Arrested Development

August 31, 2005
Episode: The British Bombshell
Location - Beverly Hills Courthouse

Thank Goodness for WARDROBE!

Today's shoot is outside the Beverly Hills Courthouse on a very sunny day, and thanks to wardrobe, I was lucky enough to go the day without a jacket and tie. She even had me roll up my sleeves to give it that casual look. Some others wore black jackets and ties.

The AD on this show is Jennie, and after assuring us plenty of sunscreen and water, she laid out the day for us. Told us about the show, and the episode we were going to film, as well as what some of our responsibilities were for the day. As she put us in our starting points for the scene and told us where to walk on "background", she also informed us that because there were so many of us and lots to film, after we made our crosses, we were to go ahead and make another cross to keep the background busy. On background, we all made our crosses and then stood there unsure if she really meant we were supposed to just walk on camera again, with no specific direction. Marching onto camera and hearing the director yell "cut" followed by "who the hell just crossed there?", was not high on anyone's list of things to do. Jennie came out and gathered the background together and said, "OK, not such a big success, that shot. Where were my background?" She proceeded to give us more direction, and once again told us to go ahead and just make those extra crosses. By the end of the day, we all had it pretty well down. Far more freedom/responsibility than this BG is used to.

If you pay real close attention to BG on this show, and this episode specifically, you will note that continuity is not such a big issue. If you were to follow me around by where I am headed in each segment of the scene at the courthouse, you would notice that I first go up the steps toward the courthouse, then soon afterwards, head back down the steps and away from the courthouse. Shortly after that, I cross camera again heading toward the courthouse to watch the magic show, where I stop and observe the entertainer. I'm all over the place. If you watch even closer, you will note that shadows are all over the place, and what is a ten to fifteen minute period on the show took 12 hours to film, and the sun (firmly in the east at the start) was setting in the west by the end.

This program will go quite a ways to use a joke. During the beginning of the visit to the courthouse scene, the camera will cross the courtyard and stop on a log cabin sitting on a flatbed truck with an older man, wearing white, rocking in a chair by the door. Look close and you will see an Andy Griffith look alike (Matlock reference here). That BG actor (the look-a-like) was paid to sit on the porch of the log cabin for several hours just to get that one shot and keep continuity.

There are some nice things about being a principal actor on a series. One actor had his dog on set. The little pooch was well behaved, never without a handler, and getting almost as much attention as the stars. In between shots, wardrobe and props would come up to actors and take jackets and briefcases so the stars didn't have to carry them between shots and they would bring the actors umbrellas, to keep them shaded. Make-up would be there to do touch ups and take care of hair issues. During one moment before getting a particular shot, Jeffrey Tambour responded to the line of another actor ("I am a star") with a short rendition of "There's No Business Like Show Business". The other man was in a cage, dangling above the crowd wearing a chicken outfit and mask, with simulated blood oozing down his head.

Today was the first day paparazzi near set I was working on, and bless their little shutterbug hearts, they were not there to get my picture. Charlize Theron was guesting on this episode, and they were there to follow her. One poor guy had trouble getting a decent shot of the actress because the sun was shining in his lens. Of course, the sun was to his back, but this didn't stop a few of the crew from putting a reflector to good use. The police had to work to keep them out of the shots and crew was watching them like hawks just to make sure they didn't get too close.

Lastly, an exchange heard earlier on the set, that will give you some understanding of the confusion that occurs with the blending of reality and make believe. A background actors comment to two men sitting in the eating area having breakfast, "Wow, you guys really look like cops!". The response was "We are."