On the Set of Rustin by Chad S Sides
Ever been on the set of a movie? A few of you will say yes, most will say no. Heck, being that this is on the internet, some of you may have MADE movies. Me? If you’ve read my bio you know that I have enjoyed making homemade movies… not just low budget but NO budget! I’ve also worked in TV: a little in front of the camera, mostly behind the scenes.
I’ve only had the opportunity to be on the set of one movie, however, and it was a unique experience. I had found an agent nearby strictly by chance. He had moved from California I think to try small town life with his family and try being an agent in Alabama. He was excited to have me on board because movie makers apparently like guys that look like minors but aren’t. I’m sure it just makes the legal process easier for them. I was in my 20’s but could pass for 16 (I’m nearly 30 and still have people ask me if my mother is home when I answered the door).
He had 2 movies for me immediately. One was with star Mel Gibson; it was The Patriot. However, they swapped locations, and ended up filming too far away for me to travel. The other starred Meatloaf and was called Rustin. My agent wanted me to start out as an extra, but had a speaking role lined up for me if I wanted it. Unfortunately the speaking role fell through when I could not work out the time I needed with my employer. The role of an extra, however, was only for a Saturday and was no trouble at all for me.
I was up early for the hour or so drive. The directions were good and I found myself at a school parking lot with numerous trucks, trailers, and tables set up. There was a bustle of cheerleaders, football players, other high school age kids, and some adults. It was already getting hot, and we sought shade wherever we could find it. Thankfully there were plenty of trees to be found. We signed release forms and went to wardrobe approval. Clothes were not provided for us because the attire was so simple. My agent had just told me what to wear and suggested I bring a couple of spare changes. Wardrobe looked at what I was wearing, looked at what I had brought, and decided what I had on - khakis, tennis shoes, pullover shirt – was fine. I had also been told to bring a video camera if I had one, and I was supposed to act like I was filming the scene. I decided that if I was going to act like I was filming, I really WAS going to film! I had a tape ready to go and a fully charged battery.
Before long they were ready to shuttle all of us extras to the set. It was the parking lot of a bank set up to look like a Honda dealership with a platform and PA system. You want to talk about hot? Now we were standing on the pavement with no shade, and it took us all day to film the scene! We did get water breaks as well as a break for lunch, but we spent most of the day in the blazing sun. But you know what? I didn’t hear a single person complain other than just the casual, “boy, it sure it hot.”
I had known Meatloaf was in the movie, and though he looked different than the last picture I had seen of him (lost weight mostly) he was easy to pick out. He had the most lines. I recognized Zachery Ty Bryan although I wasn’t 100 percent sure that’s who he was. I also thought I recognized Rick Johnson’s face, but I had no clue who he was nor did I realize this was also the director AND the writer! You have to understand that in the first part of the scene he is in his vehicle driving up. It’s hard to do that and be on the set directing at the same time! Because I didn't see him do all that much, when he did direct I thought he was just helping out the crew. I might have been able to tell that wasn't the case if I'd had more experience or if I hadn't been in the middle of a crowd and could see more of his interactions with the other crew. Not that it matters all that much, it's just how it is.
“Action!” Actually we were directed to start cheering before action was called. The action call was more for those with speaking parts. I cheered and filmed. Rick would drive up while Meatloaf spoke his lines, then Rick would walk on the platform, say a line or two, then cut. There was one line in particular that Meatloaf kept fouling up though I can’t remember exactly what it was. Even when he got frustrated with it he managed to be kind of comical about it.
Later, the crowd was split so that a camera on a track could be set up about in the middle of where the crowd had been. This was to film Rick’s lines. The rest of the cast and the back part of the crowd, which included me, were allowed to break for a while. Zack disappeared. I don’t blame him; it was HOT, but to me he never really seemed to be much enthused about the whole shoot.
Meatloaf, however, was a totally different story. He was like the uncle everybody likes to have visit. He messed around with some of the young children on the set, sang a few lines of songs at the request of fans, and told jokes to anyone that would listen. Here he was, the biggest name of any in attendance, and he would rather entertain the extras than retreat into the air conditioning! He was thrilled to shake hands, take pictures, and sign autographs. Unfortunately for me I didn’t have the presence of mind to hand my video camera to someone else and shake his hand on film.
There wasn’t a more personable guy on the set that day. To Rick’s credit, though, I got the impression that the only reason he wasn’t personable also was because he was working so hard. When the shoot was over he did shake hands and talk to the extras though he didn’t get swarmed because, like me, few people knew exactly who he was. Still, I got to meet him briefly and got video of him shaking hands with a couple of girls with whom I had made friends.
Those of us sent off the set during Rick’s lines were brought back for filler shots. We cheered some more, pantomimed cheering so that the lines said by people in the crowd could be recorded without noise, and did a few other just-in-case type shots like laughing as a group.
At some point during all this two guys walked up and stood right in front of me. I could tell they were attached to the film in some way other than being extras, but that was all I knew. One of them turned out to be Michael Papajohn. I was close enough that I could have reached out and scratched the back of his head, but I had no clue who he was. Too bad for me. I found out later that he was a major force in the creation of the movie and one of the major supporting actors. He later went on to play Ben Parker's murderer in Spider-Man.
This was all in the summer of 1999. Now it’s near the end of 2003, and I just recently saw the movie for the first time. I’m on screen for about 3 seconds total mostly either from the back or with an arm covering my face which you can’t see anyway because of the video camera. At least I can say that besides Rick himself I’m one of the first people you can see clearly in the whole movie even if it is just my backside.
What is particularly fun is watching my personal footage and remembering the shots we did then looking at the final movie. I did a decent job of guessing which shots they were going to use since we filmed the scene as it was played out from beginning to end except for the filler stuff at the very end. I could tell some of the lines didn't work all that well on screen which were, as expected, dropped in favor of others. It's funny how much we cheered that day compared to how much cheering is in the final cut.
Thankfully the movie ended up being enjoyable. I say “thankfully” partially because otherwise I would have spent $18 just to see myself on screen for 3 seconds and partially because I didn’t feel like I wasted slightly less than 2 hours watching it. I’ve never released any of the footage I shot that day, mostly because I don’t want to infringe on any copyrights. That would be a real good start to a public writing career wouldn't it? I did contact the film company to offer them the footage to include on the DVD, but they didn’t seem interested. I have since edited it a little to cut out the slowest parts and burned it to DVD for safe keeping. I have taken some screenshots of the movie which are listed below. They are copyright 2001 Grabba-Bat Films and are presented here for the purpose of generating interest in the movie. I’ve written a fairly extensive review at www.epinions.com if you want to know more about the movie itself.
The movie title.
Me from the back.
I'm way in the back. That's Michael Papajohn behind the cheerleaders.
You can see me filming.