Tuesday, September 28, 2004
I'm doing extra work on a big hollywood mooooovie right here in 'New Jersey' aka The Shelbourne Greyhound Stadium, Dublin. Many hilarious tales of background manoeuverings could be told but first please let me get some sleep. The Girl with the one track minge is not exaggerating, not about her work anyway, which adds credibility to the whole package, no? For the crew it can be a 16 hour day, every day. How does a director sleep at night? I am going to examine this one further.
Yet I have to stay awake long enough to write this down...
The Scene: A big party in Noo Joizy, 200 guests plus the 3 protagonists. They have spent something like 26 hours filming this from various angles and we, the 200 extras, all have tightly choreographed movements and mimes to perform. When you see a film with a party scene, you've probably noticed the wildly overgesturing ugly people in the background who clearly don't know eachother from admen. Some take it for what it is - a bit of fun, boredom and very little money. Others take it very, very seriously and many have successfully and tragically managed to confuse themselves with big fucking famous movie stars. I've been entertained by a perpetual public display of poncing, swanning and clicquing that would rival any fashion show, with the added bonus that all these mini-divas are genuine nobodies. But a rarer and more amusing breed are those who literally don't give a fuck about what they're doing. They haven't heard of Continuity and may possibly not have ever seen a film. I spend all of tonight standing by a table mouthing silent, increasingly spiteful phrases to this real Rico Suave who is sitting down in front of me trying desperately to get his face into shot. I call him a prick at least 100 times to his face and it's still not enough. Over to my left are three Dubliners, all of a previous generation. They too spend all night there, in shot, right by some of the vital action. But for the last setup of the 'night', by which I mean it started shooting around 5am, one of the guys has come over to join me. He's late-50's, very distinctive looking and smartly-dressed by the excellent wardrobe staff. We are out of shot for this now, but where he should be standing is most definitely in shot. So I ask him this question:
"Where's your first position?"
"Oh it's right over here where i'm standing now", he replies
"You weren't standing over there before?"
"ah well I was for a while, yes... but you see now, I'd rather not be on camera to be honest"
I am intrigued. "Why not? That's what we're here for"
He replied "Sure but I'm not really supposed to be working, you know what I mean? I could get into a lot of trouble if anybody sees me"
I am desperate to laugh and he just continues away
"I hope this thing don't come out in Ireland. I hope it doesn't get released at all. I really can't be seen"
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Yet I have to stay awake long enough to write this down...
The Scene: A big party in Noo Joizy, 200 guests plus the 3 protagonists. They have spent something like 26 hours filming this from various angles and we, the 200 extras, all have tightly choreographed movements and mimes to perform. When you see a film with a party scene, you've probably noticed the wildly overgesturing ugly people in the background who clearly don't know eachother from admen. Some take it for what it is - a bit of fun, boredom and very little money. Others take it very, very seriously and many have successfully and tragically managed to confuse themselves with big fucking famous movie stars. I've been entertained by a perpetual public display of poncing, swanning and clicquing that would rival any fashion show, with the added bonus that all these mini-divas are genuine nobodies. But a rarer and more amusing breed are those who literally don't give a fuck about what they're doing. They haven't heard of Continuity and may possibly not have ever seen a film. I spend all of tonight standing by a table mouthing silent, increasingly spiteful phrases to this real Rico Suave who is sitting down in front of me trying desperately to get his face into shot. I call him a prick at least 100 times to his face and it's still not enough. Over to my left are three Dubliners, all of a previous generation. They too spend all night there, in shot, right by some of the vital action. But for the last setup of the 'night', by which I mean it started shooting around 5am, one of the guys has come over to join me. He's late-50's, very distinctive looking and smartly-dressed by the excellent wardrobe staff. We are out of shot for this now, but where he should be standing is most definitely in shot. So I ask him this question:
"Where's your first position?"
"Oh it's right over here where i'm standing now", he replies
"You weren't standing over there before?"
"ah well I was for a while, yes... but you see now, I'd rather not be on camera to be honest"
I am intrigued. "Why not? That's what we're here for"
He replied "Sure but I'm not really supposed to be working, you know what I mean? I could get into a lot of trouble if anybody sees me"
I am desperate to laugh and he just continues away
"I hope this thing don't come out in Ireland. I hope it doesn't get released at all. I really can't be seen"
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