Runner, Mormon, and Late night partier all in one day!

Last Saturday was a big day!  I woke up at 5:45 to run a race that morning and to get the girls ready for swim practice.   Warren dropped me at the race and took the girls to practice.   I ran with Sarah Jane and had a great time just catching up.  My running hasn't been optimal lately but we did alright for a 10k.   ( I need to step up my running game though). 

Loved running with SJ and LOVED the coconut water afterwards

Also ran into teacher friend, Dom, on run

After the race, Sarah Jane was kind enough to go way out of her way and drop off sweaty me at home.  I quickly showered and got ready to be an extra in The Other Side of Heaven 2, a movie about a Mormon missionary.  (The first one had Anne Hathaway in it - this one....not so much).    Anyway, I was informed I had to dry my hair and then put in pin curls with styling gel and bobby pins as prep for the movie shoot.  I was supposed to do it the night before but I decided to do it that morning because I didn't want to miss the run.   I had just finished making myself look ridiculous  full of gel and bobby pins when Andie came in the door.  I rushed her into the shower so I could quickly dry and curl her hair as requested.    Then we drove quickly to the shoot, being filmed at a local high school and our day of being busy and waiting began!

before we left

When we arrived at the school, we sat and waited for nearly an hour to get costumes, hair, and makeup.   They had us in hair for nearly an hour!  Andie’s hair took forever!!!   They brushed out all of the curls, teased it like crazy, and then put it in a beehive.  It looked AWESOME!!!!   She brushed out all of my hair gel, teased it, bobby pinned it, and hair sprayed the hell out of it.  It was very crunchy.   We got our costumes (Andie’s adorable, mine not so much) and later they added a little makeup to us.    That whole part was quite fun.  I don’t think I’ve ever had two stylists working on me at once.  

Bee hive!

Wow!

Once we were all shuffled into the gym the “work” started.   I was standing with some friends, the Sinclairs when a lady in charge pulled me and their son across the gym floor by the punch bowl and asked them to stay put dancing and then travel across the room.  We did the same.  We set up a whole story line for ourselves as a mother and son looking for Andie.   They kept playing music and everyone danced and talked and then they called cut about 60 seconds later.   We probably repeated this 20 times in about one hour. 

The same lady told Andie to cross the room looking for me.  Andie nodded enthusiastically and then decided to do her own thing.   She was determined to be right next to the main stars and she made it happen!  Every time I spotted her she and Emilia were right in the spotlight.   She even spoke to the main actor inbetween takes.  She told him, “You are a really good actor.”  He smiled.  She said, “It’s so hot in here and you don’t even look hot.”  He laughed and agreed with her.   So funny. 

As mentioned, the only problem was it was SO hot.  The gym had no air-conditioning  and everyone was dressed in WARM clothes.  It was supposed to be set in 1966 in Iowa in the dead winter.   We were toasty.   Ladies kept coming around in-between sets dabbing our faces with napkins, reapplying lipstick, and spraying hairspray.   They turned on the fans in-between takes as well but it didn’t help that much.  Meanwhile, I was talking with Ollie having so much fun.  It was refreshing to meet such a cool teenager.  It won’t be that long  until I have one!   Finally it was break time.   We got to step outside into the “cool” air for about 30 minutes and have some snacks.   

When we got back inside they had brought in an AC unit which really did help.  Everyone else went back to their same positions but Ollie’s family had decided to reunite as a family so I found myself without a partner.   Luckily, I found another wondering soul and we linked up.   We moved around so much even though I think we should have stayed in one spot.   We danced with others, talked by the punch bowl, danced with each other.   We got to act when the pastor’s wife faked a contraction and when they did fancy dance moves.   After another few hours we got a break to eat dinner and then did about one more hour of work. 

All done!

Several observations:

I cannot believe it takes 10 hours to film 45 seconds of footage! Who knew?  All that time and money for 45 seconds??!

You have to dance to silence so you can hear the actor’s dialogue.  You have to fake talking to the person you are with.  

The food is pretty good for extras.

Adults got paid $60 FJD ($30 USD) for the whole day (10 hours) and kids got $30 FJD ($15 USD) for the same.

I am not a good dancer without music.  (I’m not sure if I am good with music, but definitely sure I’m not talented without the music).

They use real food for the food spread displayed in the movie which would have all have to be thrown away because it sat out all day (deviled eggs, fruit, ham sandwiches).

The missionary the whole movie is about what actually on set as one of the band members.

The director complimented me on Andie saying she is a ham and incredibly confident.  I half apologized and he said, “I don’t think it will be a problem unless she’s in every single shot (which she may be!!!)  I guess we will see in July 2019!

I don’t think I would do this again unless Andie wanted to do it.  It was a lot of work for little pay off- but I am SO glad I did it this time.  I felt like I learned a lot about movies and I loved watching Andie in action!

When we left the shoot, we rushed home and I left Andie with a babysitter to head out for some friends’ birthdays.   It was a great party despite the fact that everyone told me I looked 10 years older with my hair.   Overall, a busy, super fun, full day!!!