It’s a predominantly hippie movie set in the early 70s in California. We were on Venice Beach, luckily it wasn’t too hot. I did bring a ton of sun block, though. Lots of people got burned, but I’ve already learned that lesson!

While working in the first scene, where a scruffy blond hippy guy drives a Cadillac around a corner, I kept trying to figure out if I knew any of the actors who were working. I was hoping I’d recognize someone. That always makes the day more fun. Well, it took four hours, but then I finally heard the scruffy guy say something… The only word I heard was “can’t” and it was said more like “con’t” because of the fellow’s Australian accent.

Yes, Heath Ledger was there! People were walking past him left and right without knowing who he was. Hell, if he hadn’t said anything I might never have figured him out! Well, at least not until a little while later. You see, Heath now joins the very few celebrities who have actually spoken to me. It was such a crazy moment, too. I mean, there I was sitting on the curb, minding my own business and this scruffy hippie guy comes running at me. He hopped up on the curb as he looked at me and said, “Excuse me. Pardon me.”

Yeah, and that was the one and only panty-melting moment of my day on set. His voice is like velvet in person. I watched the rest of that close-up scene and as far as I can tell, he is a kind of naughty partyboy, but never once was he rude to anyone. He was actually very nice and very down-to-earth, even pausing for a moment to chat with one of the street vendors about a painting. But I’ll bet underneath it all, he really knows how to let his hair down, so to speak. The energy around him was alive with mystery and mischief as well as determination.

The following is from an email sent the day after the shoot:

I was on Be Cool again last night… Remember how last time I saw The Rock, he was rather flamboyant? Well, this time, he was sooooooo the other end of the spectrum and literally beating the stuffing out of a dummy with Vince Vaughn.

I didn’t actually get to see them destroying the dummy, I only heard all the grunting, short lines and echoing punches and kicks.

Then, when I was finally allowed around the corner, there was this poor mutilated dummy laying in a huge pile of its stuffing. I mean, with The Rock beating it up plus Vince, yikes! Vince is actually about an inch or so taller than The Rock, too. Big men…I felt real sorry for the dummy!

I also hope Vince doesn’t think I’m stalking him. I’ve worked on his last three movies: Starsky & Hutch, Anchorman, and now Be Cool…

Remembering back to that night shoot, this email left out a bunch of stuff.

The scene was a swing dance bit inside a club in downtown LA. I don’t know if I got any camera time, and sincerely doubt it, but nonetheless it was fun to see all the swing dancers doing their thing and at least acting like they were having a good time.

I was booked with my Mustang fastback which they’d parked in the background of the scene with the dummy. By the way, in the finished product, it’ll look like Vince and The Rock are killing a guy and putting him in the trunk of their car…rather than a dummy.

Anyhow, that was the night that spoiled me for trusting production people with my car. I was instructed to spend the night in holding after the swing dance part while they used the cars in the parking lot. Fine with me, but I got a little bored so I went out to watch the scene and saw the bit with the dummy.

It was cold that night, so I didn’t stay. Next time I went out there, my car had been moved. No big deal…except that they’d put it hanging out of the driveway, front wheels on the sidewalk, window down, keys in the ignition.

Now this car may just be a car to most people, but to me, she’s my baby. I’d been lovingly pouring time, money and lots of blood sweat and tears into this car since 1993…my dream car essentially…and they’d left her hanging out like that for anyone to easily steal if they’d been so inclined. And I would have been downright inconsolable if that had happened. To me, the car is not at all replaceable.

At that point, I locked my door and took the key. Thankfully, the AD was on my side. He totally understood my frustration and truthfully I wasn’t being a bitch, even though I was perfectly justified. Never once did I raise my voice or say anything mean. I wrote out my cell phone number and told them to call me from holding if they needed to move my car because I was certainly not going to leave my keys with them again.

The next time the car was to be moved was when I signed out. And honestly, I am grateful for the experience because I have had to explain to other productions why I am not willing to leave my keys with anyone. And because of that, they’re usually okay as long as I don’t stray too far from my car.

Had it not been for the car incident, the shoot would’ve been great. I mean, maybe four hours walking through a swing dance club and then ten hours bored, noodling around on my pda in holding is not a bad shoot at all.

Plus, seeing Vince and The Rock again…yum yum yum…

I just got home from a fifteen hour shoot on the set of ‘Kicking and Screaming’…starring Will Farrell. He as well as Vince Vaughn probably think I’m stalking him because I’ve worked on their last couple shows….It’s just rare to have such a long day be such a good day and actually get some decent camera time in the process.

Jen always asks how close I got to whichever star… Well, I was about three inches from Will this time.

And my piece of business…writing. I was writing in my notebook while sitting in a coffee house and Will is standing in a line right next to me.

The man is downright hilarious… a real comedic genius.

It was another one of those scenes where as extras, we’re not allowed to laugh, but as soon as the director hollered “Cut!” we all just busted up to get it out of our system. He’s very professional, very ‘in the moment’ and very funny. Before long, I think I’m gonna end up a Will Farrell fan!

The following is the actual words I wrote in my notebook during the filming of the scene. Boy, did I say what exactly was on my mind…not much!

Making it look like I’m busy… On the set of Kicking and Screaming… Will Farrell’s in this movie. It’s the second of his in a row. So strange. I’m listening to him make a big deal in a coffee shop. He’s playing a caffeine addict. He’s going on and on… It’s actually pretty funny. I’m writing through the break just so I can get onto the next page. Okay. Here we go again. I’m in the shot. I just don’t want to be too obvious. The guy is yelling. This is great. Here he goes again. Not a bad day. Loud. Very loud. But really fun. He’s ranting like crazy. It’s really a blast. But I also really gotta take a whiz…onto my next page. Still going. It’s downright hilarious. I hope they keep this stuff. It’s really a hoot. He’s still going. I’m even required to react to what all’s going on the scene. This is great. Keep going. Wow. Page after page. I’m diggin’ it. I–

After about five to seven takes, they must have gotten what they were looking for because what I wrote in my notebook cut off right there!

And here’s a deleted scene bonus… My 2000 Plymouth Prowler:

Today, I was on the set of ‘Be Cool’. It’s the sequel to ‘Get Shorty’. John Travolta wasn’t there. I’d've loved to see him again. He’s a real sweetie. It’s been a few years since I’ve seen him.In fact, of the three actors that were there, I only recognized one name…and recognized him, the man, as well despite the white satin shirt, light blue pants and red cowboy boots…and, my oh my… I really didn’t think I’d be quite so…ummm… impressed.

Yeah, luckily the weather was a little chilly so I didn’t have to blatantly fan myself because holy-moly The Rock is one super-fine man in person! Wow!

I didn’t see him actually acting in the scene because I was hard at work walking around in the background, but my goodness, I nearly ran into the guy on my way to grab a donut and I swear the man stepped right out of a torrid romance novel…well… from what I could tell with his clothes on at least! Tall and handsome and sexy and seemed rather nice–he was signing autographs for passers-by between shots while the make-up and hair crews touched him up.

It was actually kind of a strange day. There’s nothing like being booked with a particular car, going to start it up at 5:15AM and having the battery cable so corroded that there was no way in the world that car was gonna leave my driveway.

I had to call the casting director and apologize profusely. As luck would have it, my service had told me the wrong car to bring in the first place! I was off the hook and on the road. I made it just in time to hurry up and wait. Seeing The Rock and having to consciously remind myself not to drool was like karma making up for the car not starting.

And as I recall, when I’d spoken with the casting director, I told her that I only had one other new car because the rest were classics.

I guess she remembered that because I got booked again on Be Cool the following week with one of my Mustangs.

The following is an excerpt from an email sent shortly afterward:

Because I’m in SAG [Screen Actors Guild], and I live near LA, if I so choose, I can go to see free screenings where they also have a little interview with one of the actors. This was my first one, just to check it out and I didn’t even stay to watch the movie because I was alllllllll the way back in the theatre–which made the screen appear about the same size as a TV screen anyway.

Okay… All 1100 of us got in free and then they gave us free popcorn and a soda. Well, because I helped a fellow with a broken arm carry an extra drink for his friend, most of the decent seats got taken and I ended up in the third row from the back, third seat in. No big deal. I just wanted to be there.

When the interview was ready to start, a few photographers crowded the aisle on my side. Holy shit! The man was going to come down the aisle about 8 feet away from me! I turned to see the entourage. The actor started looking at people. I had a smile on my face, of course. When his chocolate brown eyes met mine, he smiled. Not only did I make eye contact with Johnny Depp, I unintentionally encouraged him to smile. WooHoo!!!!! I couldn’t believe it. Was no one else smiling around me or something?

That split second was totally worth the entire fiasco I’d gone through just to get there. He stayed for about an hour and answered all sorts of questions. I didn’t stay to watch Pirates because I was so far back, it wouldn’t've been a real theater-movie experience. I was absolutely beside myself the rest of the night. I mean, all I’d set out to do was be in the same room with him and actually hear him speak, but boy oh boy, did I get more than that without even trying! And I will never forget looking into his eyes and finding they were looking right back at me! WooHoo!

The following is from an email sent shortly after the shoot:

Fifteen hours of pure boredom. I only worked for about two, maybe three hours.

They really only wanted our cars parked in the background anyway. I have no idea what the episode was about or anything. All I saw was a guy getting arrested by the FBI.

The rest of the scene took place in a house and all I could hear was a skirmish followed by the words, “Sit down! Sit! Sit!” Sorry, no good plot teasers or anything for anyone who watches the show. They did blow up a door and a window, though. That was pretty nifty.

The real tale this time is for those of you who happen to like Vin Diesel…

As I was sitting in holding, naturally a fellow struck up a conversation with me. We were in one of the older parts of town where there are Victorian homes…kinda run down and forgotten. Anyway, the fellow said that the house they used in the first party scene in Fast & The Furious was about five doors down from where we were working.

He then proceeded to tell me that he’d been Vin’s stand-in for F&F, A Man Apart, Triple X and that sequel they’re doing for Pitch Black. So, I ask the inevitable question… “What’s Vin Diesel like?” And we end up talking about the man for a good half hour.

Apparently, he’s very cool. He does do his best to stay out of the limelight just because he doesn’t like all the hype. The number one thing, though, is that Vin is very loyal. He actually requests this guy whenever he needs a stand-in. They flew the guy to Prague for Triple X… And to Paris for some other thing Vin was working on and for that, Vin called him personally to ask him to come with him… And he went first class, just him and Vin.

WaHoo! It’s always good to know when someone you like really is likable in more ways than just eye candy. Now if the man would just film something in LA that I can actually get on…

This was a great television series. Too bad it’s no longer on. But thankfully, it’s out on DVD. That’s how I got these screen caps. I’m still wishing that Joss Whedon had been on the set.

Back before I became an extra, I’d shown up on the first day of filming of Season One, Episode One as part of my job. I stuck around to watch a set-up and a bunch of takes while Joss was directing. The man is absolutely intense.

The following is from an email written shortly after this later shoot:

So, today, I was on the TV show Angel. I have no idea when the episode will air, though.

I was playing a dead nun… Yes, I [of all people] was dressed in a full nun’s habit and I got to lay motionless on the floor for what felt like eternity.

Yes, I got to see David Boreanaz… I was laying at his feet. Today’s record for getting closest to a principle actor is about an inch and a half. He’s pretty cool. Both a dweeb and a very sexy/cool man all at the same time. Not to mention, he’s also eye candy!

And to top it all off, I got to have fake blood dribbled and smeared on me. They did a bunch of close-ups on the dead nuns so, I’m thinking we’ll have a pretty good featured part. They had us lay down in a weird sort of formation just so we could look spookier because supposedly the guy who killed us used our deaths to go to a different dimension. I dunno. All I know is that I got to be dead with my eyes open and that was pretty nifty in itself.

The show aired on February 4th, 2004. It was Angel’s 100th episode.

Looking back on that day, I remember wishing that James Marsters was there, but he was the only principle cast member who wasn’t. I really wanted to see him again because Jen and I had met him previously. There’s a pic in our author section about that meeting. I’m still bummed the show was canceled. Hopefully, Joss will do another show real soon.

One of my favorite memories of David Boreanaz was when he asked the director if it was okay for him to be so near a big six foot tall cross. Then, later on between takes, seeing the vampire himself leaning on the cross while he waited for the crew to finish fixing up us nuns. Afterward, he even gave up his seat on a couch so that us nuns could sit down…What a sweetie.

The following is from an email I’d sent to Jen:

So, yeah, last night aside from getting more good stuff to put into books, I did an amazing job and they loved all my 80s stuff…especially my 80s hair. You know how I used to do it with the one side flipped up, etc. I just did that again and they LOVED it. They said I had the best hair of the whole show.

As for stuff we need to add into books… We got to the first location with our cars and they initially had me park mine and then I was gonna be a pedestrian, but they last second changed their mind and wanted me to drive through. So, there I go trotting across the street and just as I get behind my car, my feet come completely out from underneath me. I did manage to hurt my wrist and elbow, but the fall was so comic, I just couldn’t mention it.

They’re all askin’ if I’m okay, and I’m laughin’ and giggling, saying I’m fine and I get in the car and do the stuff. And honestly, at the time, I was fine. It wasn’t for about 6 hours later that I started feelin’ it. Ah well. It was just such a Blaina moment. She’s eager to drive on set, so I think it’d be hilarious. We should put something like that in Driven To Distraction.

Okay, now for standing in… Well, sitting in and the scene after that I stood in. And you’re never gonna believe who for… First let me say that she’s about 4 inches taller than me and had long, poofy blonde hair. Yes, I looked NOTHING like her… Denise Crosby. Probably best known as Tasha Yar from Star Trek Next Generation. She’s way cool and she likes late 60s rock ‘n’ roll and rockabilly.

I was just having one of those incredibly ‘on’ kind of nights. The guy I was standing in with was asking me where to go and what to do and the ADs loved me to pieces because I was always trying to fill empty spots and wasn’t afraid to walk between the principals and the camera. I seriously think that of the 4 or 5 different scenes where I walked in front of the camera, one of them has got to be saved from the cutting room floor. This episode takes place in 1983. Two American agents are tailing a Russian agent. This was 2nd unit, so that’s about all the information I have on the episode.

I think the movie was called Sleepover, but I’m not positive. I remember it being a high school kids movie. This was my second time being a stand-in.

The regular stand-in didn’t show up that night for some reason, so the 2nd Assistant Director gathered up all of the female extras, I believe there were only about four or five of us. We stood there, waiting to find out which of us would be the stand-in.

It came down to me and another girl. The AD got on her radio saying something like, “Well, neither of them look like her at all. Do you want someone the right size, but an inch shorter and with the wrong hair color or someone who’s the right height, but wrong size and also wrong hair color?” Then the radio broke up and the AD had to just make a quick decision.

The following is an excerpt from an email I wrote to Jen the day after the shoot:

Let me get the two dirty jokes from the set out of the way… ‘What did Cinderella do when she got to the ball? …She choked…’ and you know the saying: ‘I’m all over it, like white on rice.’ Well, new and improved: ‘I’m all over it, like a grip on an extra.’

Now for story time… The female stand-in didn’t show up, so they lined up all the girls and picked one–me! And I look nothing like the actress, but I’m the same size as she is. So, they put this incredibly ill-fitting blonde wig on me. Remember Julia Roberts in the beginning of Pretty Woman? That’s kinda the style of this blonde wig. I looked horrible.

They gave me a pink shirt to put on, too and there I go to be a stand-in. It’s cold and raining off and on, but at least as a stand-in, I can sit in the nice director’s chairs by the heaters. Anyhow, I was kinda feeling like Blaina must feel when she’s trussed up to look like Meleta. I mean, guys didn’t know what to make of my fake hair. Some were afraid to ask! It was pretty funny. I wish I’d had a camera.

Meet Blaina and Meleta in Driven to Distraction.

Okay… This is gonna be a long one. The past couple of days just whizzed past me with non-stop excitement. Even as I write this, there are still plenty of helicopters flying over my neighborhood. I mean, I thrive on excitement, but this was really, really pushing my envelope. Although, the best thing I got out of the experience is the knowledge that if I had lost everything, I knew I could survive. I take life as it comes at me and I would have been just fine. Sometimes, that’s one of the best things to learn in life.

All right… here goes!

I’d headed out to the set of Havoc [Bijou Phillips, Anne Hathaway, etc.]. As I got on the freeway, I saw about fifteen fire engines in one of the canyons just past my house. The police were out closing the road down there and the mountains were ablaze.

Knowing that my house was empty, I figured I’d better call production and tell them I’d be late and high tail it back to my house to get out the important stuff.

The casting director said she was just going to take me off the call and I replied that once I cleared out my house, I’d have nowhere else to go, plus if my house did go up, I’d need the money I’d be making while on set. She changed my call time to later and wished me luck as I started to drive up my mountain.

My husband was stuck in traffic from one direction and his best friend was stuck in traffic from the other direction. That left me as the only one who could empty out the house and get our cars out of there as well.

I turned onto the street that goes up the mountainside…right behind a police officer on the bullhorn asking residents to voluntarily evacuate.

Up at my place, there were fire engines in the cul-de-sac nearly blocking my driveway, but I pulled into my garage and immediately started to load the non-replaceable stuff I’d set out. I paused that task in order get my husband’s car out. He’d told me that as far as he was concerned, the only thing he cared about was his car, so I asked one of the firefighters if it was okay to drive out and then walk back up. He was wonderful. He said that even if I left the car in the garage, it’d have a better chance of surviving because my house was built using non-combustible materials, but if I could get it down the street, it might not be a bad idea.

I had to leave one car behind already–the one that blew the tire on the way to the set on Saturday, so his words really reassured me that even though the situation was bad, it could’ve been ten times worse. So I thanked the man, hopped into my husband’s car and got it out of the neighborhood as my husband was walking up the street. He jumped in the car to take it to safer ground and I started walking back up the hill. One of my neighbors picked me up and took me back to my house where I continued loading the last bits of what wasn’t replaceable. The whole area was clouded with smoke. As far as I could tell, my whole world was on fire.

At this point, my biggest regret was that I hadn’t gone through my huge wardrobe to choose out what needed to go with me, so I grabbed some of my period costumes, vintage clothes and the stuff I designed and built and tossed it in my car. Then, I had to rearrange some stuff because I was almost out of room.

After that, I figured one last trip…. and went into my closet. As I was deliberating–I mean, there were still about a hundred pairs of shoes in there!–a fireman walked in behind me. He said that I was really pushing it. We were almost out of time. And what struck me most was that even as I was grabbing the last few things, he kept standing there like he wasn’t leaving until I was out of there.

He was wearing the full yellow super-uniform and his face had splotches of soot. Then he held out his hands and asked if he could help carry stuff. I handed him what was in my arms and grabbed a couple more things. He asked if I had a cell phone and I told him it was with me. He told me to grab my charger, so that was the last thing I got out of the house before we loaded my clothes into my car.

He told me how the fire was going to come along the side of my hill and sweep around my neighborhood, but that they’d be there to fight it. There were some curtains from my garage door that he picked up and set deeper into the garage. Yeah, at that point, I was really, really, really, really understanding that that very well could have been the last time I saw my house.

As I drove down the street, my husband was walking back up. I picked him up and we went down the base of the mountain into a store parking lot where we waited for a little while and just watched the amber glow behind the mountain get brighter.

Some of my husband’s co-workers called up. They’d gone to the house to help get out the cars. I was glad they were there because I’d forgotten a couple things that they were able to grab. They met us in the parking lot and I looked at my husband…and remembered that he had probably left the back sliding window open. So, we piled into the co-worker’s SUV and headed back up the hill. They weren’t gonna let us, but they stopped the people behind us instead.

Once at the house, we closed the sliding door–it opened onto the only wood on the outside of the house–our back deck. I ran through the house with my video camera shooting what could have been my last trip through. I just kept the thing running. I’m kinda looking forward to see the video because I know I said some crazy stuff and I even stopped to grab some clean underwear. I mean–I had my priorities!!!! LOL So, while there were firemen in my front and backyard, we were heading down the mountain. There was nothing left to do but wait.

I went to the movie set. I was a hooker! The best part of the whole night was when the AD told me and the girls, “I don’t really know how to say this, but could you guys ‘ho’ it up a little more?” Yeah, what a night! We had a blast and the guys that we ‘ho’ed it up with were all really fun sports. I so loved the people on that set.

I got out at 5AM and I drove by my house on the way to my friend’s place and I couldn’t see if it was okay because there was too much smoke. I was recalled to the set last night and I left super early because the freeway was closed and I had to find a way around.

I stopped off at the base of my mountain to ask the cop how close the fire got. He told me that I couldn’t drive up there, but I could walk if I wanted to and that the fire came right up to the back fences, but the firemen were able to keep the houses safe. I breathed a sigh of relief, coughed because of the smoke, ash and fumes, and then headed out toward the set, hoping that I’d be able to come home after working. I drove past the inferno in the mountains and got on my way.

…And then as I was driving, I got a really bad feeling. Like the danger wasn’t over just yet and I wanted to turn around and go back, but I knew I couldn’t make it home and then back to the set before call time, so I got in touch with my husband and told him to walk up to the house because I had a really bad feeling. I guess the concern in voice got him curious enough to go look.

He was just about to give up and think I was wrong when as he was standing there on the back deck, with the whole mountainside still smoldering, one of the trees ignited. He said that the flame was ten feet higher than the thirty foot tree itself. [Yeah, that'll teach him to doubt my psychic ability!!!!!] He scrambled inside the house to call 911 and the firemen came back and put out the blaze a few minutes later. He was the only one on our street at that point. Had he not been there, a few houses might’ve gotten damaged.

The fire was still raging in the wild when I drove home at 3AM this morning. There’s ash everywhere–almost like snow. The air is still smoky and hard to breathe outside. Helicopters are still flying overhead, but for my neighborhood, the worst is over. It had burned all the way up to the city-maintained landscaping just beyond my back fence.

I went to the store today and there were some firemen looking for Band-Aids and such. As I walked past the first one, I got all choked up. All I could do was just look at him and the next one. By the time I walked past the third, I finally choked out ‘thank you’ without completely losing it. His ‘you’re welcome’ reply will echo in my mind forever.

Outside the store, I drove past the fire engine and choked out another thank you and told another fireman that my house was one of the ones on the edge and he got a really big grin on his face as he nodded his head and said ‘Wow! You’re welcome’.

I hope this darn blaze goes out soon. These guys have been working for over a week. They’re missing their kids’ Halloween for this, too. These men are just so wonderfully amazing. They were both reassuring and honest that it was entirely possible we could have lost everything. And to think this was one of the smaller blazes going on in SoCal!

I know there are some vigilant people out there who would’ve stayed at their house until the very end, but my take on it was that these guys really know what they’re doing and I felt better getting myself out of their way so they’d have one less person to worry about. If this ever happens again, the only thing I would do differently is make sure I got the number of the fire trucks that were outside my house so I’d know where to send my thanks.

Okay, I think that’s about it for my fire story plus being on the set of Havoc. It will definitely show up in a book at some point. No doubt about that. I mean, don’t be surprised if some frantic heroine is in her closet gathering up her favorite clothes when a soot covered hero walks up behind her, won’t leave until she does and offers to help carry stuff out of her house. These heroes really do exist.

UPDATE: Rather than trying to figure out how to add the update to this entry, click here for screen captures and more about my time on Havoc!