by Joyce Johnson
Raised in LA, I have seen actors and watched one or two movies shot. Michael Landon, of Little House on the Prairie, sat on a blanket at a So. Calif beach with his wife and young daughter near our family one day. I was 9 or 10, and got my brother to toss a beach ball “accidentally” that-away to chase and asked for his autograph. He wasn’t very nice when I asked him if he had a pen and piece of paper… I should have had him sign the beach ball! Many years later, me and friends sat on a blanket in a field at 2 am, with about 20 others, to watch a car chase scene shot with actors Lloyd Bridges and Gene Barry. Lloyd was driving my friend’s older Mercedes in the scene. Gene came out of his trailer in a crabby mood, and mocked us for our ogling presence, but Lloyd came out soon after with a broom he had been sweeping his trailer with, and chatted with us all. Lloyd Bridges was a rare, beloved Hollywood hero character, and Dad—I hear and believe it. I saw Jeff Bridges and wife a couple times in the Chico Lobby when I worked the front desk. He liked entertaining friends in the dining room. He lived here in the valley, as did the Fonda and several other celeb families, who enjoyed the absence of... “beach balls rolled at them for autographs.” An independent film was shot recently here in Emigrant. I agreed to be an extra. My column this week is about JJ, the star struck movie extra, now a wannabe back stage crew scribe.
Stage Fright! – The scene was short but sweet, filmed with no sound, had four women in a book discussion, and that was all. But I have never been in front of a movie camera. I’m a backstage type person. However, the friendly crew made it easy, fun, and unforgettable. In fact this column piece celebrates the irreplaceable creative “back stage” action of performance and film creation.
The era was the 80’s. I wore a faded denim skirt, a tie dyed tee, matching scarf around hair, and a short denim jacket from The Gap I bought in the 80s. I got amused nods when I asked if I looked okay. Full names shall remain secret, but the director’s name is James, who I thought was just one-of-the-boys, but is a well-known and respected Director, his assistant, Amy said.
The scene, shot in my neighbor’s front room, was hopping with activity. The voices and faces of the super crew intermingled and moved with equipment like a living kaleidoscope around a big camera on a tripod not even 6 feet from us. I counted only 5 crew at first but more kept materializing from around the house to add up to 13, who came from all over the country, I learned later from Amy. When I asked her what her job is, she explained that she actually does a lot of the groundwork, scheduling, crew supervising, and even gets to do the yelling sometimes too... I met the light expert, makeup artist, the accountant, and a film editor working on this flim as a grip, (handles equipment). She and partner put up a big white panel facing the window, which reflected the outer light back onto us extras, who were sitting in shadow in front of bright morning sunlight rising over the Absarokees. I asked, “are you going to catch the mountains behind us in the film?” The cameraman nodded, and did something that made the mountains appear as they would, in that big square camera eye. It was a perfect, brag-worthy, Paradise Valley day outside: Pristine (pre-wildfire) sky, last minute spring snow on the peaks, and for punctuation, a deer snacking on the lush foliage right outside.
Action! We sat and chatted with the lead actress in front of the big windows and held copies of a self help book in our laps—the only clue that it was a book study scene. Me scribbling notes down for this column looked appropriate. In our enjoyment of chatting, we forgot the 13 crew members and their equipment aimed at us. One of them said they were fascinated by our interesting conversation and were secretly recording it “to listen to later”. We just continued to talk and by & by someone said “Action!” and they got the scene; I guess, because we didn’t notice we were being filmed, actually. But, it was “a perfect take” I heard. “Best one so far,” said another. I lassoed some of the crew afterwards to ask questions as they dismantled equipment, but “we have busy 12-hour days” one of them said. They had to shoot a scene down at Emigrant Hall later that day, too. I got a couple snapshots which I share here. [I tried to get a picture of the deer outside too, the perfect local extra, but when someone yelled “Action!” she leaped out of sight!]
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