Baywatch Diary – Day 5

The first day of shooting! I got up to get my hour swim in before the blessing at 7am on the set. It was performed on the beach by native Hawaiians who spoke beautifully and blessed the Baywatch shoot. Two Hawaiian boys blew into conch shells and the entire cast and crew were there. A perfect way to begin “Baywatch Hawaiian Wedding”, the cast reunion movie. By the way, thanks to you all who have written in response to this daily diary. As this movie will be sold all around the world, I think you all will be able to see it at some point.

I am in the makeup/ hair trailer at 9:15am, and it is empty as John, Billy, Stacey and Jason are already on the set. David and I are doing 3 scenes together today, and as I am wet in each one, hair takes no time at all (but it still takes some time – 3 different products are put in my hair to make it look wet! Plain water just wont do.) I prefer my makeup light, as my character is not a glamour puss. My body makeup takes more time, as I have my scar to cover and alot of skin to tan. I am standing in the makeup trailer, with nothing but my suit bottoms on and a little towel in front of my chest, 2 makeup artists applying my fake tan, and Michael, Stacey and Brande come in. I say anyone can come in except for Jeremy, as I still think of him as 12 years old, even though he is 21 now, and I am almost in the buff. His mother reminds me that he has already seen me naked, when he by mistake walked in on me years ago getting my body makeup applied (I had forgotten), so he comes in too. Today I learn that Michael “moons” people alot, and that Jason is a very talented mimic – he can do excellent Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis impressions, among others. The more I learn about my costars, the more I like them.

As is usual on a first day, we are behind in our schedule already, and one of my scenes today is cut completely from the script. Ah well. I am told that I now wont be working until after lunch, so I go back to my room for a few hours. We dont have dressing rooms this week as we will be shooting at the hotel. John and I are sharing a car, so he comes over to get the keys and I ask him to get me some protein bars on his way to the gym. John is a very healthy eater, and he works out alot (and he has a beautiful build to prove it). He taught me, years ago, about how much sodium is in canned soup! I nap and at 1:30pm I am called to the set. Of course, I have to have my face and hair redone, but luckily my body makeup is OK (that stuff stays on, and as I can never get it off my back, I always had brownish sheets when I was doing Baywatch, from the fake tan coming off as I slept). David and I have to do a scene where we are totally soaked, so we are getting sprayed before each take. Thank goodness for the warm Hawaiian sun! Actually, doing those scenes felt like getting into an old shoe again. I felt pretty comfortable, even though it has been a while since I have acted, and for David it has been just as long. I am glad that I am starting out working with him, as we both joke about being rusty. For my first scene, I have to come out of the water, and I immediately lost one of my contact lenses (I am wearing green-colored contacts for this character) because I opened my eyes underwater (dumb, very dumb) to make sure I didnt scrape myself on coral. Luckily, I know myself, and I had brought a second pair…