A couple of Dicks in Prospect Park Day 1

I got booked on a 2-day shoot to work on this new Bruce Willis movie called "A couple of Dicks" with Tracy Morgan of SNL and 30 Rock fame!It's a comedy about two cops whose adventures include locating a stolen baseball card, rescuing a woman, and dealing with gangsters and their laundered money.

The call time was for 7am to be in Wollman Rink parking lot in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Having a 7am call time is actually normal and I left Queens at 6am which should have been plenty of time to get there.

I got to the subway by 6:10 and by this time, the rats have retired for the night and there are more people on the platform waiting. At this time there are more and more people going through the turnstile and waiting. Finally after 40 minutes, the "V" train appears out of the dark tunnel.

By the time I got to the "Q" train platform, it was already ten minutes to 7am. The only good thing about the "Q" is that it runs express through Manhattan and bypasses many stops. Goes to 14th street and then to Canal, through the tunnel and out across the Manhattan bridge with a clear view of the Brooklyn bridge, clear skies and the waking of the dawn with the sun rising.

Finally got to Prospect Park station and walked out on Lincoln Avenue where there was a homeless person outside the subway camping out with all their belongings. Kind of sad and "bummified" area :( That is until you get to the side of the park :)

The entrance is gorgeous with beautiful trees and green is everywhere. There were already joggers, bikers, and people walking their dogs on the path. I went down the path to Wollman rink area and walked to up to holding which was and outdoor tent. It was the perfect weather for this and part of the tent was shaded by the trees. I was about 15 minutes late though I didn’t feel bad as there were other people coming in behind me still.

I got my voucher and headed to the tent in the back. It was really humid in the tent area where the air conditioner tubes to cool down the tents were not working yet. By the time I got there, there was already a big lineup to get hair and makeup done and of course wardrobe.

I love the wardrobe line. You can bring the best outfit and yet they will give you what they believe you should be wearing. Or they will give you accessories to wear and you have to give your voucher in for an earring or a button.

Holding true to form and my own convictions of what a waste of time wardrobe can be, I of course totally avoid the wardrobe line. This is also for Linda. Linda would not go to the wardrobe line. Not the same when you do this type of capers alone, though in memory of Linda and how we were the “A-team of background”! I succeeded in not going into that line. I figured the dress I had on was approved on the last set I was on and by my friend Charles who has exquisite taste.

I did go into the long hair and make-up line though I figure might as well get my hair done and makeup to take pictures. I get into that hair and makeup line and I wait and wait and then wait some more. Just when I think it will finally be my turn, the fag hair guy looks into the line and totally bypasses me and goes and picks the young long-haired Russian blond instead of myself. I felt so rejected.

The worst part about it was that the hairdresser was gay! I can understand that they need to take the principal actors first, but she wasn’t a principal.
At first I was offended, and then when the other hairdresser looked to see how many people were in the line, she took me. Finally! Though the thing was that I was one of the last people in line and everyone was either finished or already on set.

After being rejected so many times in the past, you look at this as happening for a reason and sometimes delays like this work in your favor. When she finally did my hair, I got up to start to walk to set, but was told that myself and 10 other background actors were not needed for this scene.

That actually worked out to our advantage as we grabbed some chairs, sat outside under the shady trees and just relaxed. Meanwhile I was getting reports via text message that my friend was standing in her heels in the hot sun. I totally got the better deal. In fact we were not needed until after lunch. I was having such a great time that I couldn’t care less if I get used or not.

Lunch was called and because we were already by catering, we were the first in line as droves of people were coming from set. Since this was Henry’s Catering, the food was outstanding. Gourmet salads, meats, pasta dishes, flank steak, sword fish and cakes..oh yes the cakes!

After getting our fill everyone was called back to set and this was the first time that I was to see it. At first I was r is over reluctant to go and was thinking oh great the fun and know I’m going to have to work. I don’t come here to work. I come to these things to eat and socialize.

So I start slowly following the rest of the crowd as I had no idea where the set was. What a long walk. Over the grassy hills, through a tunnel, through a pathway, and then finally after all that to the building which was the “bird building”.

We get directed into the building and I thought for sure this would be some scene where I would to stand in high heels, in a black cocktail dress under the blazing sun. Well it was outside under the hot blazing sun but we were actually seated in a beautifully ornate wedding scene. The chairs were wrapped in lovely white mesh covering with pearls. Her is a picture of my Russian "Brighton Beach" friend posing on set:

The floral arrangements were magnificent and absolutely charming. The wedding altar also wrapped in lovely flowers was set in the middle right by the lake. I was seated on the bride’s side which was played by Michelle Trachtenberg. This wedding was so “Rich” looking, you felt like you were at another Donald Trump wedding. So much detail and decorating went into this gorgeous set making it feel so real.

The scene itself was simple, but it was done over and over and over again. Basically the priest is about marry this couple and then asks “who here is going to give this bride away”? Pause. The bride looks over at her Father played by Bruce Willis and he does not utter a word! That was it.

The thing that got tedious was sitting there in that hot 2pm direct sun. I had a shawl on and tried to block the sun in between takes. Still it was a lovely set and what added to the beauty was this family of swans came into the scene. Don’t know if they were trained to do this but these swans were right on cue every time the director called out “action”. The director by the way is Kevin Smith. You know this will be a great comedy movie. I tell you one thing about the swans if they were just local swans that were friendly, they should all get SAG waivers.

A few hours went by and while we were sitting there the skies were getting heavy and brooding with a thunderstorm likely to come down very soon. Sure enough, the rains came down and down and down. It was heavy rainfall. We all rushed in the building.

Bridesmaids, Weddings guest running into the building to take cover from the rain. It was about 6pm at this time and we thought for sure that they would call it a wrap. Well we were highly mistaken. What the movie people will do to do a scene. We sat there around the wedding tables inside which were also decorated gorgeously.

The PA keeps telling us to be quiet even though there is nothing going on. So we are quiet, but the one person who could not keep quiet and kept going on and on was none other than Tracy Morgan. That guy is always on. He was telling jokes and stories and being really loud. I tell you that guy is not acting. He is the real deal. I mean everyone was tired and wanted to go home and here he was like a ball of fire that could not be extinguished.

Finally the rain settled and there was a clearing in the sky. Thinking we would be walking back to holding now, I was mistaken as the grips were outside re-setting lights and bringing equipment back out to the deck. I was like “You got to be kidding”! All background was called back to set, but not in the seats we had before.

This was an entirely different scene. This was a scene after the ceremony and we were to grab the “fake drinks” and act like we were enjoying the party and talking and toasting. As we did this, they had a helicopter camera drive by us to capture this moment. The helicopter came by and took and aerial shot of all of us. This took about 5 takes and then we were wrapped. The director thanked us all and we were released.

So here I am in heels getting ready for the “Big Race” back to holding. There is a pack of us, yet I am still in the lead with a few. So we get to the path and then to the tunnel. HOLY CRAP WATER!!!!!

There was so much water from the rain that the path was obstructed by this pond in front of us. It was so deep that there was NO way you could walk through it. The only way out was to climb this bench and jump over it. It’s amazing how this can be done in heels and a black cocktail dress! Mind you I almost took a wipe out. If this big broad guy wasn’t in front of me to grab his shoulder, I would have fallen for sure and probably broke my neck and teeth for sure.

I got through that obstacle to the grass obstacle. Since it was still fresh and wet from the rain, I would run a little and then the heels of my shoes would get stuck like quicksand. A couple of times I was ready to leave the shoes behind and just got for it barefoot and all! Made it through that and got to holding on dry concrete. Since I had no clothes to return, I got into the checkout line and was one of the first ones out. You would be proud of me Linda!

I quickly changed into my regular clothes and headed back to Lincoln Avenue. Back to the Q train. Back across the Manhattan bridge. Back to Queens....

Back to one!