All About Steve

It has been an eternity, it seems, since I’ve worked within 10 minutes of my house and twice in two days, I got lucky. Yesterday, I drove south. Today I drove north, but both times, I was there in about 10 minutes. I wish they were all this close!

Because the shoot was so close and gas prices have come down a little, I drove my Viper…just ’cause. I haven’t driven it much lately, so why not?

I parked. I got shuttled. I checked in. I went to wardrobe.

Okay, last night, I agonized over what to bring to this gig. Usually, casting directors specify “NO BRIGHT COLORS” and repeat that, like, ten times in the recorded message about what clothes we’re expected to bring. Well, this time, the message said, “We love bright colors.” And said it, like, ten times… But what went through my mind was, “They say they want bright colors, but do they really mean it? And do they know what they’re getting themselves into by asking me to bring bright stuff?”

So, I chose a pair of loudly tie-dyed teal/aqua pants, a teal tank top (’cause we’re having 100-degree weather), a loud teal floral over-shirt (just in case) and maroon Chuck Taylors (I oddly don’t have a teal pair yet for some reason). Then, I grabbed a loud pink/purple floral pantsuit from the late 60s, and another, less loud outfit in shades of royal blue, tossed in a few extra, random shirts just in case and figured, well, they said bright colors, so I’m gonna give ’em bright colors.

And sure enough, I presented myself in front of the wardrobe people and, though surprised, they said, “Ummm… Great.” So, I went on my merry, tie-dyed teal way through hair and make-up.

As I came out of hair, they were loading up us extras to go get our cars because they wanted to use them in the shoot. Okay, whatever. I’m always game for car calls. I did wish I’d known this was going to turn into a car call so I could’ve brought a different car. Oh well.

But what extra drives a Viper?

Yeah, I became a little mini-celebrity because of my car. Oh well. It’s always fun. I got the car parked and they told me to stay in it.

But I couldn’t. It was already about 90 degrees outside and my Viper heats up to inferno in nothing flat. The inside is small and black, the top is black and the engine radiates heat inside, too. I kept having to get out of the car and stand next to it. At first the PAs and such thought I was trouble, but after awhile, they realized that, no, I wasn’t trying to be difficult, I was over-heating and didn’t want to pass out!

During a short period of time when I didn’t need to actually be in my car, I was sitting nearby and doing what I always do: watching everything. I like to see what people are doing and how they’re doing it. I still find it fascinating even though I’ve seen it so many times. And, well, Jen had told me to look out for Bradley Cooper because she’s got a crush on him and he’s a hottie.

And, well, I make it a point to scope out hot men, so when I saw him, I figured I’d text-message Jen just to tell her that I was about 20 feet away from him. (Which was pretty much for the record or thereabouts for all the principle actors today.) She replied about being jealous and then a little while went by and I had to go back to my car for a little bit.

While I was at my car, I looked back down, just to see the action, etc. and I wanted to do a mental recording of what I was seeing just so I could send it to Jen… Bradley was changing his shirt as he walked closer down onto the set and…well…omg…I’m drooling now just replaying the mental video. Jen wasn’t kidding when she said he’s a hottie… I have now seen him without a shirt and wouldn’t mind seeing more…a lot more!

Anyway, I was always pretty far from the action, but essentially the scene had Sandra Bullock running alongside a van, with Thomas Hayden Church as passenger. The woman was awesome. In hundred-degree heat, she ran alongside that van for about 12 hours and never seemed grumpy about it. She rocks! I’d already thought she might be a pretty cool chick, but I hadn’t worked with her. Now, she’s just plain and simply awesome in my world. And I hope I look as good as she does when I get to be her age. She’s amazing.

As I fried in the heat, I put myself in her shoes…well go-go boots today. Yeah, she’s got guys to give her a ride, air-conditioned cars and tents and trailers, etc. But darn it all, what she did was hard work today. She had to 1) Run in those go-go boots. 2) Act. 3) Do it for 12 hours. 4) Do it in hundred-degree weather…in the sun the whole time. 5) Keep it fresh in every take.

I dunno about anybody else, but I think I would’ve had a meltdown were I in the same predicament. So, for now, Sandra Bullock is my new hero!

Eventually, I did get to drive through frame. I always enjoy driving on set, but everything kept getting confusing because sometimes they’d have us drive forward and then back up and sometimes they wanted us to do a U-turn and then get back in line the way we’d started. I preferred to back up, but more so, I preferred that they’d all had us do the same thing no matter what they chose. Oh well.

I do think I was either the only one or one of very few people in a stick-shift car. As I said earlier, if I’d’ve known it was going to turn into a car call, I would’ve brought a different car. I’m actually also surprised they let me use it. It didn’t really ‘go’ with the rest of the cars, but whatever.

I rarely got out of first gear, but what was most annoying is that the whole set was on a hill, so there I was, trying not to let the car roll downhill before going forward or in reverse. I enjoyed the challenge, but still wished I’d brought an automatic. The one saving grace, was air-conditioning. Even though I couldn’t let the car idle for long, while the cameras were rolling, I had the a/c on and got to cool off a little bit. I just didn’t want to overheat the car, too.

For a long, hot day, it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been. I mean, I’ve been on longer, hotter days and this wasn’t near so bad. I don’t want to do a lot of these, but once in awhile, I’m totally game for it. Between the male eye candy and the acquisition of a new female hero, not a bad day overall…

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