Another day another shoot... with car crashes, and exploding windows

This past weekend, I had another shoot for the film I was doing. I was pretty excited because I was one of six people who asked to bring cars to the shoot so that they could actually use them in the film (which meant more $$$ for me ;). I was supposed to drive it through a major intersection just before 6 cars smashed into each other. Cooooool stuff.

After I arrived on set, they told me to park behind a blue Tahoe, and then wait for further instructions... Which was fine... except that I really really had to go to the bathroom. Finally, 2 1/2 hours later, I broke down and decided to make a quick run, and then sure enough found out that the AD had come around to give directions while I was in the bathroom, and that I had lost my spot to one of the other drivers. This is one of the things I've come to learn- if you are involved in huge projects with a lot of people, (and ultimately millions of dollars at stake) the production schedule comes before all. Unless you are one of the major players in the film, If you miss a beat, you're out. As such, I ended up spending the vast majority of the afternoon simply sitting in the car parked right behind where the accident took place. It did however, still add to the scene, still earn me a paycheck, and keep me warm and out of the wind while everyone else was outside freezing (the weather was snowy and unbelievably cold) so I didn't particularly have any complaints about it.

Even so, it was a pretty cool shoot to see up close and personal. There were 6 car crashes, gunfire, windows exploding, etc. Typical Hollywood fare. Didn't know semi-automatic weaponry was that loud. Nor had I ever witnessed real car accidents that close either. Interestingly enough, I also figured out how they blow out the windows to real restaurants and things on set... Very interesting stuff. Definately a trick I'd love to use in a film sometime myself. For this scene 50 cent was also present. I was talking to a few people on set during one of the downtimes, and noticed that he sitting about 10 feet away from me. No chances to talk to him at all (and I didn't except to), but I was surprised to find that he looks exactly like he does on TV. Don't know what I expected to be different... but when I was doing security for celebs a few years back, I was suprised at just how different a few of them looked than they do on TV. Sometimes, it's really a wonder what make-up can do ;)