I'm the newest star on Lost!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Okay… that’s a slight exaggeration. Okay, it’s a huge exageration. I was actually just an “extra”, but it was fun none the less.

A friend of mine is friends with the casting director of Lost. When I moved out here, he told me to give him a headshot and he would pass it on to her (the casting lady). A week later my friend called to tell me that I had been put in the “approved pile” for upcoming roles. Last week Julie in casting called to offer me some work. She wanted me to play a German Police officer in Berlin. Way cool. I began to fantasize about “putting the smack down” on some perp. German style. She asked me to come in for a wardrobe fitting. Unfortunately when I went in, I didn’t fit either of the German Polizei costumes (way too big). So they gave me two other roles. “Man in cafe” and “man on street”. Less cool, but okay. The wardrobe guys put together a really cool outfit for me. Grey flat-front pants, light grey turtle-neck and a tight fitting grey quasi-military looking jacket. Very european and sexy! I got a second outfit for the “street” scene (trench coat and “warm” clothing).

(As a side note; when I make my millions, I need to get a couple of “wardrobe/Personal Dressers”. Something oddly satisfying about that. )

Anyway… filming was to follow the next weekend. I had to show up at 7 am (EARLY, goddamn!). After getting changed into my tres-cool “cafe” outfit, I got my hair and make-up done. The hair lady was awesome. She asked if I ever do anything funky with my hair like “wear it up”. Then she proceeded to glue my hair into this very high chunky/spiky punk kinda thing. Looked like I was going to a nightclub. Very urban and German. Sexy. And not entirely hetero. I loved it! I do weird stuff with my hair sometimes, but this was cool. photo

We filmed in the cafe most of the day. I got to work with Naveen Andrews (who plays Sayid). He is very gracious and polite, even with the “extras” which I thought was awesome. He is as nice and sweet as the hair/makeup ladies said he was. The director positioned everybody in the scene, and decided that when Sayid entered the cafe, he wanted me to walk towards the camera through the crowded cafe, so that Sayid had to squeeze by me as he entered. We filmed it several times, and one of the crew gave me a thumbs-up, telling me that camera got a good shot of me so I should be very recognizable when it airs. Cool! Naveen had to squeeze back by me when we reset the scene. I tried to let him pass first, but he smiled, stepped back, and ushered me through while he waited. He was very gracious (and genuine). Nice to work with.

We filmed the street scene downtown (made to look like Berlin, signs and all!) The street and sidewalks were all covered in snow! In Hawaii, in the afternoon, 85 degrees. Neat. We were all wearing winter wear, which was very hot, but hey… you have to suffer for your art right? (I’m kidding, I’m no actor. Just having fun.) But now I can say: “The hottest summer I ever spent was a winter in Berlin.” The snow in the street lowered the local temp a LITTLE, so it wasn’t quite as bad. Luckily the street scene was a quick shoot. I started out with another great bit. I walked up the street to the camera with a young lady. Sayid was following behind us a ways and as we reached the camera, we turned off frame. The director decided to change things up, and I didn’t make it into the shot. (I think my face time in the cafe might have effected that.) I was in other shots in the cafe (as filler), but they were careful not to show my face again. It was a long day, but all and all very fun.

Wish I coulda kept that jacket.

2

Very, very cool.

My friend was an extra in “Rain Man” and everytime it airs I say, “There’s Christy’s head!” Now I can say, “There’s Shai-tan in his cool jacket that he didn’t get to keep!”

3

Very good! The wife and I have just recently gotten into “Lost.” We watched a friend’s DVD sets of the first two seasons and just today (Saturday) bought the third season for ourselves, which we have not seen yet. They do show “Lost” in Thailand on cable, but we don’t subscribe to cable, because we are not TV people. Too busy. But we’ll be on the look-out for you when we see the fourth season. I assune this was for the fourth eason, right?

The wife and I used to live in Hawaii, both of us are UH grads; wish we could see Honolulu under snow!

4

So do Jack and Kate do it?

5

Very cool and fun - thanks for sharing.

6

Sehr gut!

I will be looking for the “Berlin” segment and be sure to point you out to anyone in the room…well, that would be just my SO, but you will be world famous! (Well, at least for about 1/3 second in our house in Las Vegas.)

7

Ooh, and you got to work with Naveen Andrews? Okay, I realize he’s quite a womanizer, but who cares? :smiley: I’m glad to hear he was so nice, though – that’s always good to hear.

I’m the only one in the family who watches, but I’ll definitely keep my eyes open for you!

8

I’m curious. When doing a winter scene in a tropical climate like that, HOW do they keep the actors from sweating? I think I’d be dripping like a waterfall all bundled up like that in mid-afternoon on a Honolulu street.

9

Yeah, it was a little surreal. The cool thing was: they reserved the street, but there was an entrance to an underground lot, and a couple of people hadn’t removed their cars yet. So in the middle of rehearsing the street scene, two cars came out. I’m sure the street was warm and sunny when they went in, but they had to drive through a snow covered Berlin street when they left. It was funny to see their expressions!

I only worked the one day with Naveen and a new actress. Even if I did know, I promised not to reveal specifics about the show. I don’t think revealing the setting is a big deal, but I wouldn’t discuss the specifics of the conversation “Sayid” had in the cafe.

I can understand how the ladies would like him. He seems to have this real understated charm. Even without speaking.

They had hair/makeup crew on hand to touch-up anyone who needed it. They didn’t worry too much about most of the extras, as the camera was not focused on them. But the director was careful with details within the focus of his shot. Hair and makeup was adjusted, snow was rearranged, etc.