Day Five

The previous day had been a long travel day which began with me driving to the film's production office in South Boston.  Along with many members of the crew, I parked my car there in a secure area and was shuttled over to Logan airport for our flight to Richmond, Virginia.  After landing and getting our luggage, we were put on a bus for a long ride to Hampton, right on Chesapeake Bay.  I think most of the crew had to double up, but I had my own suite at the Guest Quarters, which now housed our entire company, as I would soon learn.

I woke early on January 28th, 2008, and popped down to the lobby for an omelet prepared by a friendly cook stationed amid a sea of breakfast options.  As I ate, I noticed that I was sitting not far from a table occupied by Cameron Diaz and her small entourage.  I was soon shuttled over to Langley Air Force Base (not to be confused with the Langley CIA headquarters near Washington) for my call time of 11am.  All cast and crew members were issued ID badges like the one pictured below for access to the base.

Alie greeted me upon my arrival and informed me that there was no trailer space available for me that day before bringing me right in to hair and makeup.  Boston-based stylists Liz Cecchini and Jerry DeCarlo had made the trip, so I felt right at home as we chatted.  I had just moved over a few chairs for makeup when Cameron Diaz unexpectedly entered.  Normally, she would not have been in there with us, but she was only working in Virginia this one day, so her personal trailer had not been driven down from Boston.  She sat next to me and said, "You're Mark, right?  You play Teague."  I am sure she did not know this and that one of her assistants had just informed her who I was, but I was flattered nonetheless.  She asked me if I had seen the wind tunnel yet.  When I replied, "No," she told me that it was impressive indeed.  We had a brief chat, both pleasant and memorable.

I was then escorted by Alie into the massive building housing the wind tunnel where, instead of going up to the set, we made our way to an office which would serve as my personal space.  It turned out that I was not needed for most of the day, so I spent many hours in there, occasionally wandering out to craft services for a snack.  At one point, I was summoned to watch Cameron and Sam Oz Stone shoot their final scene (a very cool bit which does not appear in the movie), after which all those assembled gave them the traditional round of applause as they were wrapped from the picture.

It was still a few hours before I was finally brought up several flights of stairs to the amazing wind tunnel.  This historic space was built in 1930 and many pioneers of aviation had visited it for tests over the years.  It would soon be torn down, but the production had been granted permission to construct a set inside of it to serve as Mr. Steward's headquarters in the film.  Because I had been smart enough to introduce myself to Frank Langella at the wrap party in Boston a few days earlier, I did not feel nervous as we greeted each other and got ready to work.

The one and only shot I would be involved in that day was another lengthy and complex crane shot.  It begins in a large adjoining room where a black op gives instructions as Gillian Jacobs leads a long line of extras up a ramp.  The camera then swoops through a large doorway and up a few stories to Frank and me watching the action far below us.  This took a considerable amount of rehearsal to get the timing just right.  Before one take, Frank said to me, "When the camera hits us, start singing New York New York."  I laughed and said, "No," fearing I would be fired on the spot if I did.  Of course, if he had started the singing, I would have joined right in.

I never did meet Gillian Jacobs, who plays a significant role as the babysitter Dana in the film.  (She would soon be cast in the sitcom Community.)  At any rate, our characters had nothing to do with each other...or so I thought, yet again.