Leatherheads - No Biz Like Show Biz - Day Five

This turned out to be a long and interesting day. Renée Z. arrived and we went over some of the scenes from yesterday that had been set up with her stand-in.

Renée is a very gracious, sweet, woman. She immediately came over to me, introduced herself, and made me feel very comfortable. (As an aside, bear in mind, I'm a minor player working with a top-notch cast of players. Very nerve-wracking trying not to screw up!) She loved my dress as much as I did and, when I jokingly said I'd love to keep it, offered to hold down one of the crew members while I made a bolt for the door! It truly is a beautiful dress and one of the few costumes I'm going to miss when this is over.

Pictures for My Scrapbook, Not for Wide Distribution

First of all, what I didn't know was that folks had been told that they couldn't have any cameras on set. I have always taken pictures of fellow cast mates, during productions, and didn't give having my camera with me a second thought.

With only one more day (I thought) of filming my scene, it was a day to collect pictures. What I didn't do was hassle the actors, merely let them know I was interested in having a photo when, and if, there was some free time. They not only graciously agreed but I told them to choose their most convenient time, and let them come after me. So, today, I got everyone but GC's, and will get one, for sure, before I leave, tomorrow. Thank the Lord, because my camera ran out of memory and I needed to upload some of the pictures before I could do it.

It's Only Make Believe, Or, Is It?

The neatest thing to watch was the imitation rain. If you didn't know it was done with a machine, you would have thought it was pouring outside, complete with darkened sky at a full downpour. But, just by peeking right at the edge of the window you could look a little further beyond the rain and see the blue sky, white, puffy, clouds and sunshine.

George is a meticulous director and has been very kind and supportive of me. I seriously doubt that he'd been told what that crew member said to me on my first day but he took the time to tell me that I did exactly what he wanted in my scene. A great way to finish the day! Tomorrow is supposed to be the day for shooting my scene on the secretarial side of the door, so that should be fun.

While waiting around, I ran into an actor I've seen many times at auditions in North Carolina and discovered she is the stand-in for Renée Zellweger. Since she didn't make it through the auditions for a part, she decided to try for the stand-in role, and has been on set for the whole run of the film, making some very nice change.

Hidden Talents of Cast and Crew

One of the extras on set makes a living as the Balloon Man! He can create almost anything with those long, thin, balloons and was filling his time with sharing his craft. And, my driver to and from the Hampton Inn is a young woman with a wonderful photographic gift. Her name is Christie Chaplin and she shared her award-winning photos of wild birds with me. A hobby she picked up after the death of her mother, two years ago, she discovered she had an exquisite eye for getting just the right pose.

She gave me a packet of her notecards and I told her she needed to get these out to the public. Told her about Cafepress.com and hope she follows through with getting her work online. So, if you find them, you heard it here, first.

I've been amusing myself with frame knitting and managed to get a good stiff neck from staying too close to the a/c. Renee was really taken with the craft and thought it was a great time-filler. Since you can't drop stitches, it's very easy to put down, as soon as you're needed. And, it's very compact to carry around.

Well, they ended up calling the medic over and he gave me some Ibuprofen. Once he left, a crew member came over and gave me a pressure massage that immediately alleviated the problem. The folks in make-up gave me a small jar of Tiger Balm, something very close to the old-fashioned Heet lotion. The combination worked, very well. When it was time for my scene, I was totally relaxed. I couldn't even feel my feet -- but, that's another problem.

I'm sure, if I had done a survey, there would have been all types of fascinating interests that filled the lives of the crew.

Had a very nice dinner with some folks from wardrobe, who were also staying at the Hamilton Inn, and then decided to make it an early night to feel fresh for the 6:15 morning pick-up.