Monday, March 2, 2009

Final shoot

Last night, as the snow was falling and the roads were icing over, I was down in Philly on the set filming the last few scenes for "I/He/She." We had a handful of scenes to do, but there were some of the bigger ones in the film. I got to meet Aubrey, the other actor in the film, and the three of us had some good times while we were relaxing between setups. The shoot started with a scene between Lesley and Aubrey, both seen here as Kelvin is giving them some direction. Now, Aubrey has to be at least 6'3", and Lesley is all of 5'2". So it was a pretty comical pairing live on the set, but we were able to figure out a rather complicated system of chairs and stools that he could sit on so they would be closer in "film height" to each other. Their scene involved a few kisses and a change of position, and then it was my turn to pop into the chair and have Lesley kiss me a few times. In the film, Aubrey's character turns into my character halfway through the kiss. Once it was my turn to take the chair and get ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille, Lesley and I started giggling and laughing about the idea of playing the scene. We've known each other for a few years, but the idea of kissing each other made us laugh. Granted, we're both professionals. So we didn't have any trouble actually playing the scene, but as soon as Kelvin called "Cut," we both cracked up. We kept pulling it together in order to film the scene, and then we would laugh just at the end of the take. But the important part is that we kept it together through the entire shot. People always have the idea that all the kissing and love scenes in films are really fun for the actors involved, but it's a very strange thing to be asked to do. There were four people watching us, cameras and lights all around, and it was about trying to look passionate and intimate without really being passionate or intimate. I'm very lucky that Lesley is such a good actor, and that she's so much fun to play with.

There were one or two more scenes for me that day, and they all looked really cool on the little playback screen. I'm excited to see this project when it's all said and done. I'm going to miss my time on the project, just the way I miss all those projects that are a lot of fun. I can't imagine what it's like for those actors who are lucky enough to get a part on a television series, so they get to work on a great project for years at a time. I have another audition on Thursday afternoon through my agent trying to get me on-camera work, which is a step toward making this my only career. But more on that later...

2 comments:

JParis said...

Professionals, eh? I think that's a typical guise among actors. I think you went home and had dreams about it. And what about "she's so much fun to play with"? Sounds like a quote to me...

JParis said...

You know I'm just kidding around, right?