A good day

I gotta comfortable 5 hours of sleep and I think I'm getting used to it.

Got to the set about 6:30 and car was put in the same exact spot. I was wearing comfie clothes because I knew the car would be parked all day and we would just be hanging out.

Had breakfast and then cruised to the set for relax time. Male #4 and I (Andy) have become good friends (BTW - Thanks Andy) and the Picture Car people just hung out. Seems the Picture Car people are the bad boys of the set (we're freakishly bored) and we're no longer welcome into the New Moon EVEN though THEY are the ones with the big cameras taking photos.

Yea yea - I tattled on you guys!!!!! You forced us to eat gruel today!

So we're sitting in the sun have a very pleasant time and watching the explosives guys doing their thing and burying squibs in the dirt and rigging things to go off . . . . 20 feet from us.

Then Michael Mann and cameras and importent STUFF start setting up 10 yards from where I'm sitting. The Extras are practicing falling and being terrified as I assume Pretty Boy Floyd (remember the guy in O'Brother Where Art' Thou - NOT like him). is shooting in their direction. It
s all set and after 6 or 7 practice runs.

PICTURE UP! FIRE IN THE HOLE! CAMERA'S ROLLING . . . . . . . . . . . .BACKGROUND! . . . . . . . . . . . ACTION!

BAM BAM BAM BAM BOOM BOOM Rat-a-tat rat-a-tat BOOM BOOM BAM BAM BAM and stuff is flying all over the place 10 yards from us (we're behind a wall but can see everything).

CUT!!! RESET!

and it's done a few more times. AWESOME!!

We're told to go to the other side of the street for a different scene. They rip up one road and lay it down the length of main street.

We stand around for another couple hours and about 11:00 we're told to go get a snack ?????? what ??? snack? they have never told us to do THAT before. They said today would be a long day. hmmmmm the last two days have been in the 14 hour range. Does longer mean LONGER?

Snack?? this does not sound at all promising.

The clouds move in and there are more awesome scenes being shot with snipers and a LOT of machine guns. All the actors are there but we're on the wrong side of the set top see them.

Andy comes over at a break (it's always at LEAST a half hour between runs and sometimes an hour) and says there is a Marion Cotillard sighting. She came out of the "bank" looked up and down the street, turned around and hugged Johnny! No doubt about it. She is in Wisconsin for the Beaver dam shoot early I guess.

The clouds have come in and it's cooling off . . .a LOT. It's about 2:00 and the crew are all eating great food on the set, the Extras are getting sandwiches from the New Moon and us?

NOTHING! WE CAN'T GO IN THE NEW MOON!! OFF LIMITS!!! ARSE HOLES!

So about 3:30 it starts to sprinkle and we told to go to this hotel room for lunch. One window looking out to NOTHING, a lunch with, what I was told - bad meatloaf (not a meatloaf fan anyway), a slab of ham some rice and mash potatoes.

As I was helping clean up a lot of the Styrofoam boxes were heavy into the garbage.

So we're stuck in a box with nothing to see.

About a hour later we make a mass prison break and are back on set. It's cold.

They are filming a get away and every time the car takes off it rolls up the cobblestone street (estimated $300,000). There are 60 uniforms keeping crowds back and people with binoculars scanning buildings. Jerry scans apartments for the curious and when one is found a person is dispatched to . . . . I don't want to know!



I was told there were 8,000 to 10,000 people surrounding the set on Wednesday.

Things are going well in rehearsal until a white car rolls onto the set and all hell breaks loose - GET THAT BOGIE OUT OF HERE.

This scene is a big one. They are being REAL careful triple checking everything, getting people out of windows and when they are ready everything is checked again. They practice parts for a good two hours and then you can feel everybody tense up a little.

Walkie talkies are going non stop with some people talking loud and others whispering so not to confuse. Bruno in the pyro guy says we're ready and the call goes out that WE'RE HOT and the entire shot is explained for the 5th time, who is shooting and what is happening.

People with binoculars are scanning windows for John Q's.

Then


PICTURE UP! FIRE IN THE HOLE! CAMERA'S ROLLING! . . . . . . . . . . . .BACKGROUND! . . . . . . . . . . . ACTION!

and all hell breaks loose - walls are exploding with bullets all over, machine guns are constant.

Then there is a freeze . . . .waiting waiting KEEP CAMERAS ROLLING waiting waiting BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM more exploding and FREEZE RELOAD KEEP CAMERAS ROLLING the crowd is silent waiting, it's odd to have SO many people utterly still with so much noise. BAM BAM BAM BAM even more fireing.


CUT!!!


It's like everyone breaths for the first time in 10 minutes.


Then they start to set up for the next scene . . BUT WAIT!!!


THAT'S A WRAP!!!

People start to go into groups and we're we're walking back to wardrobe we 're told the Extras will not be needed Friday - they are done. There are hugs and tears and people shaking hands and we figure, well if THEY are done WE must me.

They are shooting INSIDE Friday the rain day.


BUT WAIT.


The Picture Car drivers are huddled and more then half (20ish) are told they will no longer be needed and only 15 are wanted back to tomorrow, and we are one of those 15. SWEET . . . sort of.

Not a clue what we will be doing but I'm thinking we will be driving - perhaps inside the bank with cameras looking out???

Saturday the circus moves north to Little Bohemia for three days for basically a closed set so I would not even bother going north to the Arctic.

So that is it for now. I'm on my way to the garage for a day of rain and sitting inside the car.

It is awesome fun.

Rod