The Starter Wife (3)

I got lost. I can’t freakin’ believe I got lost, but I did. And not in the conventional, wrong turn kind of way, either. I followed the signs as usual, but at one point there were three production signs, the top two were for a different show and the bottom one was for the one I was on…but they were all pointing to the same driveway and I didn’t see that bottom one in time.

Oh well… I called casting and they helped me get where I was supposed to go. I was only ten minutes late and they weren’t pissed off about it at all.

In fact, I still love this show. The first time I was on was great and so was the second. This third time was no different–well, no different in general, but completely different in practice. Last two times, I was an upscale recovering drug addict. This time, I was a pedestrian with my 1968 Mustang Fastback and it was 1970-something.

I’d dragged a ton of clothes to this gig because, well, I have them, I might as well use them. And for a great change, the costumers loved me.

It was a simple scene, but since there was a flipped car and a bunch of water involved, the set-up was kind of involved. I ended up driving my car to the set before going through hair and make-up.

Since my eyebrows and the front of my hair had been burned off in a small kitchen explosion brought on by team effort stupidity between my husband and I, my hair is a little shorter than usual. When I stopped by the hair trailer, she just sighed and said there wasn’t enough for her to really do anything with it. I just kind of smashed it down and pretended I was Janet from Three’s Company. It’s too short, but I felt the need to try.

Then, in the make-up trailer, the lady started going nuts with me. She drew on eyebrows to hide my stubble and even put fake eyelashes on me to lengthen my burnt lashes. She really had a great time on my eyes and good golly, that’s the best I’ve felt since the explosion. It’s been a little over a week and it just seems to take forever for hair to grow back when you have none. At least the burns on my eyelids, lips and nose are done. They took about five days to heal. Now they’re just a little tender, but no big deal. I just want my facial hair back!

Anyhow, once I was out of there, we sat around in holding for awhile (which was air conditioned…it was getting freakin’ hot and humid outside and we were all thankful for the opportunity to stay cool) before heading to the set. I was saved as a driver and they’d planned on having me drive my Mustang, but it was too loud. Of course. Happens every time.

Instead, I drove one of the other picture cars…through a towering water effect on the first take before they toned it down for the following ones. It was another miserable black vinyl, no air-conditioning car just like my Mustang, so I kinda felt right at home. I just drank a ton of water so I didn’t dehydrate.

Basically, after those four or five takes, we were done, but they were still filming and a few of the other extras worked. I ended up reading a book and/or talking with others there. It wasn’t a bad gig at all. I just wish it wasn’t so hot. That was no fun at all.

Traffic was so bad getting there, that it took me a full two hours. I changed my route on the way home just to change the scenery a little and it took me an hour and a half despite the actual mileage was longer. I’ve certainly learned my lesson!

I got to keep the fake eyelashes as a souvenir and just before actually working, I snapped a picture with my phone. I’m really not supposed to do that, but I was careful not to get anything that’s supposed to be some big secret in the background, so hopefully I won’t get chewed out. I just really wanted to capture the brilliant make-up job I’d been given. It was kind of Twiggy-esque.

Where The Truth Lies update

I believe some of my best adventures were on this show and they didn’t happen during filming! From almost driving through the Red Sea to waving at tourists on the Backlot Tram Tour, this was quite an interesting gig.

Much of what burned on the Universal lot this year was where base camp and the set were, too. When I heard about that fire, I immediately thought of my time on Spiderman II, Superhero and Where The Truth Lies.

Here’s another of my smallest performances. It’s not quite as small as Hollywoodland, but it’s close! This is definitely the kind of shot where I wonder if I’ll actually be seen at all or was I just given a cross there ‘just in case’ the camera happens to see that deep. It’s always nice to make it in frame, though!

In these next ones, boy was I pissed when I tried to do the screen capture and there was some dumbass extra blocking the view of my car…

Yeah, that dumbass extra was me!

The way I could tell was not just by the colors on my dress, but that’s my own purse. I recognized my purse and then vaguely remembered doing this wipe, but hadn’t realized that it was part of my cross heading across the street.

I looked for myself in the other shot, but while I thought I saw myself, I wasn’t entirely sure, so I didn’t do a capture. The finished product was nothing like what was shot.

The Starter Wife (2)

I was so glad to be back on this show. Last time was great. This time I was actually booked with my Viper rather than being bumped up.

I got there, parked in a dirt lot before being directed up to the set, survived wardrobe with flying colors (she actually loved what I was wearing and the fact that I’d brought a ton of choices. Why can’t all costumers be that awesome?) and got the car appropriately backed in just in time for the first rehearsal. Then, the scene was shot–without any picture cars in the background–and I was sent to holding. Ummm…okay…

About an hour or so later, I was brought in to do about three takes for a tiny little scene and then ushered back out to holding. Ummm…all right…

An hour after that, I was wrapped. Ummm…yay!

Criminal Minds

Now that the WGA strike is over, I hope to be getting on more shows, but I really don’t have much control over it all.

I was a “Narcotics Support Group” member with my car (’06 Mustang, this time.) for two days on Criminal Minds.

The location was a church and there were very few signs as to whether I was in the right place or not. I was about an hour early, but usually there’s at least one sign as I near the location. This time, it wasn’t until I got to the set that I saw a sign. It was also a little difficult to get to from the directions I was given. But that’s one of the reasons I like to go early…just in case.

I parked on the set, got shuttled to base camp to go through wardrobe. Very cool wardrobe people on this gig.

Then we were taken back to holding in the basement of the church complex. It was a little creepy and weird, but not as bizarre as other places I’ve been in. Anyway, I read Shadows of Darkness by Brian McIntyre and John Zaffis. It’s true stories of demonic possessions and various other supernatural weirdness. I dig that kind of stuff. Plus, I met John Zaffis at a ghost hunt on the Queen Mary last month and really liked what he had to say.

So, I sat in holding until it was time for us to work…in a sort of mini-theater. There was a podium up front and a bunch of folding chairs set up. Since I was apparently a former drug addict, I sat in the audience. I know I got on camera, but I have no idea if I’ll make it into the finished product. I don’t want to give away any of the story, but from what I saw, the episode looks really, really good.

At one point while I was seated, two ADs were whispering and pointing while looking at me. I got a little nervous, but not too much. I knew I wasn’t doing anything wrong, so I just continued on with the scene and my participation in it. Finally, one of the ADs came over and said that I was being considered for a sort of upgrade tomorrow. Cool. I found out later that I was the same size and looked a lot like a day player who would be in the following day, so they wanted to use me as a stand-in. Great.

After a yummy lunch, my car worked while I sat enjoying the nice night. It was only a little cold–nothing my jacket couldn’t keep at bay. I finished the Zaffis book.

The next day, I came back for more fun and games. I parked my car, got some lunch and then was immediately pressed into action as a stand-in. Before lunch, I stood in for “Woman #1”, “Woman #2” and “Smoker” (who didn’t actually smoke, but whatever) which actually gave me the title of Utility Stand-in because I stood in for so many characters–2 of which were blonde. It’s always fun for me when I get thrust into positions I never thought I’d be in. I truly enjoy the adventure.

After lunch, all of the day players were done, so I was mostly there because they were using my car in the parking lot. I stood around a lot, sat around a little and then it was time for the car stunt.

It was pretty simple really. The driver rammed a car into a cargo container. It was enough to have the kind of safety meeting I wrote in Driven to Distraction (by Ashleigh Raine) and I haven’t been on a set in awhile where we were doing anything that involved a real safety meeting, so that was fun for me. I like to watch the coordination process between what the driver does, the Special Effects guys as well as the Medics and Stunt Coordinator.

And actually, I almost forgot something… After going through the lunch line, most of the chairs were taken in the catering tent, but there was one on the corner of a group of four or five guys. I read “SFX” on one walkie-talkie and figured that’d be a fun group of guys to sit with even if I didn’t say anything and just listened.

I was so right.

I won’t repeat the stories I heard, but let’s just say it was well worth the price of admission. At the end, the guys laughed and said I probably didn’t know what I was getting into when I sat down. I replied, “No. I did. That’s why I sat here.” but I don’t know if they quite believed me.

That’s okay, though. I had a great time on this show. The crew was one of the nicest, most awesomest I’ve worked with in a long time. All the extras were treated with respect and everyone had fun–including the director!

The Thacker Case

After getting a week’s work on The Changeling, I was quite shocked to get another day in December…during a writer’s strike, no less. This time it was a car call…with my ’68 Mustang fastback.

I was called at sort of the last minute the day before and then told I’d get my call time later that night. I waited until 10PM before giving up and going to bed. The next morning, I called around 8AM and there still was no official call time for me!

There were only two people on the call: myself with my car and another guy. We were stand-ins.

I finally had to make another phone call around 9, because I knew the location was about an hour away and I wanted to make sure I had enough lead time so I wouldn’t be late. Finally, I got an answer–and had about a half hour to get ready before I had to tune the car and get on the road.

My car had been running sort of rough, so I made the usual rounds, checking fluids and adjusting the carburetor. I wanted to do a little more, but there was no time. I got to crew parking, where I knew I’d be following one of the shuttle vans to base camp/the set.

This was a very small production. After working on The Changeling last week, it was pretty strange to go back to a tiny budget show. It wasn’t a bad thing, just a different thing.

Crew parking was several miles away from the set. One of the longest distances I’ve had. We even had to get on the freeway for awhile. Then, on some back roads through farmland until finally I saw base camp trailers stuffed in a small clearing at the mouth of a side road that seemed to go onto someone’s farm rather than be an actual road. I couldn’t tell for sure. There certainly wasn’t a whole lot of traffic on it–only occasional farm trucks carrying produce crates.

I met up with the other stand-in. He’d worked on the show before and sort of knew the ropes. I accidentally spoke with the director. I didn’t know who he was and just happened to be standing near him. He asked me if I was an actress. I replied, “I’m not serious about it… Well, I’m not seriously pursuing it… I’m only serious when I’m on set.” In other words, insert foot in mouth. Oh well. At least I was honest. I’m not an actress and I’m not actively pursuing it. I am, however, very serious and as professional as I can be when I’m on a set.

I enjoy what I do, but no, I’m not an actress. I don’t want the spotlight on me. It’s too stressful.

The scenes we were working on took place in a car. A few hours were spent prepping the car. My stand-in stint was spent sitting in the car–which was preferable to standing around in the freezing wind outside. I had a warm jacket, but still, the wind was arctic and the car was pretty comfortable. I definitely had the better end of the deal than the crew.

Finally, everything was set up and the actress I was standing in for (Eliza Dushku!!!!!!) traded places with me to do the scene. She’s so cool. She even thanked me and it was hard not to be fangirl and gush about her portrayal of Faith in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.

Day turned into night. If I wasn’t ‘standing-in’ in the car, I was in the honey wagon. They had an extra room (with a heater) that me an the other stand-in were thankfully allowed to use.

Lunch was served and we ate in what’s called a Lunch Box. I hadn’t been on one in several years. They always amaze me. Essentially, they’re a really big trailer that pulls out on both sides and becomes a rather large room. Set up tables and chairs and voila! an indoor catering tent on wheels. I know from watching Extras that in the UK, they have converted buses that serve the same purpose except they’re more purpose built than Lunch Boxes.

After lunch (which was around average dinner time), we went to the other location which was further out in the farmland. I followed one of the other cars there because finally, my Mustang was going to be in the shot.

I did a little bit of double duty, too. I stood in until it was time to get my car in place for the scene.

This is when things got a little odd for me. They gave me a walkie-talkie so that I’d be able to hear my cue, but due to the wind whipping into the microphone of the Assistant Director giving various cues, the roar of my engine, my inability to see where I was going because of the way the scene was lit and the fact that I was listening for a cue that sounded like “Go Mustang” or “Go Background”, but he instead just said my name in a whisper that didn’t sound much different than the wind anyway, I missed my first cue.

I got the car turned around and Back to One, but the AD was not thrilled that I’d missed the cue. I explained my dilemma of not being able to hear very well despite clipping the walkie to the top of my collar, so he had a PA stand right next to the car (which is another thing I’m more used to) and give me a visual. Of course, by the third or fourth take, I knew what I was listening for and had been repositioned closer to the set so I could see more of what was going on and needed the visual cue less, but I felt better having the PA there because if the AD called me late again, I’d have someone to vouch for whether I took the cue or not. If I can discern the cue, I don’t screw up. It’s really that simple.

There were a few more takes where I was considered to be late, but the PA was right there. I shrugged it off. It was late. Everyone was freezing. Go ahead, yell at me. I was sitting in a nice warm car. I didn’t care anymore.

Really, though, I never got truly yelled at. It was more that I didn’t hit the mark at the right time, but a lot of that had to do with what the other actors were doing versus it taking a second or so for me to get into the frame because I had to be so far back. It seemed simple, but it really wasn’t. I had to sit there with my lights off, get them on and go for a ways before shutting them off and getting the car turned around in mud. I was a good sport about it, but I know several people who’d’ve pitched a fit about going off road in their classic Mustang.

They’d considered using my car as the hero car for that last bit. While I was okay with the idea, I realized that whoever was driving it had to be used to a manual steering, manual brake, car with a mid-stall torque converter behind a 400+horsepower engine. It’s temperamental and very far from a turn-the-key-and-go kind of car. You gotta know what you’re doing in my beast. I explained that, and they decided not to use it as the hero car. I was fine either way. I wasn’t even going to ask for more money. I do this because I love it.

Even when not getting out of there until 2:30AM, I still loved it. But that’s just the kind of girl I am.

Herbie: Fully Loaded Update!

I didn’t expect to see myself in the finished product because I was in deep background throughout most of the shoot, so I’m not surprised I landed on the cutting room floor. (Actually, there’s even a chance I was so deep that I wasn’t in frame at all!) But I am a little surprised that my car got in the movie twice.

Once, yeah, I’d seen it when the movie came out, but the second, super blurry time was a surprise. There were only a few of us there and once again, my car was in the back. I’m actually behind the person wearing the big hat. I just wasn’t meant to personally appear on screen in this movie, I guess!

Superhero

This was the second time I was called to Universal Studios for a car call. I’ve driven on the lot before (Desperate Housewives, Serenity), but when I’m booked with a car, for some reason strange things happen. For instance, on Where The Truth Lies, I almost drove through the stretch of road where the Red Sea parts!

On this movie, I was booked with my ’06 Mustang just like on G-Force. Yeah, lots of car calls lately. I dunno why, either. It seems to go in waves.

I ended up following a production truck onto the lot, so I didn’t accidentally drive to the Red Sea again. And to be honest, after parking on New York Street, checking in, going through wardrobe, I was still bummed that I missed the Red Sea! ‘Cause this time, if I’d’ve accidentally landed at that path again, I’d’ve totally driven through. That’s one of the things I wished I’d done. Oh well. Better luck next time. This was only a 1-day call.

I’m honestly not sure how it happened, but I didn’t work the whole day. I missed the first setup because I was in my car. I tried to be in the next one, but the camera guys said not to bother with the foreground crosses because the camera couldn’t see them. After that, I stayed near the AD, but somehow never got used. Yeah, I was sitting in doorways, up steps, but not because I was hiding. I was just trying to stay out of the sun. If I’d’ve been asked to jump in the scene, I’d’ve so totally done it.

Anyway, I ended up finishing Terry Jones’ Medieval Lives and starting another called Medieval Times. Sensing a theme perhaps? Terry Jones is an amazing writer. I love his stuff. It’s the best non-fiction to have on set because I don’t think he could write dryly even if he tried!

The other book is also well done. I got almost half way through! Off the top of my head, though, I can’t remember the author. The book was first printed in 1968 and surprisingly isn’t dry. There’s not much worse than trying to read dry non-fiction while on set. It makes staring off into boredom space preferable to reading the words.

My car might’ve actually made it in frame. At the top of the day, they had me pull it out because that was where they wanted the camera. It wasn’t until after lunch that they wanted my car back on the street.

Speaking of lunch… I dunno why, but it was really, really good! Herbed potatoes, breadsticks with baked-on cheese and my favorite rare steak with chimichuri. I think mostly, it was just that everything was cooked how I like it, using ingredients I like over most others, etc. that kind of thing. Everything was food I’d already had, just not on set. I didn’t even touch the salad bar or the dessert bar because I was enjoying the steak and potatoes so much. There was also fish and chicken available, but I wanted steak. The chimichuri was so good I looked up a recipe on my iPhone so I can make some at home.

Strange little day I had… From the not hardly working, to so much reading, to the awesome lunch…

What? You say I mentioned having an odd driving experience at the beginning of this and then never got back to it?

Well… The whole day, I was bummed that I’d missed the Red Sea, but it wasn’t like I was going to go try and drive through it at the end of the day. The trams were running and plus, there was still a lot of light and I didn’t want to get in trouble.

In fact, I was parked on a small block that the trams passed right by as they went in and out of the King Kong stage. After studying the map, I planned out the best way to get off the lot.

And at the first intersection screwed up which right turn I was supposed to take.

I drove past more stages…offices…shops…through the golf cart depot tunnel thingie…and eventually, the asphalt became reddish cement. And there was a trashcan–the kind you push the swinging door open and then put your tray on top of. And there was a maze of metal pipes.

Like the kind for standing in line for a ride!

OH SHIT! I was about to drive into the theme park itself! Gah!

I threw the car into reverse and backed outta there so fast! I didn’t get in trouble because only one preoccupied guy in a golf cart saw me, but I was terrified.

I did, finally, find the road I was supposed to’ve taken and then got myself off the lot. Whew!

There’s just something about the Universal Lot and me having car calls on it. I can’t even begin to imagine what’s gonnna happen next time…

CSI Miami

I dread “upscale” gigs with my Viper. I absolutely dread them. I may have an upscale car, but I am very far from being an upscale person. I can eek out hip and trendy or business casual, but upscale makes me very nervous.

And apparently, on this particular show, they needed everyone in yellow, green or white… Three colors I just don’t own. The only green I’m inclined to wear on a regular basis is camoflage. The only yellow I have are three car T-shirts and an electric yellow, long skirt suit from 1986–with shoulder pads like a football player. And white…well, I’ve got tons of T-shirts and a few ugly, draping polyester dresses from the late 70s-early 80s. (Think Falcon Crest…Dallas…Dynasty…yeah, eww is right!)  So, when I had to come up with something for this gig, I was utterly terrified and lacked a helluva lot of confidence in what I was wearing let alone what I brought and I just really felt like the gods were conspiring against me.

But the casting director said production was more interested in our cars than in us…so maybe I wouldn’t get yelled at by wardrobe, hair and makeup people for not having what the call required. Good golly, I was hoping so…

I showed up. I parked. We all waited for awhile. We moved our cars. We lined up so the director could pick and choose who was going to walk through frame. (I silently did cartwheels in my head because I knew I wasn’t going to be used. I didn’t look anything like the other people there.) I of course wasn’t chosen, but they loved my car. We moved our cars again and they wanted my Viper right in front. We ate.

After lunch, the Director, AD (Assistant Director) and DP (Director of Photography) were so excited about my car (some of the crew even thought it was a production vehicle, not a background car!) that they had me put it in a different spot so they could do this really great dolly shot along the side of it.

I love it when whatever car I bring inspires the production guys. I absolutely love it. Of course, that means my car can never be seen again because it got a close-up, but whatever. It’s always fun to see the guys get excited. “Can you put your car over here and I’m gonna do this dolly shot and sweep up from here so we can see your car there and be able to get all this other stuff in frame and it’s gonna look really neat and thank you for bringing it because this is gonna be awesome…”

Of course, that’s always the first shot of the day and my car gets to be in deep background the rest of the day. Not that I’m complaining. I just see a pattern and think it’s a blessing and a curse every time it happens.

So, needless to say, after moving my car out of frame for the second shot, all I did was sit in holding and read a great book about Medieval life. I got about half way through it because it was so awesome I didn’t want to put it down.

Next, we were signed out and I went home…taking somewhat of a long way because I’d seen my fair share of traffic this past week and didn’t want to sit in any more even if that meant circumnavigating the globe to get home. Plus, I was in a friggin’ Viper. It doesn’t do 5mph willingly!

G-Force

I just got off of a movie called G-Force. I saw some awesome driving stunts, a simulated hamster and got to spend a few days overlooking the Port of Los Angeles. Not half bad, but it felt very, very long. I mean, like, super long. Sure, 12 hour days are never short, but I think I prefer a day or two rather than four in a row on any show to break up the monotony.

It took an hour to get to the location for a 6AM call time. Going in, I knew it’d make for a long ride home because when I’m on a car call, that means we only work during daylight hours if we’re called in that early. I was working with my ’06 Mustang on this one.

The first day, I spent many hours in holding. Over the course of this gig, I read an entire book about Medieval Seige Warfare. Not half bad, but also a little dry–which makes any book the wrong book to have on set. But it was what I had in my bag, so I did enjoy it between conversations with other extras.

Something odd about this gig was that the set was about 5 blocks long and holding was on one end rather than in the middle. And we were on a rather steep hill…one of the blocks reminded me of a non-crooked version of Lombard St. in San Francisco. It wasn’t quite that steep, but after the third time walking up it…you get the picture. Thankfully, when I did have to walk up and down it during the shot, I didn’t have to go far. The SUVs in were hauling ass, doing stunts in the street, so the most I could travel was about 20-30 feet during any given take.

I got to drive a little on one of the days. That was nice. I always enjoy driving.

Watching the stunts was fun, too. One had an SUV coming down the hill, going around a car, as another SUV came around a corner, cutting off the car and following the first SUV as it swerved around another SUV while yet another SUV came around another corner and joined the fray. Lots of squealing tires and good, fun automotive mayhem. I heard the drivers came within inches of a few of the vehicles…cool! I dig that shit.

I missed the big stunt on one of the other days because I was forgotten in holding. I heard it didn’t go off as planned, though. A little too much ramp and the SUV exchanged the intended target for an unintended target. There wasn’t any massive carnage or anything and it looked great on camera, but it wasn’t what the script required so they had to do it again.

That one I got to see. The SUV went up the ramps and landed on an old RV, shattering it. Awesome shit for me. I’ve seen a few other similar stunts, but it had been quite awhile. I’m always amazed at the prep time before and after a shot like that, too. It seemed to take forever, but was, of course warranted. I mean, if I was anywhere involved in the action, I’d want to make sure everything was right, wouldn’t you?

I just realized that I mentioned the hamster in the beginning and never got back to it. Well, I’d snuck a peek at the story board on the first day. Apparently, we were filming some sort of car chase between a CG hamster in a giant motor-propelled (I think…it was hard to tell how it was propelled because it looked like the hamster was driving it, not running in it) ball. It looked really bitchin’ on the story board. I definitely want to see this movie when it comes out just so I can put together all the pieces of the shots I was part of and see what we were actually doing. I had my back to the action on several occasions.

Sometimes, to simulate the hamster, they used this weird home-made-looking car-like contraption that I can’t even begin to describe and do it justice. It was kinda like a go-cart, kinda like a dirt track car, kinda like a “hey guys, I got some metal and an engine, let’s build a kickass-fast race-buggy” sort of thing. It was really nifty and I’ve never seen anything like it.

I’ve never worked in a scene where heavy CG stuff was going to be added later. (I didn’t work with Doc Oc when I was on Spiderman II.) So, when they brought out the sort of camera tester balls of various materials plus the ones with various furs on them, at first I didn’t make the connection. That was what made me try to steal a glance at the story board. The weird car, the groups of balls, just what the hell kind of show was I on? Then, everything made sense and I started really diggin’ it and wondering what it’d be like from the CG animators point of view when the footage landed in the queue. I’ve never been on that side of it, nor had I thought about it before. Fascinatin’ shit to me…

The weather was odd. The first two days had hot sun (thank goodness for the sunblock in my generic survival kit in my gig bag) with icy cold sea breeze. The next day was miserable hot sun with no breeze…and then rain. We went home “early”–about an hour earlier than the previous days–and it took me two-and-a-half hours to crawl home because it was Friday night, too. That sucked. The last day was perfect. Warm, but not hot. The breeze was cool, but not freezing. I wish more shoots could be like that.

I doubt I made it into the movie. Us extras were mostly just little blurs of movement on the sidewalks. When I rent the DVD, I’ll have to freeze-frame it to maybe see myself. There’s a pretty good chance of seeing my car, though. The camera was right next to it in one of the shots, so maybe they were using the row of cars parked there. That’d be good enough for me.

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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