Believe it or Not

You are never going to believe what my seven year old son and I did this past Saturday. Not in a million years are you going to guess. We were in a movie!

OK, not really. My friend has a son who is a cinematography student in Madison and his assignment had to do with a young boy and his mother. My friend wanted to know if my son could play the part and would I play the mother? (The students were given strict orders not to use students to play the part of either the boy or
the mother who is in her 30's...much younger than me but at least I am not a student).

I agreed but kept thinking the students would find someone else to play the parts because they all said they had people in mind but no one else came up with anyone so Sat., we filled the car up with Luke's bedding and toys (scene involved the boy sleeping in his bed) and headed to Madison. We got there around 11 a.m. and were only two blocks from the capital. (Luke saw the capital and said,"I did not know we were back in Washington DC!). We told him we were the capital of Wisconsin.

Anyway, my friend dropped us off in front of the apt. building where the shoot was taking place and we were met by her son, the director. I got out of the car and went to open the car door for my son and had a vision of opening a limo door for a movie star.

We were using the apartment of one of the students which was in the basement of this building. It used to be offices and businesses so one room had jacuzzis in it and there was a bar in another room. All the bedrooms were large enough but no closets or windows so that was odd.

I got Luke in his pajamas and got dressed myself (script calls for the mom to be dressed in a Bloomingdale's type outfit which I got a chuckle out of...I have one outfit that would fit that description and let's just say it is a tad too small right now). THey decided to shoot Luke's scenes first. He is in bed asleep with a book on his lap. (I brought the book 'Are you my Mother?' which I thought was pretty funny). Mom walks in, kisses boy, takes book and puts in on the nightstand, walks to the door and turns around for one last look and turns off the light. This scene took two hours! Luke did so well...he read the book while they were adjusting lights and did a great job pretending to be asleep. He even followed the director when he asked Luke to turn over and face the camera, still asleep, when mom turns out the light.

After that we had lunch. Then my friend took Luke to the children's museum which was only two blocks away while I had to do two other scenes. I had to lean outside his bedroom door, look upset, then take a suitcase out of a closet (scene two) and the final scene was the mom loading her suitcase with clothes and personal items (I brought a picture of Luke in a frame to put in the suitcase which the students really liked).

THe camera kept breaking which would mean at least an hour of down time. For three mintues of film, it took eight hours! We got done at seven and headed back to Green Bay.

It was a long day but fun and fascinating to watch the students work. The whole exercise had to do with lighting (shot in black and white film). I just hope they do not get graded on my acting but I think Luke deserves an Oscar! (Of course I would say that!!!!)

It was a fun experience but I do not think I would want to do it full time.