We all know about Peter Blood and his affinity for the ladies, so when he heard there was a movie shooting in Austin with not only Ashley Judd, but Joan Cusack and Natalie Portman. Well... Hm being our local heartthrob of the AICN crew... We sent him off to battle hormones and urges. Our dear Doctor was aptly outfitted to resist the wiley charms as he is.... married. (Sorry gals) So even though they all threw themselves upon his pantlegs... He survived. Whatta man!
"Where the Heart Is" set report from Peter Blood
Well, I wasn't going to even bother writing this up until I was goaded over the phone by Master Harry who was excited enough by his newly purchased Iron Giant toy that the term "giddy" came to mind. I did, indeed, visit the set of the film "Where the Heart Is" currently shooting in central Texas, but I did so under no guise of AICN affiliation. I visited the set in a way any of you good people can do; I simply signed up and was called on to be an extra in the film. None of the cast or crew knew who I was, although the topic came up, so a few of my fellow extras knew by the end of the day. As such, it was probably a purer setting than I'm sure Harry would have gotten if he had shown up, himself. For some reason people tend to "put on the Sunday best" when Harry comes around, or even sometimes us underlings who are merely associated with him. Don't get me wrong; sponging off Harry's celebrity, even unintentionally, can be fun, but I really prefer the unobtrusive observer approach. That's why Harry loves it when you guys send stuff in when YOU get to be extras. I realize not everyone has a job they can just shrug off when something like this comes along, but if you can, to me there's no better way to spend a day.
Alright, I hear you saying, get on with it. Well, to start things off a little background info. Matt Williams, the creator of "Home Improvement" and "Roseanne" directs a script from Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz (who have written several Ron Howard comedies) based on a novel by Billie Letz. The time is the mid nineties. Natalie Portman plays Novalee, a pregnant seventeen year old girl who is traveling with her worthless boyfriend when her shoe falls through the rusted out floorboard of his truck and is lost. Being pregnant, she has to "use the powder room" quite often and has her beau stop at a po-dunk Wal-Mart just off the highway so she can get a new pair of shoes and relieve herself. While inside, Mr. Wonderful books, leaving her stranded with almost no money. Being the resourceful teen she is, Novalee decides to take up residence in the Wal-Mart... and as they say in sitcomland, hilarity ensues. Although, to be honest, the vibe I got was that this a bit more bitter sweet than your typical comedy, more like Steel Magnolias than Something About Mary. Rounding out the cast are Ashley Judd as a nurse named Lexie who helps Novalee, Sally Field as Novalee's mother, Joan Cusack as someone's (I believe Lexie's) somewhat loopy sister, and Stockard Channing as another kind-hearted local who befriends Novalee named Sister Husband. Coming next are what may be construed as mild spoilers, so if you're the kind who doesn't want to know, skip down to past the second row of asterisks.
************Spoiler Alert***********
Novalee actually gives birth inside the Wal-Mart, and becomes a local celebrity with her "Wal-Mart Baby", a girl that she names........Americus. I swear that's what they told us to call the baby. Of course everyone pitches in to help her out, and they raise a nice sum of money that her mother shows up and takes off with. Apparently Sally Field was only needed on set for 2 days. Sister Husband is who Novalee and little Americus eventually wind up going home with. The loser boyfriend is in an accident and loses both his legs. Like I said earlier, not exactly a light hearted comedy. Most of these tidbits I got from other extras who had been on the set a few days already.
************End Spoilers***********
Back to the set. Our call time is at 10 am and I get there right at ten after driving around for 15 minutes trying to locate where I was supposed to park. I had been told over the phone the day before that I was to be an orderly in a hospital scene. It turns out there were two orderlies, and we were given basically matching white pants, shoes, t-shirts and shirts, as opposed to the scrubs I see most orderlies wearing in any hospital I've ever been in. It is supposed to be a small town, so maybe that's it. Later in the day, we discussed whether we looked more like extras from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or Lou Diamond Phillips from Stand and Deliver. Truthfully, no one would EVER mistake ME for Mr. Phillips. Where the Heart Is is officially an indie, but I've been told it has a budget of around $25 mil, so it's not exactly small. Nonetheless, I was very impressed with the Craft Services on this particular shoot. This is where the cast, crew get their food, as do the "atmosphere" people. That's a rather PC word for extras. The change rooms said Male Atmos and Female Atmos and were part of the same trailer as the "Honey Wagon". For those who don't know what a Honey Wagon is... I'll let someone else tell you. We were able to order a full blown breakfast after going through Costume, Hair and Make-up. (The poor Hair people always have a hard time with me. My hair is rather thick, and on a hot, balmy day like this, it does basically whatever it wants.) Then came the wait. Now I've been on a few of these extras gigs, so I knew what to expect, but if you have never been, be prepared to wait....a lot.....and then some. In general, the bigger the budget, the longer the wait. Some of the extras were playing hospital visitors and went over first to shoot a couple scenes in the hospital parking lot with one of the doctor extras. Meanwhile, waiting in a school cafeteria across the street were 2 orderlies, 2 doctors, 1 candy striper, and a few nurses. We sat around most of the morning, finally getting called over in the mid afternoon.
The scene we were doing has Novalee leaving the hospital with her new little one. She gets pushed out of the elevator in a wheelchair by the candy striper into a small crowd of hospital staff (lead by Nurse Lexie) who are there in the lobby to see the baby and wish her and her mother well. I had already seen Natalie from a distance earlier in the day when she was leaving the hair trailer, but now, up close (and she looks even more beautiful in person) what struck me most was how she looked and acted like such a normal (although definitely above average in looks and intelligence) 18 year old girl. She and Ashley (who certainly looked fine as well) talked a bit between rehearsals and takes, and one of the extras noticed Natalie had been looking at a Sports Illustrated with an article on Star Wars inside. Neither of these lovely ladies were divas in any way; no tantrums, no bossing, and both were fully enamored with the real star of this particular scene, a two week old named Haley, making her screen debut as Novalee's new-born daughter. This was one calm two week old, letting 10 strangers in rather odd garb clap loudly and surround her with barely a peep. Natalie yawned a bit between the rehearsals. Let me take time out for a side rant for a few lines. The local paper here in Austin has mentioned the fears of a stalker going after Natalie and it's just so weird to me that people can become obsessed with someone they don't even know. I've seen Harry get a fair share of odd fans approaching him, but the stalker thing truly saddens me. Being famous should not mean you have to live in fear. Bill Shatner said it best; "Get a life!"
Well, back from the side rant, we broke for lunch after rehearsing the scene and shot it from a couple of different angles once we returned. Matt Williams certainly runs a laid back, but efficient set. As I mentioned before, I've been to a few, and there was always a layer of tension somewhere, if not with the director, with the 1st AD, or one of the stars. On this set, though, everyone seemed to just cooperate and work to get the job done. During the rehearsals, one of the crew even broke a piece of the lobby furniture when she tried to sit on it. No one shouted; a couple of guys just went over and fixed it. This was probably the calmest set I've been on. The other scene they did was Novalee waiting in the lobby with a now crying infant, waiting for someone to pick her up. Her conversation with the receptionist is really more tragic than comic, as she really has no idea where she's going to go now that whomever IS supposed to be there obviously isn't coming. Interestingly enough, young Haley didn't seem to want to cry that much, so I assume most of that will be foleyed in. During this time, we extras were able to get smoothies or frozen lattes from one cart and a wide assortment of nuts and candy from another. Truly, a well fed crew is a happy crew. Then it was time to break and go home, back to my everyday pirate's life, buckling swashes and things like that. Hopefully, along with providing a little info, I've given you folks a look into a day in the life of an extra.
Until next time,
