SALT - Angelina Jolie Feature Film 3-21-09

(from 3-21-09)

Made it to the second and final Saturday for the taping of "SALT", the Angelina Jolie feature film where she portrays a double agent.

Tom Cruise was originally picked to do the role, though it was given to Jolie, because Cruise was too "short" and a "Closet gay".

The good thing about it being our second time on this set for this scene, was that we knew what we needed to wear and where we would be situated. Also the holding area was going to be the Marriot again.

Our call-in time to check the voice messaging system with the details was for 8pm. Now you would think that the message would be shorter than last week, as the majority of us were going to be there. Save for the young Lady who got rolled away in the ambulance. Somehow I don't think she had been invited back.


Still the message should have been maximum of 5 minutes long, instead it was a grueling 15 minutes. Being the fact that the message was released before 9pm, meant wasting cell phone minutes. Almost as long as last weeks message, I managed to knit a sweater, run the marathon, flew to the moon and back, got a root canal, and roasted a turkey before the punchline, of WHAT TIME TO REPORT WAS!!!! WOW, that really wiped me out.


Onwards.. March my fellow background artists to the call of early call time MADNESS! Actually 6am was far better than 5:30 a.m. from last week. Still it was a mess and people were wrapped around the stairs, again from the night before, just to get checked in.


Eventually as the line petered down, we somewhat resumed the same general location of the seats which we were sitting in the previous Saturday. Just as we were getting acclimated and finishing up breakfast, the PA came into the blew her trumpets signifying it was time to gather everyone up and head to set! Trumpets blaring:"EVERYONE OUT OF THIS ROOM!!...NOW!!



Quickly we went back to our spots that we were in the previous Saturday. Mine of course was the bathroom lounge at the Waldorf Astoria. Truly gives the "Bathroom experience" new meaning. Just made you feel a little more "Special" than using regular bathrooms.

On to the scene:

We went outside to our original positions by the doors of the Waldorf to soon be directed and follow the swarm of people to the other side of the street, opposite of St. Bartholomew's church. They had all the background on that side to fill in as many bodies as they could to make it about 5 deep. From the sidewalks all the way back to the buildings on that block.

So we are So sandwiched in and there is no way out. I was kind of pissed because I wanted to get in the front row and thought I was in a bad position. Later as the scene progressed, my fellow background Friends and I soon found out that we were actually standing on "prime real estate" of the stars.The scene had has huddling as close as we could on this block. Though with over 700 background a New York block on Park Avenue becomes a small piece of land.

In fact we were SO sandwiched in at this point. It felt like being in Times Square subway platform with the capacity of reaching it's limit and if you were to "stuff" more people on that platform you would surely fall off the edge and into the tracks and be slaughtered by the third rail in seconds.


Well at least we were amongst friends here. Secretly, I was hoping that a cute guy would rub against me ;)

Thought that didn't happen. What did happen was that I got "Touched by an ANGEL-ina!" That's right. In the scene we are ALL standing there and pretending to be watching this funeral procession. Suddenly this Woman with Raven Black hair, scurries in front of us. I was like "How rude is that?"

Before I had a chance to really get angry, I saw that it was an ANGEL-ina that touched me. Yes that's right I got touched by her. My other friend got stepped on by her. Most of us got "Brushed" by her when she went past us.

I managed to get a picture of my friend Laurie demonstrating where she got "brushed" by Angelina on her coat sleeve. "Never to be washed again!" , she declared. Because being "touched by Angelina means we have been touched by Brad!" Oh my!

At that point the rest of the day, and the fact that it was chilly on Park Avenue and got we NO food, and it was a walk-away lunch did not matter. We were touched, stepped on, and brushed by a million dollars.. WOW , it felt good.

Feel even better if it(million dollars) were in my pocket...

Sigh :(

Back to One !

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SALT Angelina Jolie Feature Film

After two months of not getting ANY background work, finally the long awaited "Cattle Call" for background had arrived! This was for the booking on the feature film "SALT" starring Angelina Jolie! NO, Brad is not in this one, Sorry Girls!

I submitted to be cast on this movie numerous times on Casting Networks, never to get a reply. The only reason I even got this was because while we were on the "Hirosaki Theater Players", our friend Mike got the call from Central Casting, and we overheard him on the phone getting booked for this. So luckily we got in on the action and before you know it Mikes Iphone was passed along to seven of us sitting there in the theater and talked to Jamie at Central which got us all booked right there on the spot.

So of course you are thrilled to get a booking; any booking. Though when I got my "check-in #421", I knew this was a huge casting call and they were booking everyone and anyone that can breathe! Being the fact this was for a Saturday, it didn't interfere with regular work week, so I didn't think it would be that bad of a day.

The week went by and throughout I kept getting text messages and phone calls of so many people that I haven't heard from in ages that they were booked on this movie as well. I was actually looking forward to this, as it was not only a job, it was going to be more like a reunion for my friends in the background world which I have not seen for ages.

The much anticipated call times and location was to be released Friday afternoon by 3pm. Well that soon changed to 10pm at night with a 20 minute message telling us basically to wear black and be somber as it was going to be this mass funeral scene.

A month later when she finally got to the call times, you felt like replaying the entire message because you couldn't believe your ears when you heard that the call times were for 5:30am!!! Oh the Horror!

Yes this is correct..Repeat NOT an error....You waited ALL day long to get the call times and location just to be inundated by this massive description to what to wear for a funeral scene, just to be side swiped and left in shock and dismay. This meant that after you hung up the phone, and used up all your minutes just to hear this message, you had to quickly grab some black clothes, shower, shave, and try to get at least 2 hours sleep and make it on time! Unbelievable!

The holding area was over at the Marriott on Lexington between 48 and 49th streets. For myself this was a decent location to commute to, though being the fact it was a Saturday, the trains are at "turtle" speed and the "E-vil" train is swarming and reeking of the homeless parking their make-shift "bedroom in the corner of the train. The only good thing about that is there are plenty of seats to choose from if you don't mind not breathing.

I arrived to the lobby of the Marriott and immediately recognized over 20 people who I have not seen for ever! We quickly acknowledged each others presence and then were directed our designated floors. All reporters had the room on the bottom floor which seated about 200 and the rest of us Spectators/mourners went up to the second floor room which had the seating capacity of over a thousand.

The first part of the day consisted of lines. The first one of course was a huge line wrapping around the stairs to get checked in and to get our voucher. The second line up was of course to get food. The third was to get our wardrobe checked.

Now I really love this part, especially when this is for a funeral scene, exteriors, which means we will be wearing our coats. Yet, you have to go through this unnecessary line to get more "black" clothes, because your clothes were not "black" enough. This really made sense as we were to be stationed outdoors for the entire day wearing our coats where our clothes underneath would not even been seen at all.

I also love the fact that they were giving people costume jewelry to wear and had to hand in their vouchers for it. What a complete waste of time. For one thing, no one is going to see you and secondly to have to go through another line-up at the end of the day to return a pair of earrings is absurd. But you see wardrobe has to make it look like they are doing their job, so they will give these items out and call it a day meanwhile you are stuck with this piece of crap all day long and responsible for it.

...On to the scene of the day....

This was a huge production of a funeral scene. I mean this was massive. It was the type of production of a funeral that would be fit for a KING or some other royalty. Not a president, though. Presidents, especially when Bush jr. finally kicks the bucket will get an unceremonious ceremony involving a sack and some dirt for messing up this country so badly.

The entire stream of the funeral had a somber yet respectful approach to it. The funeral procession stretched from the front doors of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel,

to the doors of St. Bartholomew's. The procession itself was lavishly decorated with a band of marching bagpipe players, sailors, military, followed by police motor cycles, Police cars, and of course the hearse and the immediate family members following in limos behind the parade.

We were the spectators along the sidewalks of the streets and somberly looking on. This was to be the longest funeral procession of all time. For those of you who were around to see Princess Lady Diana's funeral know how many hours that procession lasted. I think this one beat the record. Every time the director shouted "Action", within seconds, "CUT"- "Back to one!" was yelled out. For us spectators it was easy to reset, though not so much with the marching band and the police cars, and the hearse, and limos ALL had to reverse back to their "ones".

Sounds easy, but not so much as a couple of times, the drivers nearly slammed into each other a couple of times while reversing too much. As for us "general" background, standing there for several hours became challenging in terms of the pin in our feet and the weather forecast which where we were standing, got directly into the winds which made it feel a lot colder than the actual temperature for the day.

The only good thing about where I was positioned was that we were right by the front entrance of the Waldorf, where we went inside to seek refuge every time they said "CUT"! In fact we had our little room on the side, where the concierge actually put out chairs for us ladies to sit down on. That was really nice of the guy to do.

On the other side of the street a group of people crammed into a "Capital One bank" vestibule to seek refuge from the frosty air.Still those little spurts of running into the building everytime saved us somewhat, but not when they were rolling for longer takes.

Here is a brief synopsis about the film:

Angelina Jolie takes on her role a raven-haired femme fatale Evelyn A. Salt as she films her upcoming spy flick with costar Liev Schreiber in New York City on Saturday (March 14).

Salt is a CIA officer who is fingered as a Russian sleeper spy. Liev plays Salt’s boss and friend on the Russian desk at the CIA. The film was originally developed with Tom Cruise in the lead role, centering on Edwin A. Salt.

Now you would think that with such big star names, would mean a BIG budget. Well yes it's a BIG budget an paycheck for the SAG players and the principal actors, though for NON-SAG, not so much.
The worst part of the day was standing outside for 9 hours and not getting any food or water save for a basket of Rugalach cookies and a box of Poland Spring for a thousand extras.

I grabbed a couple of waters and though, well "they are going to have some kind of lunch soon, so I can hold out until then!" Well I was right about one thing, we did get lunch. However, it was a WALK-AWAY lunch! Unbelievable. You tell me that with such a big name production, you couldn't give us at least a measly boxed lunch. You have got to be kidding! How cheap is that??

Here is a big name player, Angelina Jolie who is know for adopting and feeding starving children around the world, and yet us starving and sleep deprived extras get NOTHING!!! As Linda Rhodes, fellow background star put it ".."hey Ang- tell your African daughter there are starving people on Park Avenue!" This is actually Columbia Pictures fault for sure. It seems to me that the "bigger" the STAR power, the smaller the treatment is to the background extras.

I do realize that they don't have to give us any meal. I have been on bigger productions such as "I am Legend" starring Will Smith and the background count was 1500 people. Still we had a "army tent serving of slop as food which was horrible, though we at least got that much. In this case they should have mentioned this in the 25minute long message, than perhaps we would have come better prepared and not to deal with the chaos that later ensued.

After our "Walk-away lunch", we got back to our original "ones". OK great just another 5 hours to go!! Our wrap time was based on the fact that the sun goes down now at around 6:30pm. So it was the same thing that we were doing in the morning. This time however the vehicles moved inched closer to the church. Though every time they shouted out "CUT" they had to reverse even further back.

The difference between the morning and now was that there were so many more regular people and tourists by the Waldorf who wanted to see if they could get a glimpse of Angelina. This of course made it more difficult for the Pa's to try and stop traffic going by into the scene. On top of all the you had the paparazzi waiting to get the perfect shot.

Here is everyone trying to get as close as they can to this superstar, and who happens to be right beside her is "Crazy AL", the BEAST of BACKGROUND. This guy is such a menace. He is a loud mouth, looks like an oversized walrus, and is an absolute obnoxious miscreant. Yet he gets into the scene. Shoot me now! Who did he threaten to even get booked on this??? Moving on... Sigh ;(

I guess with all this going on, and the throngs of people getting thicker, some people get sick, just can't take anymore and shut down. In the midst of all this about 10 people away from me, and incident occurred where a young Lady had a mild seizure and physically dropped down, almost to the ground.

Luckily a friend of mine was there to catch her fall. Within seconds, the PA was called to hold people back and an ambulance came on set. Within seconds, they got her on the stretcher and rolled her into the ambulance. My friend Linda and I looked at each other and thought "Well that's one less non-union to sign out!

I thought "This is a good time to wrap!" Not so much. Within seconds, they continued the scene as if nothing had happened. About an hour after that, they yelled out our favorite words "It's a wrap!" Yippee!! All the pain and fatigue vanished as we ALL super-charged and scurried like mad dogs to get back to holding to sign out so we could go home.

What a long day it was..Back to One, next Saturday!

A.