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Wednesday March 14, 2011
Credit
I had submitted to this project a week or so earlier, given the impression via the posting that it would be on a specific date that eventually passed.
I got a call from
Nate Saucier,
offering me the day's work for Wednesday.
We discussed it and I checked to make sure I could find a way to the Cerritos location by public transit.
Fortunately it was do'able, the third leg dropping me
right at the door,
as it were.
The real trick was getting home.
Nate said the shoot day would be until "about 8 o'clock, possibly later."
It was still do'able, even if I was there until late.
I arrived at 12:40pm for the 1pm calltime, and we were brought in to one of the hotel's meeting rooms beyond one of the meeting room with a bar.
Apart from Nate, during the day I chatted with
Fred Mays,
Alonzo Spigner,
Barbara Pergament,
and
John Thomson,
who founded the
Buffalo Wild Wings
restaurants.
Alonzo offered to drive me back north when we wrapped as it was clear we'd wrap late, but during the Retirement Party scene I was paired with retired teacher
Frank Borgia,
who on hearing my taking public transit and how close to each other we lived, offered me a ride back, which worked out as Alonzo's scene was finished and he was wrapped and he departed.
While one of the leads in the project was
Sendhil Ramamurthy,
he'd been picture wrapped a day or two earlier.
Today the principals were veteran actors
Roshan Seth
and
Michael Lerner.
I was placed at his table for his character David's retirement party.
He took one look at me, pointed and declared,
"Wally Cox!"
(with whom Michael had worked years earlier).
I told him it'd not been since my childhood to hear that reference, but, taking off my glasses, did remark that I had
photo doubled
for
David Paymer,
with whom Michael replied he'd also worked, but he said David no longer acts, that he just directs.
I pointed out it was
one 2006 TV episode;
I did forget to mention having seen David in the 2009 horror film
Drag Me to Hell,
unaware at the time that David had done even more acting work since then.
This indie project being a SAG Modified Low Budget, this turned out to be an unpaid gig, but, we were all assured we'd be receiving
IMDB credit.
A background actor whose name I probably should know but don't, has been in a few projects on which I've worked including but not limited to
Inherit the Wind
and
Frost/Nixon.
I spot him in things now then such as an episode or three of
My Name is Earl,
and there's never been any missing him when he's on screen: he was always portly, with
(bottled)
reddish hair, and massive Buddha ears than nearly were the same height as his head.
Yet each time I see him, maybe after a year or so, he seems to have aged ten years.
He showed up for this shoot utterly emaciated, his skin stretched across his skull like bleached parchment, his hair bone white...
but his face was just recognizable, and his now-pale ears were still massive.
Once we'd been brought in to the main Holding Area, he clarified with Nate whether this was a non-paying gig, and upon learning that that was the case, with quiet but firm unprofessionalism, he departed, bailing on the project.
Three scenes were filmed, one with the two principals meeting at a conference, speaking together on the outdoor hotel patio, and the retirement party.
Apart from the retirement party, I sit in the background on the patio, possibly seen as they were between me and the camera, but I was on one of those High Chair type seats with tall tables, so the framing could cut off my head.
Nate confirmed what I thought I'd heard, that
Yoshi Tsuji
(who easily could have been mistaken as a 1st or 2nd A.D., considering his dashing about rearranging the background),
was the project's
producer.
At the end of the day I did not get a chance to interact again with Michael Lerner; I'd have liked to have gotten a photo with him,
as well as Roshan Seth, considering the Nerd Factor of his having been in
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
Frank Borgia and I headed out after we wrapped around 11:30pm (!), and we got back to Hollywood just about midnight.
Currently the project is hoped to be shown at Sundance, meaning in 2013, so it may be bought and distributed... or not.
Time will tell.
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