Another brush with "stardom"

P

Priscilla

Guest
We got the call to be in another scene on Tuesday night. This time we had to report to the Glenmont Metro station. Base camp was in an adjacent church. Our call time was for 7:45pm - yes, another night shoot. I had a hunch that this was not going to be an all nighter simply because they did not offer a meal upon our arrival. It's not because we are that special but union rules have meal requirements in them based on the shoot times, etc. They offered snacks and drinks as usual. After lots of confusion, we were sent from the holding area in the church to the set (Glenmont Metro station). There we boarded a special Metro train that had been rented by the production company for the night. We loaded two train cars dressed as commuters, business people and tourists. Unfortunately, we were in the second car. The first car of the train had the camera and Ben Affleck in it as well as the lucky extras who stand a chance of being in that scene. So from about 9:30 to midnight the train did nothing but start and stop over and over as the camera operator filmed and re-filmed the scene of the train coming to a sudden stop and the Metro operator saying his line, "Ladies and gentlemen, the system is experiencing an emergency shutdown due to a body on the track". Around midnight we took a break and then re-assembled on the Metro platform again. This time everyone was placed on the platform as if expecting an incoming train; the camera was mounted at platform or foot level (what, they are only going to show us from the knees down?) on the front of the train and the train was run into the station for the next hour and a half until the director thought he got his shot and the crew called "Wrap". As an interesting aside, cybermom and my cyber pal-dad were on car number two, cyber daughter was placed on car number one and was close to the camera during the early part of the shoot. After what seemed like forever, cyber daughter was tired and sleepy. At a lull in the "action" she turned to the man who had been standing next to her for the last hour or so and said, "Wow, this sure is long and tiring. You look pretty tired yourself." The man just looked at her and said, "You don't know the half of it. I've been here all day and I am tired." Turned out the man was Ben Affleck. So maybe beginners luck will ensure cyber daughter will get a second or two of exposure in the finished film.
 
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