It is a classic rainy day in the rainforest. A great day for doing a movie named "Limbo" about people trying to live and work in a town "...very much like Juneau, Alaska."

In real life, Sayles is a writer and script doctor for other movies. According to one critic he regularly earns six figures for his work on screwed up movie scripts. Other critics pretty much agree that he is the best of the independent film makers.

John read some of his stories at the library in the weeks prior to filming, and has made lots of friends in his walks around town and his participation in community events. He can ask us to do, basically, whatever he wants, and we are going to give him our best shot.

In answer to a question from one of us, Sayles is describing his reasons for laying out one of the shots in a certain way.

After these few minutes of introductions to the movie business, he tells we are ready for the big screen.

This is Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, the female lead actress in the movie. With her is a friend of mine named Ron Clarke. Somehow, Ron managed to wrangle a speaking part with Mary Elizabeth.

(How did he do that??)

.

I am green with envy, not only for Ron's opportunity to get to know a beautiful and talented actress, but for the $500 per day for having a speaking role. I, on the other hand, get $80 a day for standing around trying to look and act like I know what I am doing on the set of a major movie.

I harassed Ron as much as I could between takes.

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio has acted in two movies that I have seen. She was Maid Marion in Kevin Costner's "Robin Hood," and she was the female lead opposite Ed Harris in the movie "Abyss."

The guy in the red and white raincoat here is Haskell Wexler. I'm told he has won at least one academy award, and possibly two for cinematography. I do know that he was cinematographer on my favorite Sayles film, "Matewan," and was nominated for an academy award for his work on it.

The guy opposite Wexler, in the hat, is Wexler's camera man. His name is Scott Sakamoto. The woman in blue to the left of the cameraman is Maria Gladziszewski. She is a popular Juneau actress who has had several acting parts with our local theatre companies. Most recently she was nurse Ratched in the sell-out production of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." In "Limbo," Maria is our tour guide. She also has a speaking role in that she gives us extras-qua-tourists a walking spiel about the town of Port Hardy. (Thanks, Maria, for the name of Wexler's cameraman.)

Heres a note about sound. It is no surprise to me that every element of sound that gets to the film in a movie is controlled. This sound has at least three parts: the spoken words, the contrived sounds needed to create dramatic effect in the scene, and the environmental sounds of the scene itself. The new and interesting part for me is how a master of the craft like Sayles captures and blends these sounds into an aspect of the movie that has the dramatic power, literally, of another major character.

At the end of shooting this dock scene, Sayles asked Maria to read a new spiel that he had written on the spot, even though her spiel had been recorded with a mike during each of the dozen takes. As she read, Sayles listened with his eyes closed, as though to hear every nuance both of Maria's voice, and, importantly, of the environmental sound around the dock area. (At the end of a take, Sayles usually says "thats good. One more." He may ask for "one more," several times. Sayles routinely thanks people on the set, and expresses praise for their work in a private and personal way.)

As Sayles listened to Maria with such intensity, I started to listen to the environmental sounds on the dock. There was some water running, somebody pounding on metal some place, some mechanical pump or engine noises in the cruise ship next to us, and some ravens squabbling in the distance. Even the moisture in the air seems to have a sound if you listen for it. Finally, Sayles asked everybody to be quiet while the sound man "swept" his mike back and forth to pick up the environmental sounds.

The guy in the dark blue jacket is the #1 AD (Assistant Director.) The guy in dark green is an actor named Casimir Siemaszko also known as Casey. (Thanks again, Maria.) Casey is Polish, from Chicago, now, New York.

In this movie he is the "bad brother."

I had a chance to rap with Casey between takes on my shooting Day 3. He is a lively and intense guy to talk with. He told me he has been in some episodes of one the TV Police shows with Dennis Franz. He was fascinated with my stories about bears, and Alaskan bear lore.

The big guy in the red and white coat may have a fancy title on the camera crew, but his primary function, I'm sure, is to lift the camera. Even the "steady cam" that is being used here is heavy enough. In the Bar Scene, later, the main indoor camera is a real tank.

The camera crew is setting up for the next take. In our scene we are tourists in a tour group getting a narrated tour of the town named Port Hardy. We were told by Sayles that this is "...a town very much like Juneau, Alaska."

We walk along the dock getting a spiel, and pass in front of the camera as it pans from us to Mary Elizabeth and Ron Clarke. We are admonished not to look at the camera, but after several takes, some of us can't resist since it is the only thing in the scene that we haven't looked at.

Here is where they do that "clack" thing before they start rolling the film. How many times have you seen this in movies about making fake movies, and then wondered if they really did it when making real movies.

We now have our answer, and its yes they do.

They really do say "rolling," then "action," then "cut." We sometimes wondered if they would remember to say "cut" in time before we quasi tourists walked off the end of the dock.

Day 2. The beginning of my second shooting day in my life as a movie extra. Yesterday we worked with the "first unit." Today we are shooting with the second unit.

These two are the creative leaders of the second unit. The guy with the camera is Larry Goldin who is a Juneau film maker.

Larry got some national notice and good ink on a documentary he did a few years ago on the war in the Aleutians.

The woman with Larry is another assistant director. She is a lot prettier than the guy with the dark blue jacket who was the assistant director with the first unit.

This is my good friend Maureen O'Leary who is a "PA" (production assistant) on the film production crew.

Here - in addition to giving me a great smile -she is passing out cameras to the extras to use as props as we go out to film some scenes getting into the tram cars.

I got to know Maureen when she played on a softball team I coached. Maureen played third. Maureen can keep her eye on the ball, and she has got a great arm for throwing to first base.

This is another good friend, Lynn Wallen from Juneau. She is a "co-extra" with me in these scenes. She is actually posing, here, for a shot in the movie. I was wearing a hat my daughter Megan gave me with the name Belize on the back. The cinematographer - Larry - liked the hat so much that he set the shot up with the camera just behind my left shoulder so he could get both "Belize" and Lynn in the shot.

My job as an ersatz tourist here was to take a picture of Lynn posing as another tourist in front of this stupid looking bear. The pressure to perform in front of the professional film crew and half a dozen extras, not to mention curious tourists and the store owner, was incredible. Now I understand stage fright.

The hard part - the part that required timing, coordination and skill all mixed together under a patina of self-confidence and savoir faire - was, first, to take the shot of Lynn. Then, after the camera flash and a pregnant pause, start walking toward her. She was to then turn elegantly and smoothly around and away from the bear. I was to then take her arm, and we were to both walk away from the camera and converse until they yelled "cut."

I kept imagining every possible way that we could collide with each other, or get our hands all tangled up. I was sure I was going to trip and fall into either Lynn or the Bear on every one of the eight takes we did for this scene. The shot with Lynn and this bear looks so silly, though, that it might actually get into the movie.

We are setting up for a shot in front of one of the tourist "curio" shops on Juneau's South Franklin Street. Here is where I learned my most favorite word from the whole movie making exercise. The word is "Bogie."

Bogies are people who wander into the scene who are not actors, crew, or extras. There are a lot of bogies on South Franklin Street on this day, even in the rain.

We had to abort several takes here because we had "...too many bogies in the frame."

Jack Fargnoli, another friend and extra, is in the blue jacket looking on from the right. Actually, Jack and I both learned another word in this scene. That word is "clumping." The idea of the scene they are setting up here is that we extras walk among the regular tourists (the bogies), and window shop. In order to make sure we were properly "clumped," the assistant director (looking through the camera in the photo above) would first motion us forward, then grab some of us in order to feed us into the pedestrian flow (bogie flow??) in an orderly way. She apologized for sometimes getting physical with us in order to avoid "clumping."

Since I have some white space, I'll mention one other movie word defined for us by the Casting Director. "Continuity." Continuity means that the atmospheric details in a scene should look and sound the same from one take to the next. A necktie twisted to the right in one take, and twisted to the left in another take, is bad. The movie's viewer's will spot that flaw with as much vigor as an eagle flying in to grab a fish out of the water. These flaws are called "breaks in continuity." They have to be avoided at all costs in the movie business.

One other note on Sayles' vision for this movie. I'm told he was on a roof looking down into the tourists on one of our rainy days. He liked the clusters of bright colors that result as each cruise ship gives all its passengers the same color rain poncho. These clumps of bright oranges, reds, greens, purples created a special atmospheric effect that Sayles wanted to capture on film. That is why there are so many colors represented among us extras.

The girl with the long hair in the middle of this picture is Wonder Russell. Yes. Wonder is her real name. I found out her last name in the newspaper the other night when she got her picture in for getting a pilot's license.

Her job is assist the Casting Director with herding all of the extras around, and keeping track of us in case we are needed on the set.

She is a student at the University, here, getting a little experience with film making.

(Darn it! I wish I was a little younger...)

(Well... maybe a lot younger.)

Here is Wonder again. She is about to pay me for my hard day as a movie extra. The day's pay is $80 bucks issued in real greenbacks.

Its tough work, but, hey, I was willing to make the sacrifice, you know, to make my town a better place to live in.

(The truth is, $80 bucks is nice to have, but I would have done this for free.)

Day 3. "the Bar Scene."

This is the actor David Straithairn, doing a little PR baby kissing for the movie.

(Not that these guys need any more PR. They have done a great PR job in the community, and everybody will be sorry when they leave.)

The guy in the doorway is an extra. I think I overheard him say that he is a bouncer in one of the local bars. When we were not on the set, this guy showed us how to twirl and manipulate colored sticks, and acted as sponsor of a continuing hacky sack tournament on Day 4.

Straithairn is a regular in Sayles movies. He was the Sheriff in "Matewan," the Pitcher in "Eight Men Out," one of the two Men in Black in "Brother from another Planet." No doubt there were others. These are the ones I have seen. Most recently, Straithairn was the pimp for the movie star look alikes in "LA Confidential."

Here is a note about Sayles' influence in the movie industry. His first movie was the "Return of the Seacaucus Seven." I did not see it, but I have been told that it became the model for the major movie named "The Big Chill." "The Brother from Another Planet," similarly influenced the making of "Men in black." In "Brother..." Sayles and Straithairn played two aliens sent to earth to retrieve their alien brother. They were credited as the "Men in Black."

These are some more of the extras from Day 3 and 4. This group was very eclectic. The guy on the right runs a local tattoo parlour. The big guy in front of me is named "Tiny." The guy standing with the hat is a fisherman from Haines. The guy on the left is a guitar player in a local rock band.

The guy laughing is in full "Wild One" regalia. We have a big bunch of Harley riders in Juneau, and a Harley dealer, but I don't know if this fellow is associated with them.

The production crew voted our group of extras as the best group of all. (Maybe it was "most fun.")

Wonder, again. This time with the casting director, Lizzy Martinez.

Lizzy developed a reputation among the extras as the most popular person on the film crew. Very much deserved. At the end of the Bar Scene, we extras gave her a standing ovation.

She is from San Antonio, Texas. I asked if there were any other Martinez living in that part of Texas. She said, with a straight face, "Yes... a few."

Then she gave me a funny look, then a laugh. She is very charming.

These three shots are my favorites of all the ones I took. Talk about movie making up close and personal.

Picture 1. This is Sayles, Wexler, and Wexler's cameraman, Sakamoto. I was in the bar scene at a table with my stage "date" just in front of the stage.

Anyway. After she sat down, as instructed, my date and I mimed a hot conversation. We were in the lights on those takes, and on the line from the camera to Mary Elizabeth. Maybe this will be my actual film debut. ("Who was that guy in front of the stage? Get his name! I have to have him opposite Sandra Bullock in my next movie!") Come on. It could happen!

Just when I was getting used to being in the camera's magic eye, they shifted the camera to a position right next to my table. Suddenly, I was no longer in the scene. Was there a message here?

Picture 2. Includes one of the grips. Don't look too closely at his tee shirt.

Sayles (quietly): "Rolling," (pause), "Action."

Mary Elizabeth: "Good Evening everyone. My name is Donna de Angelo, and welcome to the Golden Nugget." (pause) She looks around the bar and sees her lover (Straithairn). "Well. (pause) I see we have some friends in the room." (the pause here was brief but absolutely magical. Everything in the room suddenly disappeared. Her face alone seemed to have become the sun and the moon and the universe. There was not a sound in the room, but a hundred impressions passed over her, all at once. Together, they spoke of life and fear and hate and good times and trouble and times past and lovers spurned and lovers returned. My god. Even thinking about it now, I get goose bumps. Then she said one last word:) "Welcome."

Sayles: "Cut."

Wow! The opportunity to see professionalism and accomplishment at that level and at that close range is priceless. Thank you Limbus Productions. Such Craft!

Over the two days, we went through this same scene about 25 times with four camera sets. Each time Mary Elizabeth had to change her expressions in some slightly different way. This is magnificent talent she has. Some times Sayles coached her quietly from across the room about how he wanted her to communicate the line in the next take. She picked up his signals immediately and intuitively. Sometimes she didn't need any coaching. She knew exactly what her expression needed to be, and she carried it off perfectly.

(I love this stuff. No wonder people used to run away with the circus. There is a great pull on people to try and get back under those bright lights, and in front of that big camera.

All these people are extras. The two women with the saucy looks are locals who have walk on roles as bar maids in the Bar Scene. The redhead had a baby in tow most of the time. One of the other extras tended the baby when she had to gone onto the set.

Man. They both have the look that says "I'm ready for a real role in the movies." If by being in this film they hope to step up in the movie business, I hope they make it. Good Luck to the both of you.

These guys are more of the grips. Grips are called grips because they grip things like lights, and cords, and props, and stuff. Gaffers are electricians. The "Best Boy" takes care of the paperwork for the director.

The grip on the right in this group told me he had a role in the "Wedding Singer," and got to kiss the actress in that movie, whoever she was.

Does anybody who saw the movie recognize him.

Well... I had to get one picture of myself in this. I mean, I might get discovered as a result of all this. I might get nominated. Think of it.

The Mendenhall Glacier is in the background.

Well... (a good word should not go unused) the end of another beautiful day in Juneau, Alaska. This picture was taken from the top of the Tram looking north toward the Juneau Airport at sunset.

Give me some comments if you get a chance. Click the "Top" button below, then "Werkes Home," then click on my email address. 

Thanks a lot for taking the time to look at this.

Bye for now.