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Monday December 09, 2013
Overdue update: Missouri and London, et al
I have been remiss in keeping updated this report.
From Los Angeles via Denver I flew out to Springfield, Missouri on 11 November.
To my surprise, and possibly as the day before I'd gone to LAX and printed out my boarding passes, for some reason both boarding passes for LAX and DEN came up as
TSA Pre-Check,
meaning I was ushered right through without [much] inconvenience, at least not the full gamut of inconvenience.
This was only for the two eastbound flights; to Chicago and to London we had the full spectrum.
The RFID sleeves I'd bought, one for myself and one for Jeffery, set off the metal detectors in Chicago, and we got frisked, which was not as intrusive as I'd anticipated.
I'd thought the United 777 to Denver was a bit small, but the CRJ200 puddle-jumper from Denver to Springield made the first plane look like the space shuttle.
I was greeted at the cozily small Springfield airport by Jeffery and
Brad Ross
and we went to lunch, meeting
Rese Hall
and Sandy.
At the Wearhouse suit store, I met DP
Roger Jared's
girlfriend
Tiffany Sterling,
who was playing the store clerk who waits on me.
Jeffery had permission from Wearhouse corporate to film that eveninng, and we were expected.
As we progressed, Jeffery had a few workers there help out as background.
One of them, a pleasant fellow named
Alex Stompoly,
helped out most as it turned out he was an actor
(it also turned out he is a fellow Doctor Who fan).
The scene essentially was a montage, and by morning, Jeffery already had cut it together, showing it to me.
At first I thought the music had been done as a satire aspect, his having added Stayin' Alive to it, but while that was the initial idea, he decided he would see if he could acquire the rights to it as he felt it worked with the scene.
With what time we had we filmed my walking about at O'Hare Airport
(with a cool, neon-ceiling walkway),
and later when we arrived at Heathrow.
Aboard the plane, Jeffery almost had a run-in with the flight staff, but he had researched the laws regarding filming and they let him be.
It is Rese who hands me the newspaper and provides me my meal.
In the dark of night, they filmed
Jeffery walking down the airplane aisle, entering the loo
from which he vanishes.
Roger cameos as the next fellow entering the Now Empty restroom.
Understandably, the Chicago to London flight was considerable.
We arrived at Heathrow at around 8am, and filmed my going through the airport, and out to the waiting cabs.
We stayed at the
Radisson Blue
a block from Oxford Street, near
Marble Arch.
My room was about as big as the one in which I stayed in 1984.
We were not clustered together, in fact, none of us were on the same floor.
The hotel staff was exemplary, treating us as though they might treat royalty.
The concierge/s were also extremely helpful; Jeffery had requested a trustful black-cab driver.
They found one fellow who turned out to have a more modern conveyance, however, the same driver had a brother-in-law who had the classic Black Cab, so we were met by
John Secker,
who rather resembled my friend
Gary Helm.
John was very pleasant and did his part quite well, for one who's never officially acted.
Just as we were about to finish with the last shot, we spied a small Police Box, and while not regulation size
(I'd left home my print-out of actual Police Boxes, so while I was aware of one in London, I did not know that it was at
Earl's Court,
that one even specifically referenced in a
Doctor Who
episode),
we quickly pulled over for a
photo of me next to it.
When we had as much footage as was needed, John signed the released form and got paid
(above the meter rate),
and the rest of us went out to dinner, finding a
fantastic fish-and-chips shop
that was utterly delicious.
We also quickly disovered that everything in Britain
(particularly the meals),
is desperately expensive.
A pair of police came by and were nice enough to let a photo be taken of them by we silly usA tourists.
Later Jeffery jokingly photoshopped them to look as though they were arresting him.
An hour or so later while hiking around the somewhat nearby theater district, we came across a police station, so Roger took photos of the police van, and of Jeffery, so that Jeff would be photoshopping "inside" the van.
I was trying to locate
Forbidden Planet
without success, due to the labrythal layout of the streets.
The next day I had to myself; with an all-day Bus and Tube Pass, I knew I lacked the time to do everthing I wanted.
I found Forbidden Planet, then scooted over to
Parliment
in view of the
London Eye.
Shortly thereafter as I walked to the other side of Big Ben, where I came across Rese, Jeffery and Roger
filming.
Not surprisingly, Jeffery's elaborate outfit made for quite some crowd-gathering and
photo-taking
by passers-by.
From there I visited
Buckingham Palace
(as did they, after I'd left),
and the famous
King's Cross Station,
rather aghast, based on a recent
upgrading of the station in general,
that students to Hogwarts might find getting to
Platform 9 3/4
a bit more challenging.
When I got back to the hotel, Jeffery arrived a few minutes later, indicating they were about to head out in about an hour for more b-roll footage.
I asked him to call me as I went to my room and relaxed, eventually realizing he'd forgotten to call.
While it never really rained during our stay, that Friday evening came close, as drizzle struck as I tried to make it to
Sherlock Holmes'
domicile at
Baker Street.
I made it, but the unmoving queue made it clear I was not about to get in any time soon.
On the Red Line, this time I had to stop at each and get photos at
Sloane Square
and
South Kensington stations,
due to their reference within my favourite Gilbert and Sullivan
patter song.
We rose bright... well, we got up early, and headed back to Heathrow by Mickey, whose brother-in-law John was in our film.
As John was not available, Jeffery had asked for Mickey to keep it in the family, as it were.
As their 10am flight was called, I saw them off, my direct 10:30am to Los Angeles flight took off a little late, but caught good tail-wind and got to LA barely over eleven hours later.
The small screen notwithstanding
(and I seem always to get the armrest with the bad headset-jack),
I was able to see a few films, including but not limited to both JJ Abrams Star Trek films.
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