June 30, 2013
I was awake late Friday night...or to be exact....early Saturday morning....partly because I was still trying to cool down after the improv show earlier Friday night and partly because I was waiting for a phone call from my wife who was on her way to New Jersey.
I looked down at my phone and noticed that I had missed a call from about 12:45. I didn't recognize the number. I listened to message from the assistant to the casting director for Killing Kennedy.
I was instructed to respond to an email in regards to my availability for an 8:45 A.M. call time later that morning.
I of course responded with an enthusiastic "I'll be there."
Looks like I was heading back to Camelot.
Trick was, I had to get my sleep which was going to be near impossible seeing as my mind was racing.
I did finally manage to drift off. Luckily I had set two alarms and somewhere between 6AM and 6:11AM I awoke knowing in just an hour or two I would once again be on a movie set.
I would be playing a Carousel patron.
I had no idea what that meant. I didn't care. I was going to have one more chance to be on a movie set.
A movie set...a place where I was beginning to feel very at home.
You know the feeling?
The feeling you experience when you are doing something and you feel totally at ease. As if you're doing something you are supposed to be doing? That's what I am experiencing lately as I work on the set of Killing Kennedy.
It feels natural to be surrounded by the excitement-the hustle and bustle of a movie set. It feels good.
~
When I arrived on the set I headed over to base camp.
Not as glamorous as it sounds, actually. It's actually just a folding table and a young woman who is obviously not a morning person.
One by one all the extras starting filing in.
As it turns out The Carousel Club was the nightclub Jack Ruby owned. Most considered a second-rate strip joint.
The Hippodrome here in Richmond would double as The Carousel Club.
I waited in line for my turn in the wardrobe trailer.
As I stepped into the long trailer with its racks and racks of vintage clothes and boxes of shoes and belts and hats I wondered who I would be.
I had been a trauma doctor, a cop (I was changed out of that costume though) a bystander and a Secret Service agent. Who would I be today?
As it turned out I was to be dressed as a Dallas businessman. A Dallas businessman who just so happened to be the kind of guy who frequented second-rate strip joints.
Stetson? Check!
Cowboy boots? Check!
This guy could be someone I could have a little fun playing. Borrowing my character's name from the A&E shoot earlier in the month, I decided this guy's name was Delbert A. Selton.
One by one, all the extras, including the young woman who would playing the strippers, were dressed and led over to hair and makeup. In addition to me and the girls, there were sailors and other businessmen. Some of the extras were dressed in casual '60's attire. We all looked authentic. We all looked good.
One by one we had our hair done and our makeup applied.
Time was extremely tight and there were calls to bring the extras to set.
I was rushed through hair-just a quick slick down with some Brillcream-and no makeup. No makeup? What?
We were all gathered in the parking lot and boarded into a shuttle bus.
~
Casey Siemaszko would be playing Jack Ruby. Siemaszko is best known for his performances in Back to the Future and Young Guns. It's kind of ironic that he's appearing as the man who kills the man who kills the man Rob Lowe is playing in Killing Kennedy because both actors appeared in 1983's Class.
The second most important character on set today was The Carousel Club itself. Richmond's own Hippodrome had been masterfully transformed into the sleazy, smoke-filled room.
Siemaszko, as Ruby, was seated at the end of the long bar. Dressed in a dark suit, with his hair slicked back, the actor looked the part. I noticed him going over his lines. He made hand gestures and made faces as if talking to actors were seated across from him.
The set was a beehive of activity.
There was prop people dressing the set. They filled ashtrays with cigarette butts. They peeled the labels off of bottles of non-alcoholic beer and replaced them with retro labels.
All of the men I had arrived with had been seated by the stage at long tables.
The two girls who were dressed as burlesque dancers were standing on the tables. I could tell they were a little nervous and probably feeling very vulnerable. After all, there were all these sleazy men leering up at them...and lighting technicians and prop guys and sound guys and guys moving cables and directors and second unit directors and lighting directors...and
HOLY SHIT!
There had to be a hundred people in that room.
I don't know how they did it. I guess they just went to their happy places. If there was any apprehension it never showed on their pretty faces. They were professionals after all.
Actors. Professional actors. Don't be like that. It's not nice.
I wasn't placed with the other club customers.
I was sat at the bar just about ten feet away from Jack Ruby.
I was given a rocks glass with ice cubes that don't melt and ginger ale.
It looked like a glass of booze.
I was also given an electronic cigarette that looked very much like the real thing. I have never smoked. Never. Ever. I was hoping I would be able to pull it off.
Every once and a while Siemaszko and I would would catch each other's eye. I would raise my fake rocks glass full of booze, tip it towards him and smile my bar-fly smile. He would acknowledge me, but not really. He was in character and going over his lines. I'm sure I was no more than a shadow to him. A blur.
I noticed director Nelson McCormick walking onto set.
Things were about to get serious.
~
keeping it reel
copyright 2o13
I was awake late Friday night...or to be exact....early Saturday morning....partly because I was still trying to cool down after the improv show earlier Friday night and partly because I was waiting for a phone call from my wife who was on her way to New Jersey.
I looked down at my phone and noticed that I had missed a call from about 12:45. I didn't recognize the number. I listened to message from the assistant to the casting director for Killing Kennedy.
I was instructed to respond to an email in regards to my availability for an 8:45 A.M. call time later that morning.
I of course responded with an enthusiastic "I'll be there."
Looks like I was heading back to Camelot.
Trick was, I had to get my sleep which was going to be near impossible seeing as my mind was racing.
I did finally manage to drift off. Luckily I had set two alarms and somewhere between 6AM and 6:11AM I awoke knowing in just an hour or two I would once again be on a movie set.
I would be playing a Carousel patron.
I had no idea what that meant. I didn't care. I was going to have one more chance to be on a movie set.
A movie set...a place where I was beginning to feel very at home.
You know the feeling?
The feeling you experience when you are doing something and you feel totally at ease. As if you're doing something you are supposed to be doing? That's what I am experiencing lately as I work on the set of Killing Kennedy.
It feels natural to be surrounded by the excitement-the hustle and bustle of a movie set. It feels good.
~
When I arrived on the set I headed over to base camp.
Not as glamorous as it sounds, actually. It's actually just a folding table and a young woman who is obviously not a morning person.
One by one all the extras starting filing in.
As it turns out The Carousel Club was the nightclub Jack Ruby owned. Most considered a second-rate strip joint.
The Hippodrome here in Richmond would double as The Carousel Club.
I waited in line for my turn in the wardrobe trailer.
As I stepped into the long trailer with its racks and racks of vintage clothes and boxes of shoes and belts and hats I wondered who I would be.
I had been a trauma doctor, a cop (I was changed out of that costume though) a bystander and a Secret Service agent. Who would I be today?
As it turned out I was to be dressed as a Dallas businessman. A Dallas businessman who just so happened to be the kind of guy who frequented second-rate strip joints.
Stetson? Check!
Cowboy boots? Check!
This guy could be someone I could have a little fun playing. Borrowing my character's name from the A&E shoot earlier in the month, I decided this guy's name was Delbert A. Selton.
One by one, all the extras, including the young woman who would playing the strippers, were dressed and led over to hair and makeup. In addition to me and the girls, there were sailors and other businessmen. Some of the extras were dressed in casual '60's attire. We all looked authentic. We all looked good.
One by one we had our hair done and our makeup applied.
Time was extremely tight and there were calls to bring the extras to set.
I was rushed through hair-just a quick slick down with some Brillcream-and no makeup. No makeup? What?
We were all gathered in the parking lot and boarded into a shuttle bus.
~
Casey Siemaszko would be playing Jack Ruby. Siemaszko is best known for his performances in Back to the Future and Young Guns. It's kind of ironic that he's appearing as the man who kills the man who kills the man Rob Lowe is playing in Killing Kennedy because both actors appeared in 1983's Class.
The second most important character on set today was The Carousel Club itself. Richmond's own Hippodrome had been masterfully transformed into the sleazy, smoke-filled room.
Siemaszko, as Ruby, was seated at the end of the long bar. Dressed in a dark suit, with his hair slicked back, the actor looked the part. I noticed him going over his lines. He made hand gestures and made faces as if talking to actors were seated across from him.
The set was a beehive of activity.
There was prop people dressing the set. They filled ashtrays with cigarette butts. They peeled the labels off of bottles of non-alcoholic beer and replaced them with retro labels.
All of the men I had arrived with had been seated by the stage at long tables.
The two girls who were dressed as burlesque dancers were standing on the tables. I could tell they were a little nervous and probably feeling very vulnerable. After all, there were all these sleazy men leering up at them...and lighting technicians and prop guys and sound guys and guys moving cables and directors and second unit directors and lighting directors...and
HOLY SHIT!
There had to be a hundred people in that room.
I don't know how they did it. I guess they just went to their happy places. If there was any apprehension it never showed on their pretty faces. They were professionals after all.
Actors. Professional actors. Don't be like that. It's not nice.
I wasn't placed with the other club customers.
I was sat at the bar just about ten feet away from Jack Ruby.
I was given a rocks glass with ice cubes that don't melt and ginger ale.
It looked like a glass of booze.
I was also given an electronic cigarette that looked very much like the real thing. I have never smoked. Never. Ever. I was hoping I would be able to pull it off.
Every once and a while Siemaszko and I would would catch each other's eye. I would raise my fake rocks glass full of booze, tip it towards him and smile my bar-fly smile. He would acknowledge me, but not really. He was in character and going over his lines. I'm sure I was no more than a shadow to him. A blur.
I noticed director Nelson McCormick walking onto set.
Things were about to get serious.
~
keeping it reel
copyright 2o13
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