November 16, 2011

Reel life

So you know how we like drama in this here family?  (Well, Nature Boy and I do.  Not so sure about Tree Guy on that one.)  My son and I got the chance to be in a movie a couple weeks ago!  We found out about the opportunity the day before filming, and since we are slackers very relaxed homeschoolers, we actually got dressed for the day cleared our schedule and headed over to the set.

We were extras (extra AWESOME, that is) in a Christmas pageant scene filmed in a local children's theater.  Nature Boy was originally supposed to be an audience member like me, but he got pulled to be one of the shepherds in the pageant.  He was so excited!
 
I was a mere 5 feet away from Vivica A. Fox and Eric Roberts, y'all!  Viv and E. Ro (yeah, we're tight like that) brought down the house with a soulful Christmas song as I sat in the front row of their "audience".  We filmed several different audience reactions.  My favorite was the one in which we had to crack up, of course.  We were supposed to pretend that something hilarious was happening onstage (one of those childrens' pageants-gone-awry situations).  I hope my guffaws don't look stupid on film... 

Not that anyone really pays attention to the extras in a film anyway.*  The audience will likely just seem like a big emotive mass eclipsed by the wonder that is the beautiful Vivica A. Fox and the charismatic Eric Roberts.  (Who wears rose perfume and can make noises that sound like a trumpet with his mouth, respectively.)

When we got there, we were told not to bother the stars (as if we would ever stalk a public figure!!!), not to take pictures or video, and that we'd have to stand until it was time to film our scene.  There's a whole lot of waiting around on a movie set, y'all.  We did about 4 hours of waiting and about 1 hour of filming.  But it was FUN!  The only annoying thing about the day was that the "kid handler" was constantly yelling, "SETTLE!!!!!!!!"  Which was more disruptive than the chatting kids if you ask me...  

Nature Boy was armed with the latest 39 Clues book and his Nintendo DSi, and I was armed with granola bars, so the waiting wasn't too bad.  The director of the movie was wonderful.  (He looks a lot like Donald Sutherland!)  His wife was sweet too.  So This is Christmas is scheduled to come out in Fall 2012.  Check it out!


*Of course, I fully expect you, dear readers, to watch the movie and intently stare at the front row of the audience during the pageant scene.  I don't care how well Vivica breaks it down, I want your eyes on me.  Got it?  Kidding, of course!  (Kind of.)

2 comments:

  1. OMG. My displaced sister is a superstar!
    Can I have your autograph!?
    I'll definitely watch this one :D

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  2. the charismatic Eric Roberts. (Who wears rose perfume and can make noises that sound like a trumpet with his mouth, respectively.)
    ...
    until I got to the "respectively", I thought that Roberts did both of these things. The somewhat disturbing thing is that I didn't think it was strange at all (;

    I have also had the funtime experience of a grown up warden type doing lots of loud "shhhhhh"ing and yelling of "settle" kind of things and, I too, thought "wow, you are so much more disruptive than these children talking quietly to each other" (:

    As soon as your movie comes out, you'll be stalking material. I'm glad you can put yourselves in our place and know that "stalking" is only for those crazy folks who want to take you, not just to lunch, but also to dinner and want all 53 books signed, not a paltry 3 (;

    -Mama

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