From the Face Book Page of My Oldest Son- Dodie Katague

Today, I received a message from my oldest son, Dodie Katague about his 2-days experience as a background extra for a movie. Dodie is a retired Prosecuting Attorney from Contra Costa County. One of his activity during his retirement years is acting in Theatre. His latest gig was playing Polonius, in the Shakespeare Hamlet production by the Vallejo Shakespeare. org now playing in Vallejo.  

https://www.authorsden.com/visit/author.asp?authorid=108890

Here's what Dodie wrote on his Face Book Page:

"Spent the last two days working as a background extra for a movie. The scene was a wedding with a call out for Asian looking extras. My hair and mustache are grey because I'm playing Polonius in a stage production of Hamlet elsewhere. So I came on as an old man extra. I thought I would just be in the background sitting at tables as the main actors did their lines, but when I arrived the casting director told me to follow her and I was told I would be the guy who bumps into the main actor and spill red wine on his white suit. We did several rehearsals to get the blocking and the timing down, then some practice takes which were all being filmed, and then the actual take where I did spill the red wine on his suit. Then the actor changed into a second clean identical white suit and the cameras were repositioned at a different angle and we did all again.

I had a blast! I learned a lot about the difference between theater stage acting (you project your voice )and film acting (you speak normal and let the microphones on boom poles above your head you pick up the sound). It was a long 12 hour day. We were on set until almost midnight. Then the casting director asked if any extras wanted to come back the next day and I did, so I was in more background and walk through scenes. Everyone on the crew were very professional and the directors were very nice and a pleasure to work with.  

Of course, there was no pay, but the production company fed us lunch and dinner. If you love movies, you should be an extra at least once on a film to see how hard the directors, the crew and the actors work. Of course, the reality will burst your bubble on the magic of movies, but this was a bucket list experience I was glad to have had the opportunity. But for me, I prefer stage theater.

Here's a picture of me (the fat guy In the blue suit and tie) waiting to do a walk by scene. Action! Cut! That's a wrap!"*See Photo Above.

My Quote of the Day: Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement- Henry Ford, 1863-1947, American Car Manufacturer

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