Riding the Zoomer with Billy Bob Thornton
Last night I started a three day stint on the new Billy Bob Thornton movie "Mr. Woodcock". It also stars Susan Sarandon and Sean William Scott. I'm doing background work, which is something I've never been too fond of, but I did it to get my last SAG vouchers. So now I'm officially eligible to join the union. So happy day there.
But man, doing extra work is grueling and just weird. Last night's call was at 2 PM and the shoot didn't wrap until 5 AM!!
I got a chance to speak with Billy Bob for a bit and he was extremely nice. The part of the movie I was working on takes place at a Carnival (or CORNival as it's in Nebraska...kind of remeniscent of the Greater Grady Squash Fest in Doc Hollywood) and the Zoomer in the headline one of those carnival rides, the kind with the chairs attached to chains and swings in a circle. So I was on this with Billy Bob, Sarandon and Scott at one point. How many times can you get that chance?
During the day, I experienced the difference between Los Angeles and "everywhere else". There were a bunch of little kids on the set at various times during the day (they can only work a certain amount of time) and I was in line with two little girls so we were chatting. One of them (7 years old) said "I have a movie coming out", which was nothing more than her doing some background work in the movie Wedding Crashers.
As a side note...I don't really understand a parent taking a kid out of school to do extra work. I mean, if your kid was an actual featured performer and had a tutor on set, I can see it. But to just stand in the background and be, for all intents and purposes, set dressing just seems odd. It's not like the money is that great....but I digress...
So I'm asking the girls how the whole "school on set" thing worked and the younger of the two looks me dead in the eye and with no trace of irony says, "haven't you ever taken a day off school to be in a movie?"
Um,no. They couldn't understand that it doesn't really happen like that in the rest of the country. But this is her world. It's her perception and it's just natural to miss school to be in a movie.
And that is the difference between Los Angeles and everywhere else.
More tomorrow...
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