Working in the Background on Sex and the City2: warts and all



Today I was part of the sexy, glamorous, fabulous life of Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda for a dozen hours...I was an extra (background actor) on the new SEX AND THE CITY2 movie, the sequel to last year's smash summer film. Today the scene was one of the opening shots of the movie...all four girls meeting up in front of Bergdorf Goodman Department store on Fifth Avenue, dressed in fabulous summer frocks (even though it was a chilly, barely 71 degree day in Sept. instead of a 90 degree day in July.
Everybody was there for the shots we did....Cynthia Nixon (Miranda, the redhead), Kristin Davis (Charlotte, the prim brunette), Kim Cattrall (Samantha, the nympho), and Carrie (SJParker herself).
Patricia Field was there (the wardobe genius), as was series creator/writer Michael Patrick King, and all the usual suspects. The scene on Fifth Ave was sheer madness...hundreds of people gathered: tourists, office workers, and paparazzi by the score. And EVERYone was snapping pictures, both on and off the set....Even Kristin Davis pulled out her home movie camera and started digitally recording the action, the actors, the crew, the bystanders etc. Also SJP with her little blackberry camera was snapping away.
So finally, since I could stand it no more, I thought I would try to sneak a few snapshots of these glamorous women as a personal souvenir while we were sitting there idly during one of the ENDLESS camera setups. Now this is a big no-no on most film sets...you don't just snap pictures indiscriminately but today seemed like a PARTY...it was loud and crazy and boisterous! Also I started thinking: I mean WHEN am I going to be this close to these famous, beautiful women...truly big stars, all beautifully made up, coiffed and dressed for the camera and furiously snapping away at all of us themselves!

So anyway, this little idiot crew member who had to act like a big shot and put down the EXTRAS (background people), decided to publicly browbeat me with: "it's really not the "professional" thing to do--taking pictures on a set" he said as he glared at me like I'm a naughty 5 year old (this kid is maybe 25 and I could be his FATHER). Now mind you, this guy himself has been snapping away and so have all his friends on the crew, not to mention the CAST MEMBERS!! I wanted to say "why don't you go over there and shake your finger at Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis? They're taking pictures of all of us!" But I didn't want to make a scene so I snapped my camera shut and glared back at him.

I've found that these little power play putdowns happen all the time on movie sets...these little creeps called "production assistants" all have a enormous sense of their own importance and the only people they can browbeat are the "extras" which are about as low on the movie totem pole as you can get. When you're on a set and there is a lot of chattering going on among crew members, they immediately and angrily look to the extras to "Shush!" "Be quiet, background!!" when it's usually the grips, makeup girls, lighting guys and cameramen who are doing all the jabbering. I witnessed this last week working on 30 ROCK and also on LAW & ORDER SVU...apparently it's a standard put-down...the only people who you can freely yell at, browbeat and demonize on a film set are the EXTRAS. Psychiatrists tell you that you can easily tell a person's TRUE personality by the way they treat someone who is "lower" on the totem pole in a situation than they are. Such as: service personnel, waiters, repair men, hotel clerks, etc. Please add "extra" to this list. Most of the extras I've met are lovely, educated people..some are retired, others have big dreams of acting in the big time, some are just doing it for a quick thrill or in between jobs. None of them wants or likes to be put down by these little Steven Spielberg wanna-bes Production assistants.

More tomorrow....another SEX AND THE CITY 2 day at 6am!!!! More browbeating...God give me the strength to smile and bear it. Lord, forgive the little assoles...they know not what they do!

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