I have had the fabulous luck to be positioned very close to the principle actors for the last several shoots which has been remarkable given how many extras can be on any shoot. There were over 200 for this last Blue Bloods episode. My most recent one, as a police chief on Blue Bloods had me in the direct sight line of Tom Selleck, the star of the show. They were rehearsing the scene then chatting among themselves. I'm watching all this, then suddenly Tom looks directly at me and starts walking towards me, he's only about, maybe, 10 feet away and says "May I?" I respond, "My pleasure," as he starts to straighten my tie on my uniform. He makes the adjustment, we smile at each other and he steps back to where his mark on the ground is. He then says that my tie had popped out of place and he wanted to correct it. Meanwhile all the other extras who are in the general area are all watching this interaction with total surprise. One extra leans over and says he's been an Extra on this show many, many times and has never seen this happen. Of course I am thrilled this happened to ME! Then Dennis Haysbert (well known Black actor and spokesperson for All State Insurance "You're in Good Hands" commercial ad campaign) who is also in this episode is standing around between rehearsals and looks my way. I am completely bundled up in my own coat because it's FREEZING (28 degrees and 20 degrees when the wind was blowing) so you can't see my uniform. He comes over and asks me if I'm playing a detective. I say "No, I'm a police chief, check me out" as I am opening up wide my coat. He gives me an approving look then gets back to business. I'm the only one he interacts with. I don't know what it is I'm doing to attract this attention but I seem to drive at least some people to distraction. These two back to back personal interactions made this, absolutely, otherwise miserably frigid shoot a total bonus shoot for me. While I don't read celebrity gossip magazines or watch reality shows or celebrity focused shows like E! or Access Hollywood, I do like a good celebrity sighting as much as anyone. So getting to have these brief interactions are just so special. I also totally lucked out on the set of Madam Secretary on Friday last week. I was seated in the front row as a congressional hearing attendee and there was an empty seat next to me. During the breaks, Tea Leoni, the star of the show plopped herself down in the empty seat next to me while chatting it up with the director, Eric Stoltz (who is also a well known actor who I have been a big fan of for a very long time), and other actors and crew. She is very funny, has a great sense of humor and a strong presence in terms of giving input and feedback about the scene. She's also tiny like a bird. Mr. Stoltz, as a director is really fantastic, very personable and down to earth, very interactive with everyone (principle actors, crew, extras), so observant to detail in making the scene as realistic as possible. He gave us Extras several mini acting lessons so we would get our reactions right in that scene--just as he wanted. Fantastic.
A couple of things I forgot to mention about the fitting for the police chief uniform is that when they were tightening up the neck of the shirt, the wardrobe person told the tailor, make it as tight as you can but not so tight she gets a panic attack. I kid you not. Those were her exact words. I thought, WHOA, I wonder what past reaction from an Extra would make her say something like that. The other thing is that props asked me to wear a watch with the uniform. Apparently all cops wear watches. The only watch I own is my deceased dad's watch, which is about 50 years old, it has his initials as part of the wristband. I love that watch because it's associated with so many happy memories of my dad. I keep it put away (it doesn't work) so to have this occasion to wear it was so lovely. I felt like he was on set with me. Made me feel really happy.
The other funny thing about the Blue Bloods shoot was the interplay between the character Dennis Haysbert plays and his insurance commercial persona. A rather unfortunate situation arises for his character in this episode and a quick thinking witty Extra said to me on the sly, "I guess he wasn't in such good hands after all." I thought that was a good one.
So here I am in uniform....I never did get issued a hat, which kind of bummed me out but the uniform is still pretty sharp looking! Again, when they styled my hair back, they used a gallon of hair spray, loads of bobby pins, and ratted my hair on top--which doesn't really show but took a bit to get it combed out afterwards.
My next shoot is as a wealthy country club awards show attendee. Had my fitting today. Actually got some nice compliment on clothes I took in and wardrobe was able to put together a very high fashion outfit for me with just a couple of detail props from them. I feel like maybe I had a breakthrough with this character role. Pics of that look in the next couple of days.
A couple of things I forgot to mention about the fitting for the police chief uniform is that when they were tightening up the neck of the shirt, the wardrobe person told the tailor, make it as tight as you can but not so tight she gets a panic attack. I kid you not. Those were her exact words. I thought, WHOA, I wonder what past reaction from an Extra would make her say something like that. The other thing is that props asked me to wear a watch with the uniform. Apparently all cops wear watches. The only watch I own is my deceased dad's watch, which is about 50 years old, it has his initials as part of the wristband. I love that watch because it's associated with so many happy memories of my dad. I keep it put away (it doesn't work) so to have this occasion to wear it was so lovely. I felt like he was on set with me. Made me feel really happy.
The other funny thing about the Blue Bloods shoot was the interplay between the character Dennis Haysbert plays and his insurance commercial persona. A rather unfortunate situation arises for his character in this episode and a quick thinking witty Extra said to me on the sly, "I guess he wasn't in such good hands after all." I thought that was a good one.
So here I am in uniform....I never did get issued a hat, which kind of bummed me out but the uniform is still pretty sharp looking! Again, when they styled my hair back, they used a gallon of hair spray, loads of bobby pins, and ratted my hair on top--which doesn't really show but took a bit to get it combed out afterwards.
My next shoot is as a wealthy country club awards show attendee. Had my fitting today. Actually got some nice compliment on clothes I took in and wardrobe was able to put together a very high fashion outfit for me with just a couple of detail props from them. I feel like maybe I had a breakthrough with this character role. Pics of that look in the next couple of days.
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