A month ago, my role as Hospital Visitor on Madam Secretary wound up on the cutting room floor (or whatever you call digital dustbins these days). I wasn't terribly disappointed; not only was there very little to it, I was so far away from the camera that I would've been just a blur anyway.
So it was with great pleasure that I was called back some weeks later to play a Member of the Press, the legendary role I originated last fall on the same series. For me, then, typecasting is a good thing.
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| Your correspondent at the ready. |
You may (or, more likely, may not) remember that in my first outing as part of the Secretary of State's press pack, I was accompanying her to Russia. Now, we were going no further than the State Department. And, as usual through the magic of television, it was just a quick subway trip from my Upper East Side apartment. The New York transit system is the best!
We had a noon call time for holding at St. Andrew's Church at City Hall Plaza, a place I was quite familiar with from previous work on Bull and Law & Order: SVU, thanks to its close proximity to the court houses. We waited four-and-a-half-hours before being called to set.
This gave me time to prepare by tapping into my sense memory and -- oh, hell, who am I kidding? I read the New York Post, did its crossword puzzle, played Scrabble on my Kindle Fire, ate lunch, and browsed the internet and checked emails on my phone. You want glamour? It's $3.99 a month at your local newsstand.
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| The fountain outside the Javits Federal Building greets visitors by giving them the finger. |
Thanks to my Google Timeline feature, I can tell you for a fact that we left St. Andrews at exactly 4:32 PM. Six minutes later, we arrived on set -- which this day was the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, standing in for the State Department.
(The Jacob K. Javits Federal Building should not be confused with the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. It is merely a continuation of New York's desperate need to name every edifice after dead Democrats. Javits gets two presumably because he was extra Democratic.)
It's always interesting to film inside federal buildings. Unlike other visitors, we have a little more free reign entering and walking through their hallways, since our presence is expected. I mean, why else is there a camera crew there?
However, IDs were still obligatory at the front door. And, as I recall, the actors playing cops and guards weren't given their (phony) guns until they were placed onset. Fun fact: when walking to set, actors playing cops are legally required to dress in such a way to differentiate themselves from the real thing; otherwise, they could be arrested for impersonating law enforcement officials. Differentiating themselves can include wearing an overcoat over their uniform, putting masking tape over badges, and -- my favorite -- wearing their hats backwards when walking to set. Since most guys wear their baseball caps backwards, New Yorkers who see them just take it for granted.
The scene was short and simple: as one reporter unsuccessfully tries to get past security at the State Department, his colleagues breeze past him. It all looks very natural onscreen, but each of us was placed in a specific spot for specific reasons that only the A.D. can specifically explain. With each rehearsal, some of us were moved around -- some up front, others to the side, still more entering from outside -- until the perfect look was created.
I was one of a group of three guys eventually placed outside, and told to enter through the revolving doors when given our cue. (Yes, some extras have their own cue.) We did at least seven takes, with several minutes downtime in between each. What with my placement and what the director would eventually decide looked best, it was a crapshoot whether I would be seen or not. When it finally aired, I fast-forwarded expecting to be disappointed.
Roughly 15 seconds into the scene, I appeared, swiping my press pass through the security entrance, before walking offscreen to wait with the other extras until we heard "cut".
My wife thought highly of my performance, believing I walked with "determination." It was true -- I was determined not to make an idiot of myself.
But there was one more shot that I'd forgotten about, a reverse angle of the two principal actors walking to the elevator.
"Hey, that's me again!" I exclaimed to my wife, pointing to the right side of the screen. I know the back of my head like I know the back of my hand.
We finished at 6:15 PM, having worked roughly 1'15" over the course of the entire afternoon. The scene itself lasts about 40 seconds. It takes a lot of work to look natural.
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In case you want to see me in action:
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