Retirement Life
Recently, I was booked to work on Resident Alien as "Man in Black". I know, I got pretty excited about it. See, a normal day working in Background (BG) will have you sitting around in holding 80% of the time, and maybe only a couple of hours on set, walking back and forth in the back of the scene. So when I got the request to be a Man in Black, I immediately thought that I could end up being one of the MIB guys - it is a TV show about an alien, after all. Getting to dress up and pretend to fight aliens seemed like it might make for a much more exciting day on set, and I actually wore a black suit to work that day, hoping to play that kind of character.
Well, it wasn't to be. When I got there, the costumer gave me my outfit, which was a military SWAT-type get-up, entirely in black... i.e. Man in Black. We had a chuckle over it, and she even joked that I should go to set in my black suit and see how the director and team reacted. Anyhow, I changed into my costume, and then had a look at the call sheet. But the wrangler stops me and says, "no Richard, you're on splinter unit today... it's just you on that." So what that means, is there's another unit of camera production, complete with separate director, AD, etc. that shoots a completely different scene or scenes from main unit. No problem, I'm thinking... it's sometimes better when there's less BG involved.
After a relatively short wait, the wrangler sends me outside, to where the splinter unit has set up. I come around the corner, and see that the set is an old RV! This is going to be interesting, me thinks. The AD grabs me, and leads me in a holding tent that they call a Green room, and introduces me to the young actor I will be working with. He also hands me a set of "sides", which are the lines for the scene. This is not normal experience for a BG. The props guy comes by, and kits me out with my tactical vest, protective gear, helmet and rubber gun. I sit and peruse the sides, noting that there really isn't much description of what I'm going to be doing, and there certainly aren't any lines for me to read. I'm the bad guy, and will be kidnapping the young alien, cleverly disguised as a human boy.
A little while later, it's showtime, but just me for some reason. The AD brings me in to the RV to do some "blocking"; this is where they choreograph the actions of the scene, so the camera operator etc. get what the director is looking for. Well, it's just me and the cameraman in the RV - no one else; strange, but cool at the same time. After everyone is happy with the setup, the director yells, "let's shoot!" I step outside so that the props guy and the costumer can make sure everything looks good on me, and I head back into the RV. We shot the scene a 1/2 dozen times, mostly because it was hard for me to come out from behind a curtain to surprise the alien without bumping into the lighting rigs in the cramped space. I hear from outside the RV, "more menacing!" which was my cue to put on an even more fearsome look.
We finish that angle, and it's time for "the turnaround". This is where the young actor, Kesler, comes into play, and the camera shoots over my shoulder, capturing the moment when he enters the RV and looks up to me with terror in his eyes. We ran that one a few times, then we switched to a scene where the RV is being hauled away by a helicopter, and Kesler struggles in vain to get out a window, and I pull him back. In all, from the time I arrived on set, to when I was wrapped, it was just over four hours.
When we finished, I asked the AD if he felt that constituted an actor upgrade, and he thought it did. So after a bit of paperwork and some back and forth with production, I got the upgrade!
Anyhow, it's out now, but you'll have to watch very carefully to see me; you can see the clip above, or if you are watching Season 2, episode 12, pay attention during the alien kidnapping scene!
