Spider-Man 2 Set Report
'AgentQ7' over at SHH sent in a report of his experience on the Spider-Man 2 set back in November, 2002 in Chicago. A sad tale of a fanboy accosting the Director. No wonder they have bodyguards. ;)
'AgentQ7' over at SHH sent in an excellent report of his experience on the Spider-Man 2 set back in November, 2002 in Chicago.
To recap, I had reported to you just after I (and 2 friends) went to apply to be extras for the scenes they were shooting here downtown. They had given us a rough idea of where and when they'd be shooting, what we would need to wear, and said they'd call us.
So here's what happened: They said they'd be shooting from approx. November 9th through the 17th, and that they would call. Well, the first WEEK went by, and they DIDN'T. I was bummed. I am a pretty big Spider-Man fan (I even attended the prestigious Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art for my love of comics and desire to illustrate them), and LOVED the first film, and even though I originally assumed that Sam wouldn't be at this very early shoot (it seemed so preliminary; no script and so early that I figured it might be for another early teaser. If anything, I expected just a second unit director or something) after reading reports on your page that he WAS in fact there, and was being as cool with the fans as he is always reported as being, I was REALLY bummed. In fact, the afternoon I read that he WAS there (Nov. 16th), I was whining to all my friends after dinner about how the casting agency hadn't called. Well, at about 7 PM that night, I got the call. I was ecstatic, to say the least. They said they needed us the next morning at 7, and possibly for the following two days as well. Sweet! So we went.
The first day we were put in a group on the "El" train that was done up to look like a New York MTA train (as were the platforms and street signs below -see photos). The setup was that there were two cranes set up between these two adjacent stops along the El track (the "Madison" and "Adams" stops on Wabash Ave.) (on a section of the El tracks called "the loop" downtown, which is exactly what it sounds like, a section of track in a loop, branched off from the main linear tracks with cables strung between them from which hung....the Spider-Cam! (actually what the crew told us it was called) The train would go around the loop at about half speed, pause before we got to the section where the camera was, and on the take, run by at regular speed. The camera would follow the train from above, dip down, the lens rotating towards us, looking as if it was peering in the windows at us as it zipped by, and then would ascend back up as we pulled away....the amazing Spider-Cam, indeed! We were instructed to react, in half-speed, as if we felt/heard something happening on top of the train, and, of course, not to look directly into the camera. It would take about 10-15 minutes to go around the loop each time, and then we'd shoot for all of 10 seconds as we sped by, and this went on for about 7 HOURS! It was fun, though, with my friends there, and just knowing that I was getting to be a part of Spider-Man 2 (and it didn't hurt that they were paying us $100 a day)!!
The second day was even better, though, because that was the day that I got to meet the man himself, Sam Raimi! That day I got the chance to be in a different spot, outside of the train on the platform. It was horribly, ridiculously freezing cold, but worth it for what I got to do and for the opportunity to be in another, different shot (better chance of actually being in the film, yeah!) That day, we were only being shot by the same camera, but as bystanders behind the train as it went by (on previous days and the next day there were other cameras used for shots both inside and outside the train of close-up reactions). In the middle of the day, on a bathroom break, I wandered down to street level to see what I could see in and around the trailers and tents they had set up for the crew and remote camera equipment, etc. And there, in a small tent, right on the sidewalk, was Sam, and (I think) John Dykstra, with some others huddled around a tiny monitor. YES! He was here! I didn't approach him then, but later on at lunch I made my move.
I know I'm terribly long-worded, but this is the coolest part of the story, and shows just how awesome Mr. Raimi can be, so bear with me...For lunch, we were led to a building just down the street from the shoot. It had been rented out for our lunch area, and it was an old restaurant that had gone out of business. The "cast" (us extras and the crew had seperate areas, us upstairs and them downstairs, and as I was climbing the stairs in line to get my grub, I saw Sam come in below. Giddy and nervous throughout, at the end of the meal, seeing that there was only one other person left at the table with him, I finally went down the stairs with my camera bag (including my Spider-Man DVD inside) slung over my shoulder, and approached Sam. "Hi. Do you mind if I sit down and say 'hello' for a minute?" "Sure," he said, shaking my outstetched hand. "My name's Ethan." "Ethan what?" That was really polite right away..."Oh, Ethan Harper." "Are you an extra today?" "Yeah." "How's it going out there?" he asked. "Great! A little bit cold, but we're having fun." He asked if I'd ever done this before, and I said I hadn't, but that I always wanted to, and that I was more of an artist by trade than actor. He asked if I had gone to school, and I told him about my going to the Kubert School, asked if he knew Kubert's work, and he said he did but wasn't aware that he had a school. He asked a few more questions about the school, who taught animation, etc. He seemed to be putting so much thought and effort into asking me questions, it was great. He would frequently pause and awkwardly ask another question, his mannerisms like a nervous fan, just like I felt I was acting towards HIM. I think he ended up asking me more questions than I did him! The best part was right near the end of our short conversation...he had stopped talking and was looking down at the ground between his feet, and I wasn't sure if he was thinking of another question to ask (as I said, he seemed like he was really trying to just be polite and be engaging with his questions, which was nice) or if he was now giving me an "okay, we're done now" hint. I kind of looked around for a second, and then let out a "So,...yeah..." and a second later, he turned up towards me with the same humble look as before, and asked "So what character are you playing?" I was like, (and think I said) "Huh?" "What character are you playing?" he asked again, "When you're up there, who are you playing? What's your character?" I said "Oh!, um, I guess I'm just a bystander..." "Just a bystander?!" he asked almost disappointedly, "No, no, you've got to BE somebody. Who are you playing? What's your character?" "Oh!" I said again, st