I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I find moviemaking incredibly dull. I love watching movies, and I am 100% supportive of all Sean and Curtis' artistic endeavors. But watching take after take of the same scene, listening to minute variations in dialogue, trying to keep out of the cameraman's line of sight? Bo-ring. I was perfectly content today to spend all morning and a good deal of the afternoon hanging out at Lesley and Simon's apartment doing, well, practically nothing. I chatted with various cast and crew members who showed up, sat for another makeup test, read a little, and even dozed off briefly at one point.
About that makeup test: The blue makeup is still proving problematic. It tends to rub or flake off the actors' hands and necks; it quickly develops a patchy look around their noses and mouths. Christina and Beatrice have tried every combination they can to try to get something that not only will last, but that now has to match the makeup in scenes already filmed. Anyway, in their quest to come up with yet another formula, they made up my face this morning with a combination of pancake and blue food coloring. I ended up looking a little too greenish and the coverage was splotchy, so they rejected that batch of face paint. The problem for me lay in trying to remove the makeup: the food coloring pretty much stained my face, so that even after a good scrubbing, a grayish pallor remained. All day long I've appeared to have recently died, which is decidedly not a great look for me, so there's another long, hot shower in my near future.
This afternoon's filming took place at the home of a friend of the assistant director. This fellow, Jeff, is a physician who's also an actor, and he's been cast as the caterer in Am I Blue? His home is beautiful in a very formal way, and the cast and crew were warned repeatedly not to touch or move or break anything lest Jeff freak out -- I think he'd be the first to admit that he's particular about things. I had a long chat with him about both his medical and acting careers, and he's an interesting man. Sean and Curtis shot his first scene after I'd left with Simon to get dinner so I didn't get to watch him in action, but I think he's been perfectly cast, though strangely enough, I don't think I'd buy it if someone cast him as a doctor.
While eating dinner, I chatted with several cast members about movies. I was nonplussed by their devotion to Will Ferrell movies, but I joined the discussion eagerly when it turned to horror films. I'd been wavering on whether or not to see 28 Weeks Later, but now I've decided I must.
Yikes -- Simon flies off to a conference in New Orleans tomorrow so I must brave the mean streets of San Diego alone in order to bring noontime sustenance to a hungry cast and crew. Wish me luck!
2 comments:
The second I read "blue food coloring" I knew you had a problem.
I recall working on some sort of layered/colored/sand project as a kid. I knocked the green food coloring on our poor dog's face and his fur was dyed green for most of the summer.
Heed my warning: no more food coloring.
Yikes! Blue Food Coloring. They say it comes off, but in my experience my skin is stained for days after I do an art project with Dylan.
If someone looks at you with a funny expression, ask them, "What are you looking at?" And really mean it. It will be your DeNiro moment!
Wear dark glasses and maybe if you are lucky you will look a little like a vampire.
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