I have always had a major crush on Mr. Patinkin. It all stems from his Broadway days and how he can sing the heck of out of a Sondheim song..... But when I read this, this morning, I knew he was the guy I always liked to think he was... This is about his role on "Criminal Minds" , a police drama on CBS...never seen it myself
I quote...............
The star played a criminal profiler in the programme for two seasons, but quit before work started on the third series.
Patinkin now reveals he couldn't stand the gory storylines and wishes he had never taken the job.
He tells New York Magazine, "The biggest public mistake I ever made
was that I chose to do Criminal Minds in the first place. I thought it
was something very different. I never thought they were going to kill
and rape all these women (in storylines) every night, every day, week
after week, year after year... It was very destructive to my soul and my
personality. After that, I didn't think I would get to work in
television again."
Patinkin went on to land a role in hit drama Homeland opposite Claire Danes, and he is much happier in his new job.
He adds, "A show like Homeland is the antidote. It asks why there's a need for violence in the first place."
Thanks Mandy, for realizing that we need LESS of this kind of crap to filter through our brains and to see the way it can alter how our society tolerates such violence.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Pure Michigan!
Here is the Pure Michigan shoot I was a part of last month! Look for me in "Rochester" which was filmed at MeadowBrook Hall. I am 2nd on the right in sparkling grey.
My life in the movies - Part 1
This past Sunday, our pastor offered a sermon titled "Detours". It was, basically, the idea that Life offers detours all the time and that, through the most unexpected turns, your life unfolds. Well that is certainly the case here.
First off, I should say that my best friend, Michele, is another example of a major detour story. Through a series of Lemony Snickett type situations she has now one of the most interesting and crazy jobs ever. She is the Private Chef to a major "Bollywood" movie star.
Huh?
Okay, let's walk through this... First a definition..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollywood
Alot of folks have seen some of these films as they are starting to reach our shores and run in art houses. "Monsoon Wedding" and "Bride and Prejudice" come to mind as fun romps. This can be found in your local video store. (An Indian friend mentioned "Three Idiots"!) The Bollywood scene is run by many clans that basically make all the films. The young actors of today have come from long - in some cases extremely long - pedigrees. They have an air of royalty to them, I think. (Indian friends, correct me if I'm wrong!) This entry will focus on members of the Hussain and Bachchan families.
Okay, back on track now... So I have been talking to Michele since August about this wild ride she has been on. This actor is on a special diet and eats every 2 1/2 hours and grabs time with a trainer when not on set. She said.."it's like I am working for a racehorse". She has become part of an entourage that includes a manager, a butler, a trainer, a nutritionist, a driver, a bodyguard and a nanny.
During the week preceding Labor Day she calls to say that I will be getting a call from a casting director. She said they were looking for kids for three days of filming at Six Flags Great America. (Oh, did I mention that all this filming is being done in Chicago?) Sure enough, that call came through and not only did they offer my daughter 3 days of paid extra work but they wanted me too. I could get very big headed over this but we hired sight unseen and they needed bodies, plain and simple. Still it was fun to feel that they "needed" us on set. It sure helped that Michele had been hanging out with these people!
The film is called DHOOM 3 and stars many of the most popular actors today in Bollywood - Aamir Khan , Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra and Katrina Kaif. The wife of Mr. Bachchan, the lovely Aishwarya Rai appeared in the earlier DHOOM 2. This time around she is on mommy duty as they welcomed a daughter into the world just last year, I believe. These two are the Brad/Angelina of Asia. I believe that Mr. Khan signed on for DHOOM 3 and Abhishek has been in all three movies.
Whew! Getting the idea here? This is big stuff. But....because we are on American soil these folks are just actors with strange names, right? So this is what we are signing on for...three days as paid background extras in a Bollywood movie!
TALK ABOUT A DETOUR! Sure didn't see this one coming!
BTW, Michele is working for Aamir Khan or, as she refers to him, "the actor".
Okay, so now we get an email packet that is full of things that I must do to get Mallory a work permit for the state of Illinois. I learned alot about it over the course of a few days. Keep in mind, this was butting up to the Labor Day holiday and offices were going to be closed. I got on the computer and sent emails to her principal and, when he said yes, to all her teachers. To work on a union film a minor (under 16) must have the following to get a work permit... Stamped birth certificate (no photocopies), social security card (yup, the card!), a recent form from her doctor that shows she has had a physical within the last year and is healthy, a letter from her principal, on school letterhead, that states that she is a student and the hours she is in school, a signed letter from the company stating that she is working for them and a letter signed by the parents stating that the student has their permission to work. I think that's it.
OH...this is in ILLINOIS right? If this film had been shot in Michigan she could go to her District Superintendent to get the permit. Nope. We had to go to the Illinois Board of Education office located in the Thompson Center at 100 W. Randolph and Clark.
Now, I have said yes and all the emailing starts. Not to mention the phone calling..."Does she have her permit yet?" Yikes! Okay, add to all this that school is starting in Michigan and Mallie really wants to be there on the first day. Shooting starts the next day. I swear up and down that, as the office opens at 9:00am that I will have the work permit in hand by 9:15 Wednesday morning. And that, thank God, is how it worked out. They weren't thrilled but, honestly, it was the best we could do.
So the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL...EIGHTH GRADE! Whew! As soon as it ends I whisk her off and we are on our way to Chicago!
First off, I should say that my best friend, Michele, is another example of a major detour story. Through a series of Lemony Snickett type situations she has now one of the most interesting and crazy jobs ever. She is the Private Chef to a major "Bollywood" movie star.
Huh?
Okay, let's walk through this... First a definition..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollywood
Alot of folks have seen some of these films as they are starting to reach our shores and run in art houses. "Monsoon Wedding" and "Bride and Prejudice" come to mind as fun romps. This can be found in your local video store. (An Indian friend mentioned "Three Idiots"!) The Bollywood scene is run by many clans that basically make all the films. The young actors of today have come from long - in some cases extremely long - pedigrees. They have an air of royalty to them, I think. (Indian friends, correct me if I'm wrong!) This entry will focus on members of the Hussain and Bachchan families.
Okay, back on track now... So I have been talking to Michele since August about this wild ride she has been on. This actor is on a special diet and eats every 2 1/2 hours and grabs time with a trainer when not on set. She said.."it's like I am working for a racehorse". She has become part of an entourage that includes a manager, a butler, a trainer, a nutritionist, a driver, a bodyguard and a nanny.
During the week preceding Labor Day she calls to say that I will be getting a call from a casting director. She said they were looking for kids for three days of filming at Six Flags Great America. (Oh, did I mention that all this filming is being done in Chicago?) Sure enough, that call came through and not only did they offer my daughter 3 days of paid extra work but they wanted me too. I could get very big headed over this but we hired sight unseen and they needed bodies, plain and simple. Still it was fun to feel that they "needed" us on set. It sure helped that Michele had been hanging out with these people!
The film is called DHOOM 3 and stars many of the most popular actors today in Bollywood - Aamir Khan , Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra and Katrina Kaif. The wife of Mr. Bachchan, the lovely Aishwarya Rai appeared in the earlier DHOOM 2. This time around she is on mommy duty as they welcomed a daughter into the world just last year, I believe. These two are the Brad/Angelina of Asia. I believe that Mr. Khan signed on for DHOOM 3 and Abhishek has been in all three movies.
Whew! Getting the idea here? This is big stuff. But....because we are on American soil these folks are just actors with strange names, right? So this is what we are signing on for...three days as paid background extras in a Bollywood movie!
TALK ABOUT A DETOUR! Sure didn't see this one coming!
BTW, Michele is working for Aamir Khan or, as she refers to him, "the actor".
Okay, so now we get an email packet that is full of things that I must do to get Mallory a work permit for the state of Illinois. I learned alot about it over the course of a few days. Keep in mind, this was butting up to the Labor Day holiday and offices were going to be closed. I got on the computer and sent emails to her principal and, when he said yes, to all her teachers. To work on a union film a minor (under 16) must have the following to get a work permit... Stamped birth certificate (no photocopies), social security card (yup, the card!), a recent form from her doctor that shows she has had a physical within the last year and is healthy, a letter from her principal, on school letterhead, that states that she is a student and the hours she is in school, a signed letter from the company stating that she is working for them and a letter signed by the parents stating that the student has their permission to work. I think that's it.
Now, I have said yes and all the emailing starts. Not to mention the phone calling..."Does she have her permit yet?" Yikes! Okay, add to all this that school is starting in Michigan and Mallie really wants to be there on the first day. Shooting starts the next day. I swear up and down that, as the office opens at 9:00am that I will have the work permit in hand by 9:15 Wednesday morning. And that, thank God, is how it worked out. They weren't thrilled but, honestly, it was the best we could do.
My Life in Movies - Part 2
Okay, so we arrive in Chicago and what a lovely drive up Lakeshore Drive. The sun is starting to make an exit and we pass all kinds of activity on the road and beaches. Sigh. Nice. My friend lives in Rogers Park and it's an area I am not familiar with. We had a little hang out time that evening.
Michele was not yet off the clock!
She had to cook 30 burgers and caramelize onions for the next day. These were to be props but since the star dudes would be taking bites out of them they had to be made with the best lean meat available. Mallie and I almost didn't survive the onions!
Morning came and we scampered downtown early to be at our 9am appointment at the Thompson Center. People have asked how much the work permit was and I tell them it's $30. Free to get but you have to shell out that much to park in the city! Sigh. We walk into the building and it is amazing! Look at that floor! Wow! See "Part 1" for more shots of the place.
Mallory and I can now breath a sigh of relief and we have a little time so we head to our favorite cafe in the Pilsen area - Cafe Jumping Bean. This is a cool place and we love it!! Lots of murals around too. I bet if you looked around this blog you would see more on this place. I first went there last year.
Anyway, we were now ready to head out to Gurnee, Ill. and the wonderland that is Six Flags Great America! We were told by the guard at the gate to wait for the "van". Turns out the production folks had a fleet of black, Mercedes 12 seat vans that roamed about the park taking folks from here to there. Here's a shot of Miss Mal waiting for the van.
The DHOOM 3 folks had the place rented out for three days so we walked into an empty park. It felt like like a bad zombie film, you know..? Dude, where are all the people?
We finally asked some maintenance guys for the restaurant we were to meet everyone at. It was called Aunt Martha's Kitchen but we called it Base Camp for the duration. There we met with our contacts and started the daily paperwork that every extra needs to fill out.
We then got walked over to our "holding area". Now, I am told, that we had a very cool situation. Most times you are on location the extras wait in a room or another building until they are needed on the set. Since we were to be in the park for the duration our "holding" was at the outdoor "Johnny Rocket" restaurant. We were steps away from the action all the time. In fact, you'd be laughing and talking and you'd hear a Production Assistant say ROLLING and you had to pipe down immediately.
There are many things to say here about the next three days. I will try to hit the highlights.
One of the coolest things was the Tea Man. This production was made up of many Indians and so the Tea Man was considered an essential member of the crew. He was a small man whose job it was to keep all the water coolers filled and carry around a large container of the most amazing Chai tea I had ever had! Michele, being privy to this, was able, on a couple of occasions, to snag a cup for me and brought it over to the set. The Indians stopped, several times a day, for a tea break. Very civilized!
This being an amusement park, there were several times when the PAs called out for folks who were willing to ride some of the rides for shots needed. I always put up my hand. After the past several times I have had to sit out on the cool rides because I was with my kid or friends with back issues I thought, YEHAW!
I got the chance to ride "X Flight" five times in a row!! Check this out!! Check out this ride!! I even kicked off my shoes and rode barefoot. Somehow it make me feel more adventurous! The next one they needed volunteers for was the Raging Bull. Check out how it feels to ride this one!
Such fun! At one point, in the afternoon, we noticed that Raging Bull was running. Several times the rides were run as a bit of backdrop for the scene, I would guess. There was only one rider and it was our PA Rob looking mighty pleased to have the chance to go solo! He was hilarious!
Michele had to make an additional 30 burgers the following evening, for the next day's shoot, and watch as most of them had to be thrown away. There had to be alot to go though the day and they all, again, had to be the finest leanest meat there was. Whole Foods Market is her home away from home as she has to buy top of the line organic for "the actor". Here is a shot of her ninja chef set up on this day!
The people you meet on a movie set are interesting. I met two sisters, Hope and Toy. The first day, Hope's daughter was on the shoot and then she had other commitments so Hope brought her sister. They were from a large family - 7 kids! - and had only one brother. Whew! There was Scott, who Michele called my "husband" as there were several scenes we were paired in. Scott is the one in the stripety shirt, Hope has the wild glasses on (a prop) and Toy is next to her. We laughed alot. We were all passing around our kid's photos here.
Here is a few of the costumed extras. It was 90 degrees. Check out the lady's legs. She had a rabbit costume she wore.
In the middle shot above you can just see a shot being set up and the head of Mr.Khan - wearing a baseball hat - and Mr. Bachchan looking like a tall homeless dude with long coat and beard.
There was Ed, "although everyone on set call me Mr. B". Ohhhkay.. This guy was a professional background extra. He was one of those guys that needs to tell you every cool thing he has ever done. I bet if I had put a gun to his head and asked him to repeat my name he would be dead today. It was the constant .."don't look in the camera.." that made me kind of pissed but I realized that he too, was part of this weird situation we were in. Just another character!
Another scene comes to mind of Mr. Khan's nanny, a tiny Indian lady, walking with his child and followed by this huge bodyguard in his "Men in Black" attire pushing the stroller. Or how, between scenes, an assistant would kneel in from of him and shade him with a big umbrella. Old school, dude!
Following union rules for minors working on sets, Mallie had to attend at least 3 hours of studio "school" every day. The black vans would arrive and take the kids off for a bit. This was a little bit of a drag as she had no homework or textbooks as she had only had one day of school! I was very proud that she introduced herself and jumped into the group so readily!
We changed locations, in the park, the third day and the weather was getting a bit funky. There was a call for volunteers to ride "Raging Bull" and I went for it. Only, this time, as we climbed all the steps that took us to the top the heavens opened and it poured!! Mr. Khan and Mr. Bachchan was there already, sitting in the coaster, while the director sat one car over looking at playback. I was wondering....hmmm are they going to have us ride in this rain? I mean, I will do (almost) anything once but this is pushing it. As it turned out, they simply filmed a scene of us getting on and off the coaster. I was one lane over from the stars. Cool!
In the shot above, you can see the director (the bald dude in blue) and Abhishek who is the tall guy across from him. His bodyguard blocks the view, You can just see Aamir over his right shoulder. The photo right above is a better view of Abhishek in the sweater vest.
We had a lot of fun. Here we are with our "props". Doesn't Mal look thrilled?
It was one of most boring, exciting and interesting things I have ever done in my life. Really fun. The movie comes out in 2013. It will be in Hindi and subtitled. I hear you can get it on Netflicks. I think we'll have a viewing party when it comes out.
That's a wrap!
Michele was not yet off the clock!
She had to cook 30 burgers and caramelize onions for the next day. These were to be props but since the star dudes would be taking bites out of them they had to be made with the best lean meat available. Mallie and I almost didn't survive the onions!
The DHOOM 3 folks had the place rented out for three days so we walked into an empty park. It felt like like a bad zombie film, you know..? Dude, where are all the people?
We finally asked some maintenance guys for the restaurant we were to meet everyone at. It was called Aunt Martha's Kitchen but we called it Base Camp for the duration. There we met with our contacts and started the daily paperwork that every extra needs to fill out.
We then got walked over to our "holding area". Now, I am told, that we had a very cool situation. Most times you are on location the extras wait in a room or another building until they are needed on the set. Since we were to be in the park for the duration our "holding" was at the outdoor "Johnny Rocket" restaurant. We were steps away from the action all the time. In fact, you'd be laughing and talking and you'd hear a Production Assistant say ROLLING and you had to pipe down immediately.
There are many things to say here about the next three days. I will try to hit the highlights.
One of the coolest things was the Tea Man. This production was made up of many Indians and so the Tea Man was considered an essential member of the crew. He was a small man whose job it was to keep all the water coolers filled and carry around a large container of the most amazing Chai tea I had ever had! Michele, being privy to this, was able, on a couple of occasions, to snag a cup for me and brought it over to the set. The Indians stopped, several times a day, for a tea break. Very civilized!
This being an amusement park, there were several times when the PAs called out for folks who were willing to ride some of the rides for shots needed. I always put up my hand. After the past several times I have had to sit out on the cool rides because I was with my kid or friends with back issues I thought, YEHAW!
I got the chance to ride "X Flight" five times in a row!! Check this out!! Check out this ride!! I even kicked off my shoes and rode barefoot. Somehow it make me feel more adventurous! The next one they needed volunteers for was the Raging Bull. Check out how it feels to ride this one!
Michele had to make an additional 30 burgers the following evening, for the next day's shoot, and watch as most of them had to be thrown away. There had to be alot to go though the day and they all, again, had to be the finest leanest meat there was. Whole Foods Market is her home away from home as she has to buy top of the line organic for "the actor". Here is a shot of her ninja chef set up on this day!
In the middle shot above you can just see a shot being set up and the head of Mr.Khan - wearing a baseball hat - and Mr. Bachchan looking like a tall homeless dude with long coat and beard.
Another scene comes to mind of Mr. Khan's nanny, a tiny Indian lady, walking with his child and followed by this huge bodyguard in his "Men in Black" attire pushing the stroller. Or how, between scenes, an assistant would kneel in from of him and shade him with a big umbrella. Old school, dude!
It was one of most boring, exciting and interesting things I have ever done in my life. Really fun. The movie comes out in 2013. It will be in Hindi and subtitled. I hear you can get it on Netflicks. I think we'll have a viewing party when it comes out.
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