Opening in limited release next weekend is the film Skills Like This, the story of a failed writer turned bank robber. If you go catch the film, watch for a close-up of yours truly as "office worker on phone eavesdropping over cubicle wall". [youtube]frGAsqYQcVk[/youtube] Lex
>>>Lex is a movie star! Did they pay you? Nope. It was a very indie film, with a lot of people donating time and effort. To be brutally honest, I'm shocked how "professional" the trailer looks. It appears that may filter through to the final product. There was a story behind why this movie was filmed in Denver, but the upshot is, a lot of Denver talent was used, especially behind the scenes. I had done some sound design for a local children's play ("Can you make the lion roar longer?" "I dunno. Lemme ask the lion."), and I got a mass e-mail from the director of the play. He got a (paying) job as the...well, I can't recall his title, but basically, he was in charge of extras. He said anyone interested in being an extra should e-mail him a photo and let him know our schedule. I assumed the e-mail was actually meant for his actor-friends, but being a smartass, I e-mailed him a photo of me with a lacrosse player, and said "when do you want me?" He wrote back "How about next week?" Huh. Luckily, my sister had been an extra in ANOTHER movie filmed in Denver. (If you're really bored one day, watch Ladybugs starring Rodney Dangerfield, and look for a soccer/football goalie in a gold uniform miss an easy shot during the "Great Balls of Fire" music montage. Yep, that's Lex's sister.) So she had let me know that being an extra mainly meant sitting around waiting. So I went to the set with a Walkman, several CDs, three books, and a lot of snacks. I ended up passing out two of the books and most of the snacks, as none of the other extras had known about this. The filming actually went extremely smoothly. I showed the assistant director my three wardrobe choices, and she chose the grey shirt'n'tie. I only had to wait about an hour (my sister had to wait six) before our scene was filmed. They were hoping to get these scenes done in eight hours - it took three. After set-up, it only took six takes for the main scene. At that point, the director said he liked my "prairie dog". Meaning, the way I slowly popped my head up over the cubicle wall to eavesdrop on their conversation. (The second director had suggested I try that.) So he decided to shoot that in close-up. Which was tough. I mean, now everybody was standing there watching ONLY me slowly pop my head up, peer at them, then slowly sink back down. But after two takes, he was happy. Apparently happy enough to leave it in the final print. Lex
