Playing a part in Hollywood North

 On an English movie set you might hear, “lights, camera, action!” But I was recently on a totally French movie set and the direction was, “Moteur! Trois, deux, un, action!” It certainly tested my bilingual abilities (which are not great, with only highschool French), and I was very grateful for the translation skills of my co-actors.

I have been a background actor / extra on half a dozen productions in the Ottawa area. I got to be a dead body once. You can’t really see me in the finished movie as my scene is blurred and quite brief. We filmed the results of a car crash in a parking lot at Kemptville College in February 2015, when it was 30 below and windy. I had to keep my (dead) eyes open for as long as I could while the cameras rolled. I teared up and my fake blood kept melting and running into my mouth. It is not a good taste. Sort of like a mix between melted lipstick and olive oil. I did get to meet Oz Perkins, the director, however. He stuck his head in through the broken windshield and said, “they did tell you it was a horror movie, right??”

My other background roles have included churchgoer, nurse with clipboard, woman in crowd, salesclerk, and I can’t remember the last one. They have all been fun because you meet people, including the ‘big name’ stars sometimes, but they all have one thing in common: lots of waiting around.

This latest experience was a new one for me – I have been surrounded by Quebecois at a Bryan Adams concert in Montreal and know they like to have fun – but I have never worked with a bunch of strictly French-speaking people before. In between very serious scenes in a courtroom (I played a Supreme Court judge!) they were cracking jokes and goofing around. Something was lost in the translation and I am pretty sure I looked like an idiot because I was the only one who wasn’t laughing – until the laughter just became contagious and I was actually laughing at their laughing.

This time I was on camera, for several long scenes, but I had no lines (thank goodness – nothing to screw up). It was a challenge for sure – even the set notes and schedule were totally in French. I had to put one paragraph at a time into Google Translate just so I wouldn’t miss my cues.

If you are interested in getting yourself or your kids into background work, sign up with Smyth Casting or a local talent agency. They are always looking for new people!

 

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