Baywatch Diary – Day 21
I have a 7am call, but I dont actually begin work until noon, because they moved my scenes around. I am prepared for this so I have brought a book and my knitting to the set. John Candy said, “Actors dont get paid to work – they’ll do that for free. They get paid to wait around”. Today I decide to just go with the flow, as I know the production is under a ton of pressure to wrap the movie on time. I read and take a nap in my trailer and visit 2nd Unit up the hill. Carmen and John are filming at a lovely waterfall. Lovely, but unfortunately their shooting is interrupted every hour for 15 minutes because of a dive show off the top of the waterfall! That really slows them down. When I am called to the set at noon, we only do a short blocking rehearsal and then we are broken for lunch, so I nap again (life of leisure, eh?).
Our trailers have been taken by The Rock’s movie, Hell Dorado – there arent unlimited trailers on this island and I guess because our productions overlapped, they got our “star trailers” (two separate dressing rooms in one trailer), and now we have “three-bangers” (three separate dressing rooms in one trailer) for our last week. They are smaller, but I dont care as long as they are clean and have a couch to lie down on . Although we only have a half hour lunch, that really means an hour+ break for actors, as we go into makeup touchups after lunch. Back on set, I am shooting a scene with David and the bad guy, Cary Tagawa. It goes quite well, and then Cary and I have some quick scenes together. The director is happy when I spontaneously lick Cary’s face. I am happy because it isnt too hot in the jungle area we are in. I watch David rehearse, and I think to myself that he is my favorite costar in my 21 years as an actress, because he works hard, he cares about making it good, he is a generous actor, and he has a sunny, positive attitude. When he is grumpy, he still is delightful because he makes jokes about his grumpiness.
Between shots, I work on a crossword with Mike, the sound guy, and then I am wrapped from 1st Unit, waiting to go to 2nd Unit. They are supposed to have moved to the ocean by now, but are still at the falls, so I know I wont be doing my swimming scene today. But I hang around with Gena (who did the first scene of the day and is waiting to do the last scene of the day – remember what John Candy said…) and wait for the official word that I am wrapped. That comes 45 minutes later, so I go home (the hotel – it has become my home away from home), and talk to my love on the phone (twice), and clean up my room. When Gena gets home we walk over to the pool bar and it is packed with Hawaiian Tropic women, Baywatch cast and crew, Big Bounce crew, guys from a nearby military base, and some tourists. I share a virgin Lava Flow (basically a milkshake for adults) with Gena, take photos (Hawaiian Tropic girls want pictures with us, which is so funny to Gena and me) and chat with Baywatch friends. I meet the people from the film The Big Bounce, who are very nice. They are here until Christmas! Their producer, Steve Bing, is very liberal politically, so I am glad to meet him. He has gotten some rough publicity recently as the father of Elizabeth Hurley’s baby, but I must say that he impressed me as being very, very smart.
My call time has been changed from 11am to 6am. The 2nd Unit scene I missed doing today is first up tomorrow, and then I go to 1st Unit for the end of the day. It is the last work day on this adventure, so I am glad to be in for the duration.
