May 22, 2004

film trucks

Dan found a notice at our door today. Apparently they're shooting a movie around the corner this week. They did last week too. Different movie, though. This one stars Sandra Bullock.

This is how I know I've been in LA too long. My response to the note each time was, "Oh man. Big trucks lining our block. Hope they're not here too long."

Will I crane my neck as I drive by? Probably, yeah. Will I walk up the block to watch the "walk and talk" exterior scene? Probably not. Watching a shoot is interesting... for about five minutes. It's more interesting if you're doing something on set. Otherwise, well, lots of waiting around. A little action. Then more identical action. And then again, only this time from a different angle, necessitating lighting changes. Men and occasionally women moving huge light stand around, putting up scrims and gels. Then the same exact action all over again. Send me a postcard, tell me when the movie's in the theater.

So yeah. Big white trucks lining both sides of our street, making it hard to get past. Cops stationed at the perimeter. Intermittent traffic blockages. Blindingly bright lights at night. Coffee cups in our driveway. A film shoot coming here. Glamour? Just life in action. Slow motion action.

On the other hand, it's fun to go to the movies and spot familiar landmarks. In An Unmarried Woman, Jill Clayburgh barfed into a trash can around the corner from where I grew up and I grinned at the scenery. In The Player, Tim Robbins had lunch in the Fox commissary and I grinned at the extra who was my next door neighbor and the studio lot I called home for a year. Glimpses of my tangible reality on celluloid. That part is very cool, like a snapshot writ large, real life turned into the background for fiction.

I just don't like the coffee-cups-in-the-driveway part.

Posted by Tamar at May 22, 2004 10:11 PM