Monday, July 5, 2010

They’re filming a movie in front of my house.

I can’t say which one it is because they might sue me or something but suffice it to say, that this is Vancouver and its July.

This is a new experience for me. The closest I’ve ever got to a film shoot has been travelling past long lines of trucks and long trailers for the actors and crew on my way to somewhere else.

Its an interesting process to watch from my balcony. A few hours after sunrise, heavily laden carts started trundling along the footpath. I suppose the trucks they came from were parked somewhere beyond my line of sight. And a small army of men of all shapes and sizes, all wearing the same style of baggy shorts and mismatched T-shirts trundled along with the carts and began unloading them.

An hour or two later women began arriving, slightly better dressed, with paper cups of coffee in their hands. Luckily for them there’s a Starbucks on a nearby corner. Lucky for the Starbucks, along with the wonderful array of specialty eateries along our little strip of street too, seeing as the HST (Harmonised Sales Tax for those who are not B.C.-ers and may not have an idea why we are so irate about it) came into force five days ago and sales are not looking healthy. I suspect the women are involved with something more than the mere grunt-work of the trundling carts.

Then more people arrive, also with coffee cups in hand, who don’t appear to be doing anything useful at the moment and have their cell phones permanently attached to their ears. These strange beings are the actors, who embody the phrase ‘hurry up and wait’.

Further up the street giant lights and cameras connected to fat strands of cables are turned on, and the words, “... and action!” echo back to me.

It appears that I’ve witnessed my first live ‘take’. How could this day get any better?


And now, for the Quote of the Post....

“Can’t act. Slightly bald. Also dances” – Anonymous studio official about Fred Astaire

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