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!