Yesterday I was an extra in Seth MacFarlane's directorial debut movie Ted starring Mark Wahlberg. So, from 7pm when I lined up along the Esplanade until 3:30am, I was on set as an extra for a concert scene in the movie. Norah Jones was the surprise Grammy award winning singer. This was my first time watching a movie being filmed, let alone participating in one. One would think growing up in SoCal, I'd at least see one movie being shot, but nope. So when I moved to Boston and heard about all these movies being filmed in what is known as Hollywood East, it was a goal to see a movie being shot. Well, I can cross that off my Bucket List.
There was close to 6,000 extras for the concert scene which took place the DCR Memorial Hatch Shell. It took us awhile to figure out how to space out because tons of people rushed the front of the stage and then had no where to sit. I think we started filming around 9pm, waiting for the sun to fully set and be dark. We watched as Norah Jones and Mark Wahlberg's stand-ins did their job while the crew set the cameras and lights. They brought Norah on stage and we were given directions to cheer. We only had to tape that twice as the first time she actually messed up her line introducing Mark instead of his character's name John Bennett. For Mark Wahlberg's shoot, we actually had to boo him as he sang the theme song to Octopussy [one of my favorite Bond movie] "Were an All Time High" and he really can't sing, lol. We had to do multiple takes. It was funny b/c after cuts he would talk to the crowd and boy you can tell he's from Boston. He used "fuck" so many times, lol. Oh man. It was actually pretty fun. We also had to mime the boo's while they filmed from behind us and we were given some acting instructions on how to cheer (or boo) and when to cheer, etc.
We were fed towards midnight (pizza and subs) and had free water, soda, and snacks as well. This was when they had to move the cameras to get the back of the crowd point of view shot. During the night we were entertained by Seth MacFarlane himself, doing his Peter Griffin and Stewie voices and playing name that tune. A local DJ, JJ Wright, also welcomed the crowd and gave us info as to what was going on around us. We also had raffle drawings throughout the night for signed DVDs (The Fighter & Family Guy), Ipods, Ipad2s, and 37" TVs. Two of the Bruins were also on set.
In the 6.5 hours of shooting time, they probably only filmed about 4 minutes worth. A lot they will probably do in studio, but it was very cool to see first hand what everyone on set has to do and how slow of a process the movie making industry is. I don't know if I'll be able to find myself in the crowd when the movie finally comes out sometime next year, but it was a great experience.
The movie also stars a teddy bear that stays with Wahlberg's character as he grows up and the voice of the teddy bear is done by...you guessed it...MacFarlane. I do have to admit, I'm a fan of him. I remember watching Family Guy with an ex years ago and couldn't stand it, until I watched the Cookie Monster episode and laughed b/c I understood that scene b/c of the folks at PBS or whatever wanted to change Cookie Monster into eating something healthy. Any who, I laughed and my boyfriend at the time didn't get it and I gained some respect for this TV show b/c the creator was smart. I just recently started watching episodes when I get home from work, so the timing of this was perfect. And yes, "Bird is the Word" was performed, lol.
I also drained my phone battery and somehow managed to do a complete reset of my phone while I sat down b/t shoots with the phone in my back pocket, losing a lot of my stuff b/c I didn't sync or back things up. I couldn't believe it. So, if you're reading this and you've talked to me over the past 6 months, you might want to send me your phone number(s), b/c I probably lost it.
So, that was my exciting night on set of a movie being filmed right here in Boston. A big thanks to Suz who sent me the info so I could sign up. Keep those coming! I ended up not falling asleep until the sun came up (so this is what it's like being a vampire).
I didn't get much sleep. Slept for a few hours from 5:30-8 and then off and on but felt hungover despite having zero alcohol last night, so today was definitely a day of rest. I got out of bed a little after 1pm and tried to rehydrate myself and took it easy.
One last thing, update from Friday's blog...the AC remote works!
Wicked
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