’d accomplished something when I navigated all that stuff without running into anything, including other extras who were also running for their lives!

After that, another stunt guy got his arm chopped off. Paul gave me a couple crosses, but then I wasn’t immediately needed so I hung out a little beyond the action and just watched.

I’d thought I was out of the way, but wow. Clancy Brown kicks serious ass. He chopped off the guy’s arm and continued past the camera, saying his lines and swinging the scythe…and heading straight for me. I didn’t know he was going to do all that. The first take, I just looked like a deer in headlights. After that, I cowered from him and I think he liked it, helped him stay in character, in the moment. That was pretty friggin’ cool, if I do say so myself.

They didn’t have the blood rigged for the first few takes, but when they started rehearsing with it…wow. I’d never seen it done before. The stuntman had his real arm sort of twisted in his shirt and the fake arm out through the sleeve. The small arm chunk that got chopped off was held on by magnets. When the arm chunk was removed, a pressure pot blew the fake blood (corn syrup stained red) through a plastic tube and it blasted out of holes in the fake arm. Pretty nifty, if I do say so myself.

I mean, the girl who got it in the back just had the blood line hooked up and when Clancy hit her back, they blasted the blood out. But the arm stunt seemed a little more involved. It was from this area that I heard my favorite lines from the set “Watch out for the blood line” and “Don’t step in all the blood.” It was pretty funny if you didn’t know what the gag was.

My favorite crew visual was when one of the camera operators turned around and his face was all covered in blood. It gave a certain air of danger to operating a camera. I liked that. It looked so hardcore.

After doing a bunch of close-ups, they decided to get some wide shots and I got filtered back in again. When the guy’s arm came off, three or four extras got sprayed so badly they screamed. I hope that take goes in the finished product because it was so real. I was nowhere near the action. I only heard it.

Still in wide shots, they decided to forgo the blood, but still do the stunts one after the other. Paul instructed John and I on yet another cross. It was around this point where I realized how stupid I was. I mean, here’s this big tall guy with blacked-out eyes, swinging a scythe, killing people while saying some horrific stuff and what do I do? I run STRAIGHT for him!!!! Yes, all the while still carrying a bag of peanuts and a glass bottle of Coke. Ain’t I a smartie?

Anyhow, it was during these crosses where I really felt in the moment. The girl gets it in the back, I run right in front of Clancy, he swings the scythe at me, I cringe and keep going. I actually felt the swish of the scythe a few times!

The first few takes, Clancy didn’t really go for me, but he noticed that I hit my mark every single time, consistently like clockwork…and he used that. I really got off on it, too. I mean, he kicks ass. He really does and whether or not he was conscious of swinging at me, he did and that made me really feel like I was doing something, really part of the scene instead of just another stupid extra in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There were three more stunts after that: another girl got it in the face, a guy got it in the shoulder and yet another guy got slammed, but I can’t say who because this was the season finale and I just can’t give that away.

Anyhow, throughout all of that, Paul continued to give John and I great stuff to do. I found myself coming up with really great motivations for why I ran toward the danger, then ran five other directions…I was looking for my fake kids. That’d make any sane person do pretty crazy stuff, right?

I told ya this was gonna be a long one. There’s still more!

Once most of the blood was spilled, the director (who was absolutely wonderful in every way a director could be (he loved us, he really did)) wanted to get some other inserts of the healing stuff from the day before, so we all got back into the spots we’d been in and went from take to take. It was nice to not have to run a whole lot for a little while.

Between various takes, I ended up talking with two of the principal actors: Toby Huss (he plays Stumpy) and Nick Stahl (he plays Ben). Definitely a highlight of my two days there. It’s just not normal for principal actors to talk to the extras.

There were a few set-ups that didn’t really include John and I, so we weren’t paying much attention. We’d join the action when it was necessary, though. That was cool. At one point, John, Toby, Nick and I were all joking about something when I looked toward the action and saw Paul crooking his finger beckoning me while saying, “You. Come here.”

I was terrified.

I thought I was going to be in trouble for talking to Nick and Toby and not paying attention. I dutifully went toward him and he put me DIRECTLY in front of the camera! Yeah… The director directed me where to stand, too. Henry also told me where to look.

Unfortunately, no one told me what to do and I hadn’t been paying attention to what all was going on in the set-up, so I just had to fake it. I glanced over at Toby who gave me a thumbs-up and John grinned at me. I was terrified. There I was in the MIDDLE of a crowd of people all by myself with the camera on me to start the shot. It eventually moved past me, but still, it was insane because I didn’t know what to do.

Shortly afterward, Henry told me there’s a real good chance that I’ll make it into the finished product because he was right on me and there was no one else around and he stayed on me for awhile. I’ll just die if I end up in the finished product. I really will. I mean, the shoot was already my best. I didn’t need anything more!!!!

Also, Toby gave me a Christmas CD that he’d put together. It’s a collection of lounge style comedy songs that he and a friend had written and he sang. I was absolutely blown away. I swear I’ll never ever forget him. I love listening to the CD, too. It’s hilarious!!!! I mean, my world has been rocked repeatedly by Carnivale and this time, it just couldn’t get any better. Toby’s the best guy I’ve ever met on a set, too. Between him and John, I was very well taken care of.

Yeah, best shoot ever…got better…got better…got better…got impossibly better. I mean, I can’t even think of anything that would have made an improvement on that shoot… like at all! I was completely blown away and still am! I wish they could all be as incredible as this one. But alas, that’s just not the way this business works. Oh well. At least I’ve got the memories and tons of stunt research for Hollywood Heat books. Zowie-wowie did I get a lot of ideas.

Where The Truth Lies

It took me three tries before I finally figured out what gate to go in at Universal Studios and then they didn’t have any maps for getting to set. It was still dark outside because it was only 5AM when I headed in.

According to the convoluted instructions that the lady at the gate gave me, I hopped on the right street and then came to a suspicious looking stretch that said, “Do not enter.” I was thinking, “Well, if I don’t go here, where the hell’s the rest of the road?” as I stopped in front of the sign. …Then I saw why I wasn’t supposed to continue. That was the part of the backlot tram tour where the Red Sea parts!!!!

I had half a mind to drive through it, but I was in my husband’s ’66 Corvette and I still didn’t know exactly where the set was. With a playful frown, I threw the car in reverse and set about finding the way around the Red Sea. It wasn’t lit very well, but I did find my way.

Once at base camp, all the guys were drooling over my car. That’s always fun.

I went to wardrobe (who of course hated everything 70s that I brought) who gave me a short dress…It was many shades of beige, complete with mountains and geese. I felt sooooo ‘happenin’! Then, I went to hair who gave me a Cher wig with bangs. Then make-up, who dolled me up…a lot like a toned down version of Cher.

Once on set, I parked my car and did a bunch of walking-through-frame kinds of things. I bet my car got more camera time than I did!

That day was short. I got to go home at a reasonable hour. I had as much trouble getting off the Universal lot as I did getting on. Most of the gates are closed on the weekend. But I did drive past one tram tour! 🙂 They probably thought I was Jennifer Beals or someone. I was just glad to be booked for another day.

…And wouldn’t ya know it, I almost drove through the Red Sea again!!!!!! It was 5AM and dark! What did I know? (I tell ya, though, I really, really, really, really wanted to drive through just so I could say I’d done it!)

Anyhow, the day started much as the first one had. Except the costumers changed their minds about hating one of my outfits. But didn’t tell me they wanted me to wear that outfit first, so I screwed up and wore the wrong thing. They didn’t get mad, they just had to give me something else to wear later on.

In that first set-up, I struck up a nice rapport with the First Assistant Director. He at first didn’t realize that I’m not like most extras…I actually have a brain and can understand and follow directions. He gave me a starting cue and an ending cue and I hit them every time.

When the lead actress got to a certain spot, I walked down the stairs of a water tower and then when the lead actress started going up the stairs, I was to cross her path right in the middle. The First AD even singled me out specifically to tell me I was “Wonderful!” It was just nice to know that he’d noticed.

And that water tower–which by the way, I was getting serious stair-master exercise on–it’s actually a tank for shooting underwater stuff. It was empty, but nonetheless nifty to look down into just to say that I’ve seen it. Kinda like the Red Sea, only no risk involved and if I were to have gone into it, I would not have been chuckling like I would have done while parting the Red Sea.

After that scene was done, the costumers gave me another outfit…which had THE most stuck zipper on the planet. Just when I was about to give up and go get help, the darn thing came down and I shimmied into the beige pantsuit.

The next shot was in Hollywood and I had to get in my Corvette (yes, still wearing wig and costume, passing 2 tram tours this time, plus all the people on the freeway) and drive to the corner of Hollywood and Vine. Ironically, the location was out front of the nightclub where Jason and I got married!

They were doing a minor stunt where one car cuts off another one, but my ‘Vette was parked and they had precision drivers running. I was totally jealous. …And annoyed because I was instructed to walk away from the action and didn’t get to see any of it. I only heard it. The second take included some brake-squealing that didn’t sound intentional. After that one, the Coordinator had a few words with the girl doing the cutting off. Okay…so it was more than a few… But at least the next 4 or 5 takes were good.

I must have walked up and down that block a hundred times by the end of the day. One side, then the other, and I never really saw the scene. Oh well. I guess I’ll have to wait until the movie comes out. I still bet that my car got more camera time than I did!

Carnivale (4)

Super early call time out in the middle of nowhere at a small lake. As I arrive and head to wardrobe, extras are being asked if they don’t mind wearing wetsuits and getting wet. Ummmm…no thanks for me. I get dressed in my rags and grab some breakfast.

When the time comes, we all hop on the bus and go to the set. I weaseled a decent sized purse out of the costumers and managed to fit a bottle of water along with my palm pilot and cell phone into a brown clutch purse. As unfortunately usual for me, despite the fact that I was already holding a purse, I became a prop magnet. First I was given a parasol, but because I only had two hands, I had to pass on two fans and a bible. Ah well. At least I had shade. Thank goodness that prop guy got to me first! [I have no idea why the prop people always love to hand me stuff. I almost always get singled out of crowds to carry props or wear the spectator t-shirts. I don’t know why.]

Anyway, we’re ready for the scene to start. They do the safety meeting and then the people who were willing to get wet walk into the lake. Three or four stunt/safety men went in to the water as well in case someone tripped. During the wide shot, the costumers put one guy in the same smock as the people in the lake and he acted in the scene with the rest of everyone. Cool guy…and looked damn good in a wetsuit. Yeah, lots of eye-candy that morning.

Once the wide shot was done, everyone who wasn’t in the water went back to holding. Hell, I even took a short nap. The sun was hot, but I still had my parasol for shade. I pulled out my palm pilot and goofed around. It sure looked funny…me in 1934 clothing playing with my palm pilot! I even made a few calls on my cell phone! That’s the magic of Hollywood.

After lunch, I waited around another few hours and then finally got to go work again. Men in wetsuits…yum… Then I hear a horse whinney. I turn around and see Mr. HotSexy1934Cowboy and my knees got weak. Yum-yum-yum-yum-Yum! I was so not expecting to see a man that hot, dusted with dirt, on or near a horse. In other words, I looked one way and there were men in wetsuits. I looked the other way and there was a real cowboy. It was definitely a day for eye-candy.

Then there was the dead body which floated up in the lake.

But don’t worry, it was supposed to and it wasn’t real, but darnitall, it sure looked real! I saw it up close when the effects guys were rigging it. Wow. They did a damn good job. And when it came through the surface of the lake, it definitely got the desired effect out of everyone.

4Mula1 Music Video

The following is from an email sent shortly after the shoot:

On Sunday night, I was on the set of a music video for a brand new boy band called 4Mula1. And actually, I wasn’t booked, my car was.

It was a night shoot and I got there at 5:30PM knowing I’d be there until the sun came up the following morning. No big deal, it’s just been a little while since the last time I had a night shoot plus I’d also been in England the week before and hadn’t realized that I was still a little jet-lagged. Consequently, despite the fact that I was tired, I was remarkably awake the whole night due to the 8 hour time difference. What does all that mean? Well… unfortunately not a whole lot.

I spent from 5:30 until “lunch” at 8 reading Things That Go Bump In The Night IV because my car wasn’t going to be used until later.

“Later” ended up being 4AM! Right after lunch, they did the performance part of the video in which all the guys plus dancers did their thing in front of 4 cars on the 6th street bridge near downtown LA. I must say, I really like their song “Gotta Roll.” It doesn’t come out until later this month, but even after hearing it for about 5 hours straight, I didn’t get tired of it. It’s a combination of R&B and Pop and it’s their very first single. It’ll be fun to see where they go because judging by the size of the shoot, they’ve got some real money backing them even though they’re just starting out. They’re also very talented singers and dancers…and nice guys, too! I spoke to one of the guys’ girlfriends. She was really sweet, but I didn’t catch her name.

When that set-up was done, they went to the next location which was where my car was finally used. The actor who drove it was really nice, too. He played the sort of bad guy. See, there was also a mini-storyline through the video in which G catches his girlfriend cheating on him. My ‘66 Corvette was the car the guy was driving when G caught up with him. Unfortunately, the shot might not even make it into the finished product. I’m not real sure, but it just seemed like by the time they got to that shot, everyone was restless and didn’t really have their hearts in it so they didn’t do a whole lot of takes. I hope it gets used, but I’m not betting on it.

As soon as that was done (around 5AM) I finally got to go home. I was sooooo tired, but all in all it wasn’t a bad night. I mean, because my body reverted to England time, I was alert and awake the whole night even though I wasn’t actually doing anything but watching or reading.

The only real bummer was that I was scheduled for a wardrobe fitting at 10:20 the next day… I only got 2 hours of sleep before I had to be up and gone. It was for what I think might be a flashback to 1974 in a movie called “Where The Truth Lies.” I brought a ton of stuff and the wardrobe people hated everything.

I totally hate it when that happens…not mostly because I lugged all that crap with me, but because being that I’m in SAG, I don’t actually need to bring clothes with me, I do it as a courtesy to the costumers especially on period pieces because that way they can save a few dollars not having to rent an outfit for me and they never seem to appreciate the fact that I tried.

Only Anchorman really appreciated me bringing wardrobe. The rest of the period shows I’ve done have first turned up their noses at what I brought, then tried to fit me from their selection only to discover that I’m so damn small that they don’t have anything that doesn’t fit me like a tent, and they end up chosing something from my stuff anyway.

I don’t know why it is that they freak out when they see an Extra who brought period clothes. I mean, it’d be one thing if my stuff wasn’t the real deal, but it’s genuine. They always look at the labels and say, “Well, I guess it’ll be okay.”