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Monday November 18th, 1996
Local shoot
While at my then temp day-job I received a call from my mother that she was doing some extra work again the next three days.
Learning the possibility existed of my inclusion, I called Sylvia Fay's NYC office and got onto their casting list for the local
In & Out
filming just over in Pompton Lakes.
What was to be three days wonderfully stretched into about three weeks.
In the graduation scene, I am in the seventh row, dead center, directly behind the green robed graduates.
I am quite visible over the shoulders of Jack
(played by
Shawn Wayne Hatosy)
and Vicky
(played by the redheaded
Lauren Ambrose),
as they each pretend to profess to be gay.
Originally scheduled for a June 13, 1997 release, the Paramount Pictures film comedy
In & Out
opened in October, 1997, starring
Kevin Klein,
Matt Dillon,
Tom Selleck,
Debbie Reynolds,
Bob Newhart,
Wilford Brimley
and
Joan Cusack
(who would win the Academy Award for her role).
Directed by muppeteer
Frank Oz,
I spent ten working days working on the climactic graduation scene
(a partial clip of which would be shown at least twice in the feature documentary Strictly Background).
What happened was that most of the Los Angeles based actors neglected to take into account that in northern New Jersey it can get really cold in November.
Few if any of them were prepared for it, and a bout of colds and flu swept the principal cast.
There would be days that we would show up for our 8am'ish calltimes, and be signed out at 10am as they weren't able to film that day.
Frank Oz was a brilliant director, and very open with the background, between takes often explaining to us what they were doing; why a camera lens change would alter the shot and angle, etc.
During other times at which having us in the auditorium seats was easier than returning us to holding and then bringing us back, Debbie Reynolds spontaneously would sing for us, as occasionally would Wilford Brimley (although his repertoire only consisted of Rainbow Connection and It's Not Easy Being Green).
Occasionally impromptu Q&As with the principal cast was held: at the time the major spokesperson for Quaker Oats, Brimley was asked what was his favourite flavour of oatmeal.
Into the hand held mic
Wilford Brimley simply growled back, "Yes..."
Kevin Kline also demonstrated his behind-the-scenes, between-takes humour.
At one point as Frank Oz was speaking to us from the stage, he noticed our laughter.
He glanced down to see at the foot of the stage Kevin Kline, reclining on his side on the hardwood floor, as though pretending to be on a Roman sofa, being fed grapes by invisible women.
"You don't understand," Oz relayed to the audience with wry humour, pointing down at Kline.
"I have to deal with this sort of thing every day..."
A few years later Kline would similar demonstrate his humour again on the set of
Wild Wild West...
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October, 1997
An appreciative crowd becomes an angered mob
With my then-girlfriend we attended the opening Friday night prime time showing of In & Out.
The house was packed: both with those many who worked background, family and friends thereof, or people merely aware if was shot locally.
Predictably, with the opening title shot with stately Pompton Lakes High School as the background, the entire audience erupted into cheers.
Throughout the entire feature the entire audience loved the film, genuinely laughing at all the right spots, and occasional gasps of recognitions whether it be the location or specific backgrounder/s.
Thrilled, my girlfriend spotted me right away in the graduation scene.
My main issue with the film was its omission of Kevin Kline's heart-felt, moving powerfully-written acceptance speech, which had me in tears every take he delivered it.
In the film it just jump cuts to his embracing Bob Newhart.
And the audience all stayed to watch the ending credits.
And the credits crawl progressed, the audience began to get uneasy.
One could feel the air begin to bristle with concern, slowly becoming anger.
It was becoming very very obvious... that Pompton Lakes High School was not going to be mentioned... and it wasn't.
In the Thanks To portion, there was not even a mention of New Jersey, let alone any mention of Riverdale, Pompton Lakes, or even the New Jersey Film Commission.
The glaring omission seemed to be a slap in the face to the majority in the audience, an aspect I couldn't help but find greatly amusing: here were hundreds of people, all of whom loved the movie... now almost uniformly booing and hissing the screen!
What had changed?
The film had still been funny; the producers just chose not to give some credit to where credit was due.
We were there, we knew it'd been filmed and where.
But to my great entertainment, the audience was just shy of getting out torches and pitchforks...
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