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Meeting The President
Hollywood Milieu ©2003
By Denny Dormody
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| He's heading my way. The President of the United States.
Now he's extending his hand and I'm going to have to shake his hand
and say something semi-intelligent. The adrenalin is pumping. Well,
here goes. My fifteen seconds of fame has finally arrived. |
| The President shakes my hand. I blurt out my name and
then I volunteer, "I'm from Cleveland." He smiles and he holds my
handshake firm and yells over his shoulder to a guy sitting at the
round table in the war room, " Hey this guy's from Cleveland!" He
winks back at me with a smile and confides "He's from Lyndhurst, Ohio"
Every time I work The West Wing at Warner Brothers Martin Sheen makes
me feel most welcome. He makes everybody feel most welcome. He grew
up in Dayton, Ohio. |
| This is the same Martin Sheen that was the soldier
with a mission in Apocalypse Now. Now its years later and I'm a perspiring
screenwriter, and I'm in a scene with him. Go figure. I'm an extra.
Thats LA-speak for an actor with no speaking lines. Not yet. But soon.
I'm riding the Hollywood glacier and this is what I do to help pay
the rent, as I wait for one of my comedy screenplays to sell. It makes
for a great day job, when it works; and when it works, it works early.
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| Today we started with a call time to report for acting.
It was 7am. I 've had worse call times. The call time on Charlies
Angels 2 was 5am; the call time on Seabiscuit with Tobey Maquire was
430am. I worked The X Files once on a 4am call! |
| I have my own rules for professional acting and you're
not going to find them in An Actor Prepares. First pick up your pay
voucher. Second, carb up at the craft service catering table. Third,
Act. After some gourmet-scrambled eggs, an ocean of coffee and a bagel,
itŐs time for Wardrobe. |
| A guy who looks like he just stepped off the cover
of GQ Magazine is the wardrobe guy He likes my street shoes and my
tie, but tells me to switch into a more neutral shirt. |
| On the way to the costume-changing trailer, a prop lady
who looks like she's just been collecting collectibles at a garage
sale, stops me and puts a fake White House Staff ID around my neck.
I'm starting to feel very official. I guess I'm getting into character.
This is on the job training and they don't teach you this kinda stuff
in acting class. Heck, back in Cleveland, their probably shoveling
snow and here I am at The White House. |
| On the set, I get a chance to network with other Hollywood
hopefuls. I check with an actress and she tells me the new Reese Witherspoon
comedy, Red, White and Totally Blonde is still shooting. Maybe I can
get a few days work. I scratch a note on my Post-It notes to call
their casting director in the morning. |
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