WRAPPED!
"My happiest moment is the day they call wrap and I'm free.
I'm not looking back."
Actor Brad Pitt
What's that? What's wrapped?
Wrapped is a term which usually signifies the end of filming on a project. The director, satisfied they have shot everything they needed to shoot, will shout "That's a wrap!"
There is an urban legend, which has been disputed (like most urban legends) that wrap is an acronym for "Wind, Reel and Print." I don't have the answer to that mystery. It makes perfect sense. Doesn't make it fact however.
I agree with Mr. Pitt about the freedom you experience when you are wrapped on a project.
After you shed the skin of the character you've been playing and hand it back over to wardrobe to be hung in a dry-cleaning bag in some warehouse, you are free to become someone else. You are also free to maybe sleep in on some mornings and not eat in a tent or stand in mud.
I miss a lot of those things when I wrap on a project. Sounds crazy but I do. For the record, I am not crazy. All the tests say so. I have paperwork if you need to see it.
What I miss most though when I wrap on a project is the sense of team...dare I say family. When you are a project for more than one day of work, something wonderful happens and everybody comes together to get the work done.
Either because they're miserable and just want to go home or because they truly have a passion for what they're doing. I like to believe it's because they love the job.
I miss the atmosphere of frantic creativity that manifests on set. I miss the camaraderie of other actors and that energy that is shared as we explore character and story.
I do not miss freezing to the bone when it is 30 degrees out and there's no place to stand but in the wind. I don't miss button-fly pants that don't stay buttoned. I don't miss sinking into mud.
But...then again...part of me...the certifiably insane part of me...does miss all those horrible things because it means I'm acting. It means I'm working. It means I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.
Would it be nice to have a trailer?
Of course.
Would it be nice to have a chair to sit in between takes?
Absolutely.
Is that going to happen for me?
You bet your ass.
Until that day I will stand in wind, snow and rain, sinking into the mud, boiling in the sun, wearing shoes that are too small and eating tough chicken.
I'm an actor.
It's the job.
Just keeping it reel.
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Congratulations on the wrap! Does that mean there was a wrap party, too? Did they hand out turkey-wrap sandwhiches? In Wrapping paper? Did anyone grap the mike and do some w'rap?
ReplyDeleteSerious question: Do you have a photo album for every production you've been in?