In a recent interview promoting her soon-to-be released film The Adjustment Bureau, Emily Blunt described what it was like working with co-star Matt Damon.
“Most of the time there was a guy on the loudspeaker yelling, ‘Do not look at Matt Damon!’ because all the extras were just staring at him,” she laughed. “I feel like I see people’s brains melting when they see him!”
I’ve experienced similar reactions on film and TV sets here in New York when I’ve been an extra. The production staff is always very clear about any interaction with the lead actors on set:
NONE
I saw one extra break the rule during an overnight shoot for the short-lived TV series Cashmere Mafia, starring Lucy Liu and Frances O’Connor.
We were filming a cocktail party scene at a restaurant on the Upper East Side. After hours of setting cameras and getting us in place, the director finally brought the lead actors out on set.
Just before he called ‘action,’ an extra standing close to the leads noticed that actor Peter Hermann (husband to Mariska Hargitay of Law & Order: SVU) had a large blotch of makeup on his suit. Without thinking, she stepped forward and brushed the spot with her hand.
She touched a lead actor.
Hermann flinched like he had been burned. He left the set surrounded by makeup and wardrobe people. All the principals left their marks, and we didn’t resume the scene for a good 20 minutes.
Production assistants appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the extra and whisked her from the set. She never reappeared.
It was a gross overreaction on many levels, but a good reminder to all the background actors: ‘furniture’ like us shouldn’t jump up suddenly and startle the actors.
Cashmere Mafia was canceled after just a few episodes.
Karma?
Praise be!
I expected to be shocked by “The Book of Mormon,” the new Broadway musical by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
And I was… in an unexpected way.
There are a couple of potentially offensive moments — one in song, one in shall we say ‘visual representation’ — but last night’s audience was game for both.
The show definitely takes its shots at Mormon history and traditions, getting a lot of laughs from the story of Joseph Smith and his golden plates. But the humor, while mocking, is never cruel.
What was unexpected was how much affection Parker and Stone display for the Mormon missionaries at the center of their story. Elders Price and Cunningham are sent to Uganda for their mission and are immediately confronted by poverty, AIDS, warlords, scrotal plagues and more.
Yes…scrotal plagues.
Naive and ill-prepared, uber-Mormon Price has a crisis of faith and schlub Cunningham rises to the occasion in unconventional yet successful ways.
The tone reminded me a bit of the movie Stuck on You, the Farrelly brothers winner about two conjoined twin brothers starring Greg Kinnear and Matt Damon. I worried the film would make fun of the two; instead, it celebrated how their differences made them more uniquely able to succeed in the world.
“The Book of Mormon” has the same charm, the same heart…just more four-letter words.
Above all, it is outrageously funny, with sight gags galore, none of which I will reveal because that would totally blow it. The musical numbers are so clever, and the dance sequences manage to be huge and hilarious at the same time.
“The Book of Mormon” just may be the best musical on Broadway.
Now that I didn’t expect.
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Posted in Broadway, Comedy, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Movies, Religion, Television, TV
Tagged AIDS, Broadway, C-word, comedy, commentary, conjoined twins, entertainment, F-word, Farrelly brothers, Greg Kinnear, Humor, Joseph Smith, Joseph Smith and the golden plates, life, Matt Damon, Matt Stone, Mormon history, Mormon missionaries, Mormon religion, Movies, offensive language, plagues, poverty, religion, sight gags, South Park, Stuck on You movie, Television, The Book of Mormon musical, Trey Parker, TV, Uganda, warlords