P
Priscilla
Guest
So hubby and I get a call to be extras for a Russell Crowe/Ben Affleck movie called “State of Play.†It is based on the British miniseries of the same name for which I HIGHLY recommend a rental. We are told to report for some filming in a Metro tunnel. We are told to dress warmly, as we will be filming all night. On we don our long underwear, hiking socks, sweaters, etc., under our business suits. We report to base camp (a church) at 7:30 p.m. on a Saturday night, having no idea at the time that we will be filming until after 9:00 the next morning. While in the check in line we see a cyberpal from a travel bulletin board I have been frequenting for years, and his cyber wife and cyber daughter. Wardrobe tells me that the honey-colored sweater I am wearing under my suit jacket might appear to be a wee bit too much décolletage from a distance, so I fish in my backpack for a navy turtleneck. Off we head to the platform. Hubby is to be putting money in the fare card machine, and I am to be waiting for a train during the first setup. The featured actress, who is to become an early victim in this political thriller, enters the tunnel to her doom. Over and over, and over and over. After a while, my nearly empty backpack seems to be filled with bricks, and my whole body is protesting mightily about standing still. Oh how I wish to move. Be careful what you wish for. We next are assigned to walk up and down the escalators. Yes, the key word in that sentence is WALK, not RIDE. Do you have any idea how steep an escalator seems when someone yells “reset!†and you have to walk all the way up to the top of a stopped escalator to the entrance of the station to begin that scene again? Cyber family was positioned close to the featured actress, and will at least be rewarded with probably showing up in the film for their efforts. Self-pity, self-pity. During this time Hubby was approached by some curious real Metro riders and asked what was going on. He had to pose for the paparazzi when he explained he was “starring†in a movie. On and on we went up and down that escalator, until the station closed to the public, and they could send it in forward and reverse just for US! After our meal break, they switched us to circulating around the station. Now we sure were getting some exercise, over and over and over. Thank goodness I had loaded some fresh music on my MP3 player, and at least had something to listen to to keep me awake and distract me from all the muscles which were whining about how tired they were. During this time the real dawn came up outside and they dimmed all the artificial daylight. I began to hope against hope that we would soon wrap, but no such luck. The station again opened to the public, and we again had to shoot around the real people and real trains. Finally that day’s shoot was over. While standing in line to check out, I reflected that here we all were in the chapel, saying our prayers to The Almighty that Sunday morning for having made it through the night.
