Happy Tales from Set: Oscar Isaac & Me

In 2011, I was an extra for Won't Back Down, a movie about a school in the inner city starring Viola Davis as a teacher and Maggie Gyllenhaal as a parent.

I was part of a big crowd scene. There was a really cute guy up with the teachers. I knew I recognized him but I couldn't figure out who it was and this bothered me.

After about an hour, someone yelled "Oscar!" and the cute guy left the school steps.

I realized it was Oscar Isaac. I turned to a friend and said "The last time I saw Oscar, he was naked!"

Well, naked on TV anyway. A few weeks earlier, I'd seen Robin Hood with a very attractive young actor co-starring as Prince John. The first scene in which Oscar Isaac appeared, he was quite naked.

But I had seen him at least one other time, as Orestes in the little seen-but otherwise excellent movie Agora. Agora starred a way too young Rachel Weiss as Hypatia, a scholar and librarian of the Library of Alexandria after her father's death. Oscar played a very tricky role very well, and I felt he was a potentially very interesting actor.

Like many science fiction fans, I'd read The Sparrow and Children of God, Maria Doria Russell's amazing books about an interstellar-traveling priest/linguist named Emilio Sandoz back in the '90s. There was some talk then that Antonio Banderas was attached to a possible production, and he would have been very good a Sandoz. That disappeared--perhaps the special effects needed to pull these movies off in the '90s wouldn't have been up to the tasks.

A few years later, though, Brad Pitt bought the rights to The Sparrow, and held them for a number of years.

Hmmm....Brad Pitt wouldn't be right for Sandoz...but Oscar Isaac sure would be. And by about 2010, CGI would have been good enough to pull off the necessary special effects.

I almost brought The Sparrow with me the next time I was called to set. I wondered if Oscar Isaac was familiar with the book and would want to be in a science fiction movie or two?

When you're an extra, you're not supposed to approach "the talent." I was usually pretty good about that beyond saying "Hi." Oscar was on set again, and this time there was more mingling between extras and "the talent" as a school festival was being shot. The assistant director sent Oscar over to one corner of the festival, and then sent me to the same corner.

So while we were waiting for the assistant director to call "Background!" (which is the call for the extras to start moving; this is said before the assistant director calls "Action!"), I told Oscar how much I'd enjoyed watching him in Agora (and did not mention Robin Hood).

"Thanks."

"Have you ever read Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow? I hear Brad Pitt has the rights and you'd be a great Emilio Sandoz."

"Background!" the Assistant Director screamed and that was that. I saw Isaac from time to time, but we never had the chance to talk again.

Oh well.

At least we know now he has been in major science fiction movies, and he was very good in Ex Machina and the more recent Star Wars movies as Poe. He looks like he'll be an outstanding Duke Leto in Dune. And he's still not too old to play Emilio Sandoz.

Happy Tales from Set: The "Quiet" Jack Reacher Bus Scene

Steveo Parys, AD extraordinaire, said on Facebook 

"Asking all friends from the world of entertainment to join the challenge of posting a photo of themselves in their workplace."

I'm a movie extra, paid for something like 30 different productions since 2008, and this turned out to be my favorite day on set:

The day was in early November 2011.  The place was east of Pittsburgh, in an old car dealership in Holiday Park. The movie was Jack Reacher.  It was my favorite day on set for a bunch of reasons - one of the Production Assistants was Mia La Monica, an utterly awesome PA who was very kind to me when I'd tripped on a step a few days earlier and spilled my lunch (which included rice) all over the floor.  I was hanging out with  Joyce Lynne who was always fun to hang out with.  I'd stood line line for the bus, listening to Rosamund Pike (whose voice I'd long adored) and Tom Cruise act their way through a long scene about Jack Reacher's life.  

(yes, that's me in the light blue jeans jacket beside Rosamund's nose)

I got to watch director Christopher McQuarrie work a few days earlier on an action scene and found him very interesting to watch.  2011 had been a time to watch directors named Christopher directing action scenes as I was in the stadium scene for The Dark Knight Rises, directed by Christopher Nolan, which had been shot in August 2011.

So this day for Jack Reacher had been a long day.  They always hired many more extras than they needed for Jack Reacher scenes, probably to give them more flexibility if they needed it.  I'd been on set for three days, and while my car wound up being featured prominently the day before, I never was in front of the camera myself.  Though...I did get to briefly meet Caleb Deschanel who was the Cinemetographer.  Very cool. And I had watched the then unknown David Oyelowo do many takes to successfully shoot at Jack Reacher.  A few years later, David starred as Martin Luther King, Jr. in Ava Duverney's brilliant Selma.

Somehow, Joyce and I did wind up being in line for the bus, and stayed on the bus, which was very lucky because a bunch of extras were taken off to make room for the camera and the crew.

It was late, somewhere around midnight. Everyone was exhausted, and almost every extra did the same thing - dozed.

"Wait, you can't all sleep," Christopher McQuarrie called into the back of the bus.  "You need to do something.  Any ideas."

Silence.

I'm not good with silence when someone asks for ideas.

"I could knit," I said.  I'd learned ages ago to always have a book and some knitting with me when I'm on set.

"Good," Christopher said.  "Move to the aisle seat."  Where Joyce had sat.

"Sorry, Joyce," I mumbered, and Joyce took the seat next to the window.

"We need more."

I said "Joyce could read my book."

"Fine."  

I passed Joyce my book and pulled out my knitting.

"We need something else."

I knew the young people on my right had come together, so I said "She could sit on his lap and stick her feet into the aisle."

"No!" the young woman objected.

I forget what Christopher said, but she decided it would be OK if her naked feet stuck out in the aisle.

Five minutes later, the scene was shot and we were sent home.

The movie came out in 2012, and I think the DVD came out in 2013.  I love to listen to director's commentary, which, for this movie, was both the director, Christopher McQuarrie and the star, Tom Cruise.  When this scene came up, they both made a point of saying how hard the Pittsburgh extras worked on this movie!!  So what was another reason this scene was my favorite scene - not only was I in it, but I got to suggest three bits of business that the director used!

Another cool thing about this scene  - a friend from England emailed me after seeing the movie and said, "You have a doppleganger in Jack Reacher," so I got to reply "That was no doppleganger, that was me!"