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My Gun
by JAPOV - 02/17/25 03:53 PM
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Joined: Jan 2002
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Well, we did so well yesterday shooting that we finished in a single day. So, I'm home a day early and as promised, I'm filling all of you folks in on my experience shooting a speaking role in the upcoming feature film, This Side of The Truth with Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner. See this link for more info on the movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1105299/It was such an amazingly fun experience and I'm still riding high from it. Can't wait to do the next one!!! So, my day began at 5am when I woke to get ready for my 6:30am call. Ugh. I'm a night person, so this was a stretch ....lol ...but whatever it took.... I had booked a hotel room for the night before, so I was already in the Lowell, MA area where the movie was being filmed. (my home is over 2 hours away) So, I arrived then at the off set parking location. We were to be shuttled from there to the set. There was a small bus parked at the edge of the lot so I went over and was going to board when the driver asked if I was an extra. I said no, that I had lines and he pointed me to a small vehicle that was to the side. I was driven over immediately by the driver. I was like...Ok...'wow' I get to set and am met by a lovely PA who took care of me all day. She introduced me around to the staff and showed me to my trailer. MY TRAILER!!!!....lol... OK, so I got the hugest kick out of my treatment on set. I felt like a celeb. The whole staff made me feel special and pampered all day. And you know, when I got to set, because of this, I felt so strong and confident, which those of you who are performers know is the key to everything. Special thank you here to all the crew on staff who made this happen. My private heated space on a really frosty New England morning was especially welcome. I gazed at the over 200 extras huddling in little changing tents and standing in line for access to their three chemical port-a-potties and really appreciated the difference in my position. In my trailer, I found my wardrobe already hanging, some paperwork to fill out and a call sheet with the day's schedule and other information on it. My PA suggested I go over to craft services for breakfast and then eventually make my way to hair and makeup. So I went over and had some cereal. Amazing spread. Really almost anything you could think of for breakfast. I was met there by one of the AD's named, Bagel..yup Bagel.... and he showed me to makeup and hair after I finished eating. It was really funny. I felt like I was under surveillance all day. Anytime I left my trailer, someone would radio around that I had 'left my trailer'. When I arrived at makeup, it was announced that I was in makeup...."she's leaving makeup now and headed to her trailer"...lol.... quite amusing. I had some down time before I had to go to set, so I hung in my trailer, rested and looked over my lines again. We got called to set about 9:30 or so and shot the big crowd scenes first. The setting was the outside of an apartment building. It was so funny to see the residents of the building watching from their windows all day...and all the neighbors hanging out on balconies and in their yards checking out the 'show'. It's got to be the biggest thing to hit their little street ever! Ricky had already filmed his angle another day, so we spent time matching our positions to the angles he had used when he set his geography. He gave us cues and coached the crowd on specific kinds of reactions and movements. His co-director and the cinematographier gave occasional direction as well. Ricky's a hysterical guy and when he broke up on set a couple of times it was a trip. He's British and it was usually something kind of odd and quirky that would get him going. After the big scenes, we did some closer crowd reaction shots, then moved on to Jennifer's and Louis CK's close ups and so they could dismiss them before lunch. Most shots were completed in just one or two takes. Then we broke for lunch. I ate in the 'better' catering area for principals and crew. Great food again.... huge spread... pork loin, salmon, grilled chicken, veggie chili, salad bar, desserts, etc..... I ate lunch at a table with one of the makeup guys who worked on the last two "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies and got to hear some funny inside anecdotes from filming. (FYI: Apparently Depp has signed on for at least one more). After lunch I got a refresh from hair and makeup and went back to set to continue filming the close ups. Got to my part. Felt really good about it. I made Ricky chuckle at one of my reaction shots...so that was cool. When we took a break so they could set the next shot, a little while later, I got a lot of compliments from the other actors. I always take compliments with a grain of salt, but when they accumulated a bit like that, it gave me some confidence that I had done pretty well. But I guess you can all be the judge of that when the movie comes out in 2009....lol.. One actor, whose work I admired, was behind the monitors during my takes and he said they looked really good. Since many of you are performers, you might understand this..... sometimes when you perform, there's this reaction after you play from the people who saw you that tells you that things went well.... a certain starry eyed-ness in their expressions??? A respect in the voice?? Anyway, that happened with my makeup girl and a couple of the crew members. She came up to me particularly right after I shot and said "tomorrow when you come don't bother to wait in any lines... you just come right to my station." She didn't say this to anyone else. And later before I left I saw her again and told her that I wasn't called for tomorrow, she looked disappointed and just started gushing about how well she thought I did. So, I guess my point is... I don't think I sucked...lol Some other cool stuff... I stood about 3 feet away from Jennifer at one point. She was standing outside my door. She's very pretty and really really skinny. I met one of the head honchos of the Boston Chapter of SAG who was another principal actor that day and got some cool info on my soon to be Union status. She seemed pretty impressed that I had booked TWO such high profile gigs back to back (I'm also booked for the new Bruce Willis movie - shooting in July) and talked me up for the rest of the day with the other union members as 'our new member who's really up and coming".. not a bad thing to have spread around the union office I suppose. Also I got to chat with a bunch of other area actors and pick their brains a bit about the Boston scene. Super informative and useful. On my drive home, I felt exhausted and completely totally grateful and fulfilled. It was really one of the best days of my life. I'm an actor. I'm not wrong in thinking I can do this. I just got paid more for this one day's work than I've ever been paid for a single day doing anything else in my life. I got to this level and delivered with my head held high. Today, for this moment, I can say 'all is right with my world"! (Thanks for reading this long winded, indulgent, self congratulating diary...lol) I'd like to offer to anyone out there who's frustrated with their dreams and is impatient with the world to deliver the opportunities you know you're ripe for..... sometimes life makes us wait for what we want, but if we're persistent and keep with it the rewards can come. Life cycles up and down and when it's down, sometimes it seems really really hopeless and bleak. But, really, just keep going...what else are you gonna do? Cuz' it is possible to cycle back around and be able to say... "all is right with my world". Peace love and all that other good stuff to you all!!!!! See you at the movies! Christine
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Joined: May 2003
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BIG smile for you Christine. Wow...I hope it's onward and upward for you, but just enjoying that day will be a great memory (and one that's etched in film)...You even have proof ! LOL...Thanks for not forgetting about us "little" people ! !
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Joined: Apr 2001
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Great story Christine! Thanks for sharing. I can't wait to see you on the big screen and you're going to be in 2 movies I actually would be interested in seeing in the first place (which is a victory by itself!). Perhaps we should have a big Movie Premiere in Plymouth, MA? = )
Brian
Brian Austin Whitney Founder Just Plain Folks jpfolkspro@gmail.com Skype: Brian Austin Whitney Facebook: www.facebook.com/justplainfolks"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney "It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..." -Brian Austin Whitney "Sometimes all you have to do to inspire humans to greatness is to give them a reason and opportunity to do something great." -Brian Austin Whitney
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Christine,
Whatta hoot! Whatta rush!! Whatta..Whatta...It's not often I'm left speechless...
Too Kewl...Congrats & thanks for sharing!
Midnite
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Christine, this is so cool. I didn't even know you were doing this. Did you post a link to this in the Success forum. Congratulations and let us know when the film comes out.
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Joined: May 2003
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Hey Chris, didn't you do the Bruce Willis movie after that one?
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Yes, I did. Thanks for asking Herbie. In late June, I did a role in 'The Surrogates' starring Bruce Willis and directed by Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3). It was really fun. I was supposed to shoot July 3, but my original scene in the movie was cut because Disney wanted to extend the action sequences - go figure! - but instead of just cutting me out too, the director found me something else to do. You'll have to wait til the very last scene of the movie though to see me...lol I had my own trailer again and they even had a 'stand in' for me so that I wouldn't have to go to set until the very last minute. I felt like such a celeb...lol. I didn't even know I had a stand-in until I went to lunch and ended up sitting at the same table with her by chance. When I got to set, I was brought over to Jonathan, he apologized profusely for cutting my original scene and said that he really wanted me in the film so he came up with this other thing to give me my 'moment' on screen. I'm very appreciative that he did. I later rode back to the valet parking area with the Assistant Director and he said that I must have made some kind of impression on the director in my audition because he was determined to keep me in the film. So, I guess that's cool. The only drawback to the day was that since my role was changed, the shoot day was changed and I ended up getting phoned only two days before the shoot with the info. The shoot was now on 6/21, the opening day of a 3 day arts festival for which I was responsible for booking 3 stages of entertainment and running the sound crew for the whole thing! Thankfully, all my ducks were in a row organizationally and everyone covered for me. I got to the fest just in time that night to breakdown the equipment....lol But the festival overall was a huge success and I'm thankful to my staff and volunteers for all their help that allowed me to do both. Right now, I'm doing my usual summer gig (my fourth year), managing a play development company on Cape Cod ( www.capecodtheatreproject.org). We present staged readings of brand new American plays and the playwrights are able, over the course of a week, to work with the actors and a director to rewrite the piece before it moves on to a full production. I'll also be reading the stage directions in our next production....'Reality!' written by Itamar Moses and Gaby Alter. It's our first musical at CCTP and it's a spoof of reality TV.
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Joined: Apr 2001
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Very cool Christine! Sorry your big previous scene was cut. I can't wait to see how you close out the movie!
Brian
Brian Austin Whitney Founder Just Plain Folks jpfolkspro@gmail.com Skype: Brian Austin Whitney Facebook: www.facebook.com/justplainfolks"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney "It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..." -Brian Austin Whitney "Sometimes all you have to do to inspire humans to greatness is to give them a reason and opportunity to do something great." -Brian Austin Whitney
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Me too ! ! Only the LAST scene? You're the girl he was DREAMING of, and he finally gets you at the end ! ! Oh, it must be weirder than that, since it's sci-fi..hhmmm....you already told me you aren't an alien woman with 4 breasts...OK, I'll have to see it.
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No Herbie, Bruce doesn't 'get me' at the end. My character emerges from her apartment to take in the 'brave new surrogate free world'. It's a post-armageddon-y thing.
My part in 'Truth' is bigger than this one and you won't have to wait til the end to see me....lol
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Hey Christine.. do you have a line in it? I look for you in teh credits listing but you're not there, even though what looks like very small parts are all listed.
Brian
Brian Austin Whitney Founder Just Plain Folks jpfolkspro@gmail.com Skype: Brian Austin Whitney Facebook: www.facebook.com/justplainfolks"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney "It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..." -Brian Austin Whitney "Sometimes all you have to do to inspire humans to greatness is to give them a reason and opportunity to do something great." -Brian Austin Whitney
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My lines were in the cut scene, so I didn't have any at the end, but I was still under a principal contract, so I believe I have to be listed in the credits. The movie is still shooting, so I'm sure whatever credits listing you're looking at is probably incomplete.
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I was just on IMDB which is sort of the bible for the general public for the movie industry. I am sure they'll adjust it when it's all final. I am guessing they must get their lists from the film makers or union though as they often have fairly complete and up to date info on movies in production there.
Brian
Brian Austin Whitney Founder Just Plain Folks jpfolkspro@gmail.com Skype: Brian Austin Whitney Facebook: www.facebook.com/justplainfolks"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney "It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..." -Brian Austin Whitney "Sometimes all you have to do to inspire humans to greatness is to give them a reason and opportunity to do something great." -Brian Austin Whitney
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