Hello everybody...this just came in from someone who did some "acting" on the set of
Catch Me If You Can the past few days...
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN : SET REPORT
Written By:Ed Cransten3/14/02 My call time is moved from 6:30 to 7AM meaning that I could've gotten up at 4:30AM instead of 4AM. The drive to the set is easy enough and I find myself getting breakfast with a burn out looking of a women and another women who is talking to herself. The food is good.
The wardrobe people give us our clothes. We always hear everyone say how the executives at studios are sharks but I'll bet the wardrobe people could give them a run for their money. They are always in bad mood, always rude and furthermore they listen to bad music as they dish out the clothes. There is one in particular that seems to have it in for me... I start talking to people and everyone seems alright. Some have other jobs, some only do background work and others have been doing this stuff for years.
We go to the set and
Steven Spielberg is dressed like a skateboarding raver. He won't make eye contact with anyone, is terse and short to everyone but when the FOREIGN PRESS show up the man lights up like the Christmas tree he undoubtedly has in his home every year.
Tom Hanks is just like you imagine he would be. He is funny but like all the other stars he doesn't want to be bothered. This point is made clear when the other extra I am working with tries to talk with him.
Hanks does a 180 and walks in the other direction.
Leonardo DiCaprio is fine, I guess. He just walks around doing whatever it is that keeps getting him more work. I talk a bit with the girl that plays
Tom Hanks secretary and she is really nice. She probably hasn't been told yet that she doesn't have to talk with me. We shoot different shots of the office and we end with me being part of a group of people that hand
Leonardo files. A few times in other scenes the extra I am working with tries to direct me by saying "Here is where the camera is gonna be," and whatnot. Then they call lunch... I eat 2 helpings of beef stroganoff and some peach cobbler and I am happy as a clam.
I then proceed to spend the next 6 hours reading my magazines, working on a new script and listening to other extras call their calling services and talk about ordering cable modems and black boxes. We are finally called back to do a scene and by this point I have really bad gas. I try and negotiate my flatulence saved for when
Hanks,
Leonardo or
Spielberg walk by me. I have nothing against these guys at all, I just think that doing this is funny. We shoot a long crane shot scene and then the day is wrapped at 10:15PM That's almost 15 hours at UNION wages, folks.
3/15/02 My call this day is at 12PM. I get to set early and eat. The crew is supposed to eat first but I eat before them as there aren't many of them around. I start talking to a PA who directed me around the set yesterday. He asks what I am doing on the movie and when I remind him that he was directing me around the set yesterday, he abruptly stops talking with me. We start to get ready for our scenes and the wardrobe people are being their usual 3RD REICH-selfs.
We do our scenes. They are basically as filler, trying to make the FBI office look busy. We go back to the holding area and are then informed that certain extras have been hitting
Mr. Hanks and
Mr. DiCaprio up for pictures and autographs. In order to stop this, new doors have been built so that they can get on the set that much quicker without having to be around us anymore then is necessary.
We are then told that we're all professionals. These guys are just making $20 million and we're all making $105 for the 8 hour day. You would think for the money they're getting they would "put up" with us lowly background actors just a little more. Now whose not being professional? We go back to the set, do a quick scene and as I walk out, a man in his 60's slides a small camera out of his sleeve and takes a picture of the set. He sees me and knows that I've seen him take this picture. I make eye contact with him very quickly and just say, "Awesome." At this point we are wrapped and it's time to go home. We only work 6 hours on this day...
That's it so far. Stay tuned...
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