Day One

Director Richard Kelly and Stedicam operator Jody Miller in the Boston Public Library

I have spent most of my professional life working in the theatre, which tends to be nocturnal in nature.  Film and television, on the other hand, is more often than not a daytime endeavor, and the call times to arrive on set are often incredibly early.  My call time for my first day of shooting was for sometime around the crack of dawn on November, 26th, 2007.  I duly awoke at about 4:30am to shower and get ready for the drive to the location in Milton, Massachusetts.  It was, however, raining heavily at the time and the scene we were scheduled to shoot that day was outdoors.  By the time I emerged from the shower, my wife Jane informed me that production had called to say that the shoot was postponed.

This news was devastating to me.  Despite the fact that my character appeared in four scenes in the script, I now fretted that I was going to be cut from the film entirely.  I have had friends who have suffered that very fate, and the history of Hollywood is full of stories of actors who have had large roles eliminated even after all of their sequences have been shot.

I spent a good portion of the morning in this state of mind until the phone rang and someone from the production office asked me if I had been in for a costume fitting yet.  Considering that I was supposed to be shooting a scene at that moment, it struck me as odd that my answer was actually, "No."  I was then given an address in South Boston and told to report there at 4pm.  This at least had the effect of setting my mind at ease about my current job security.

After arriving at the address I had been given in South Boston's warehouse district, it still took some doing for me to find my way into the rundown, nondescript building.  A few chairs were set up for people to wait their turns for a costume fitting and only one person was ahead of me.  When my turn came, the young woman from wardrobe asked my name and consulted a clipboard.  "You're not on my list," she informed me and, once again, my heart sank.  "I play Teague," I said, helpfully, I hoped.

In that moment, everything changed.

She got on a radio and announced, "I have Teague!"  Then, to me she said, "I'm sorry, you're in the wrong place.  This is background wardrobe.  You want to be in that building," she added, pointing next door.  "Would you like anything to drink?  Eat?"  "No, thanks, I'm fine," I replied, as the realization hit me that I had moved (however briefly) to another level.

A production assistant (PA) named Alie arrived and escorted me over to the other building, which housed the production office and the main wardrobe department.  I met the costume designer April Ferry and was delighted to see Maggie Ronck there.  Maggie had previously worked in the costume shop at the Theater at Monmouth in Maine, where I have acted for many summers over the years.

While April was arranging several combinations of ensembles for me to try on, a fellow by the name of Bob Harvey walked in straight off a plane from LA.  There were hugs and kisses all around for this warm, gregarious man, as everybody there seemed to know him.  He had been cast as NASA Executive #1, the role I had originally read for, and he and I would be spending a great deal of time together over the course of the production.

April settled on two major costume looks for my character, any necessary alterations were noted and I was good to go.  But, before I did, Alie asked me if I had met Richard yet and, since he had not been present at my auditions, I replied in the negative.  She walked me back over to the other building, through the background costume area and into a surprisingly large old warehouse space which had been temporarily turned into a sound stage.  As we walked, she asked me if I wanted anything to eat or drink.  This would become a common question in the days to come.  Alie, in fact, would greet me and the other principals each day and take very good care of us.

Since the outdoor scenes planned for that day had been postponed due to the rain, some indoor scenes were being shot instead on sets that represented the interior of the Lewis house.  Alie brought me over to the monitors where Richard Kelly sat by his continuity script supervisor Maxine Bergen.  We shook hands and greeted one another, and then he said the magic words, "We're expanding your role."

This rollercoaster of a day had reached a new, unforeseen high.