Syriana

I was given a hotline number and told to call Friday night after 7pm to get all the info on location and call time (what time I'm supposed to be there) for Saturday. So I patiently waited until 7 pm ... and found out that everyone booked as embassy workers were also added to the funeral scene ... I had to come wearing an outfit appropriate for a funeral in the summer time and my call time was ... 4:45 AM ... so once I had the location address, I got off the phone and tried to find something appropriate for a funeral and set my alarm for 3am ... I think I finally got to bed around 9:30 ... so not too bad ...
The one thing about having a call that early is that it's much more fun to drive on LA's highways ;) ... it's almost eerie seeing so little traffic . I got to cast and crew parking right on time and we were bussed to base camp ... an old abandoned prison . It was kinda cool and creepy at the same time ... there were giant brick walls and barbwire everywhere ... I'm sure the location is used for lots of filming .
we were told to partner up with the actors that were booked for the funeral scene with their cars and that we would caravan to the cemetery ... so that's what we did and once we got there, the cars stayed in line and we just parked and waited in our cars ... basically all we did was get out of our cars and head toward the green tent out in the cemetery ... I would say it's one of the nicer background scenes I've done just because you got to sit in between takes ;) ... so we did that for a few hours ... when we got back to base camp (around 7:30ish) it looked like a different world ... all the other extras were now there and it was strange seeing the walls with barbwire and men dressed in army desert fatigues and middle eastern men and kids dressed in pakastani wardrobe ... if I didn't mention it before, the setting for the scene I was originally booked on was an american embassy in pakistan ... now there was an american flag and a pakastani flag flying ... It's always so cool to see how the set dresser's and decorators can magically turn one location into something else completely .
We finally get led to the set, which is a courtyard with a gated entrance complete with metal detector and the "entrance" to the embassy ... basically during the scene we all had to walk in different directions around the actors doing dialogue . I was partnered with this girl from australia (who is also booked on Poseidon) and we had to walk fast like we were late past the actors into the building ... I know, I know, it was a very challenging role, but I think I did ok (<-- sarcasm :P) ...
well, they finally broke the 4:45 people for lunch and since it was past time for lunch, that meant we got a meal penalty (that's extra money) ... and we got a whole hour for lunch ... but I was getting real sleepy by the time I finished stuffing myself.
after lunch, we did 1 more outside shot, and they had Sallie (the australian girl from earlier) and I just stand in place and carry on a conversation as people were walking in through the metal detector ... we just kept talking and it was funny, because all of a sudden we looked around and almost everyone was gone! But they weren't far ... they were just getting ready for an interior scene ...
Well ... to make this boring blog entry short ... they ended up cutting a lot of people, but keeping most of us (the embassy workers) for the interior hall scene ... my exciting part was standing in the hall having a conversation and then walking down the hall ...
Finally, we wrapped and I got signed out with 11 hours to my name ;) ... love that overtime ...