I’m on a boat

Previously on 24:

7:30pm: I was playing footy with my mates in Kennedy Town. My new British friend Damian told me that he was going to play an extra in a film directed by Steven Soderbergh with Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslett, and Marion Cotillard.  He asked if I was interested in going with him, I said, “sure, why not.” He told me they were meeting at 3:30 am. I was contemplating it, although at that point, it was unlikely that I would be going because come on, 3:30 am… Then he got an email telling me it was changed to 6:15 am, at that point it was more feasible.  I told him to give me a call in the morning and we would see what happens…

The following are the detailed events, albeit vague at times, of my time as an extra on a major Hollywood film.  All times are approximate for this day (all the times are pretty accurate up until I get to the set).

12:15 am: get back to the flat exhausted after playing football the entire night, jump in the shower, send casting director a picture of me.

12:35 am: contemplating if I am realistically going to wake up in 4 hours to be an extra.  Set alarm for 5:00 am just in case.

5:00 am: Wake up time.  Aaaaaaaaahhhh so tired. Need more sleep. Snooze option available? No.. Screw you Hollywood, time for some more sleep.

5:30 am: Wake up call from Damian.

Damian: Hey, are you going to meet me in Causeway Bay?

Me: (pretending to be awake) uh ya sure. I’ll be there.

5:31 am: (inner thoughts) crap, I need to get my suit on, shave, brush my teeth, look somewhat presentable and awake, find a cab, get across the harbor, meet everyone by 6:15 or I’m not going to be in the movie.

5:45 am: miraculously get ready in time, almost forget my suit jacket inside the flat as I got into the elevator.

5:56 am: still have not managed to locate a taxi that will take me to my destination.  I am screwed. It starts to sprinkle a little bit of rain. Crap.

5:58 am: found a taxi, on my way

6:12 am: find my friend Damian, go to the meeting spot, looking forward to an interesting day.

6:30 am: meet with the casting agent, he sends Damian, myself, 2 French dudes and an Irish man named Darrin in a taxi to Aberdeen where Jumbo Restaurant (a floating restaurant in the harbor) the location of the movie shoot.

7:00 am: make it to Aberdeen, see a bunch of tents set up.  People are getting wardrobe and hair and make up done.

7:15 am: still sitting around waiting for instruction

7:30 am: lined up to get hair done

7:38 am: get some breakfast brought to me while standing in line waiting to get hair done, breakfast consists of dry noodles, shumai and sausage.

8:01 am: getting my hair done

8:10 am: waiting for my friend, Damian, to finish up with his hair and walk over to the ferry that will take us to Jumbo Restaurant where the movie is being filmed.

8:15 am: get on to the ferry with the other extras and begin the wait

9:00 am: still waiting, decide to sleep

10:30 am: wake up, still waiting…

10:50 am: By this time, my butt is seriously hurting from sitting on a hard seat for two and a half hours, they decide to split up the Hong Kong chinese and the non-chinese people to the upper and lower floors of the ferry, I ask them what I should do since they were asking for the chinese speakers to go up stairs, they say they don’t care so I just stay on the first floor with my friend.  By this time, my butt is seriously hurting from sitting on a hard

11:30 am: the ferry starts making its short journey to Jumbo

11:35 am: they start letting all the chinese off the top floor off and then they select 30 of the caucasians off the first floor to get off the boat and tell the rest to wait, at this time i’m seriously the only chinese person left on the boat, this sucks…

11:40 am: I’m stuck on the boat with literally only like 30 other people, the other 100+ are moved inside to the set. they decide to let the rest of us off the boat, my level of depression lessens

11:48 am: some of the producers tell us to clear the way so that the actors can walk through to the scene

11:50 am: Holy crap! Gwyneth Paltrow walks by followed by a small entourage!

12:02 pm: they move us from the area right off the boat nearer to the set

12:04 pm: we are sitting and waiting once again, contemplating at this point if I’m actually going to be in this movie, depressing thoughts start settling in

1:00 pm: one of the casting agents takes in around 10 people, at this point I give up hope on being in the movie and thinking about how much better it would have been if I hadn’t been sitting around all day in my suit doing nothing, thanking God that the weather was nice out that day

1:10 pm: they decide to take the rest of us up to the set

1:20 pm: they pair me up with this older gentleman, our job is to walk back and forth in the background talking to a waitress and watching people play craps

1:40 pm: They change camera angles and I spot director Steven Soderbergh for the first time, I walk up closer to see them filming the scene

1:53 pm: They pair me up with a young girl to start walking back and forth in the background past the actors, I start chatting her up in cantonese and my chinese is holding up better than expected

2:07 pm: new scene, paired up with another girl, chinese director gives me instructions to walk with her and look around in awe at the amazing interior, starting to feel pretty good about being in a couple of scenes,

2:29 pm: get placed in the background in another scene, this time I get to chat up another girl and grab a drink from the waitress, standing a few feet away from Gwyneth Paltrow

2:54 pm: get paired up with yet another girl, start walking back and forth in the background again, at this point every girl I talk to is apparently a model

3:15 pm: start getting pretty hungry for lunch, it has felt like a full day already, quitting time should be pretty soon

3:36 pm: break for lunch, everyone back on the boat, we get our lunch and start heading back to the dock, word is some will get picked to go back to film additional scenes

3:53 pm: some old dude starts throwing up all over the place in front of me, time for me to exit stage right

4:00 pm: exit the boat, walk back towards tent area

4:10 pm: everyone is lined up again, assistant director is picking the cast to return to film additional scenes, feeling beyond exhausted at this point

4:18 pm: get picked by the assistant director to return, am a bit surprised

5:04 pm: return to boat to head back to the restaurant to film more

5:32 pm: sitting around waiting with the other extras to get hair and make up done again

5:45 pm: get hair touched up

6:00 pm: sitting down exhausted

6:02 pm: make up artist tells me I don’t need make up since I’m wearing glasses, can’t see the circles or wrinkles around my eyes

6:10 pm: get picked along with 3 other guys and 4 girls to film small scene, get moved to other side of the set,

6:23 pm: make up artist comes by again, tells me I need to shave

6:24 pm: shaving…

6:25 pm: done shaving

6:26 pm: they decide I need make up done, and I need to remove my glasses since I had them on in earlier scenes,

6:28 pm: producer is waiting on me to get make up finished, rush me down to get me into the small boat scene

6:32 pm: on the boat, Ms. Paltrow walks in, holy crap this is crazy, she seems very nice

6:35 pm: start driving around in the boat around the harbor taking pics (I wasn’t allowed to take pics of this sadly)

6:58 pm: return to the restaurant, it is looking really cool at night

7:02 pm: walk up stairs to film another scene, wait around for a bit

7:14 pm: get placed with 2 girls at a table, one is a model from hk, the other is from Holland

7:30 pm: holding my own speaking in canto, pleasantly surprised at how well I can carry a conversation, girl is complements my canto

7:38 pm: told to take girl as my date, get up from the table and walk out of the restaurant for the scene

7:50 pm: still filming, well into OT by now, everyone is tired and falling asleep

9:00 pm: filming is done for the day, wait for boat to take us back to the dock and to get paid

9:30 pm: getting paid, feel screwed because my caucasian friends are literally making twice as much money as me but whatever, I did it for the experience

10:30 pm: get home, sleep

---

Posted in Experience, Hong Kong