Arrested Development

The director’s email called it a feature background acting role with the camera following my lead for a short scene. It would be used as a flashback filler without dialogue or sound. Given a chance to act for a bit role as a police detective made me dreamy eyed. It is deadpan irony that my best chance to be seen in focus on film may happen during an Eclipse.

The movie Eclipse is a psychological thriller about a religious leader named Eldar and his influence over fellow cult followers. A dilapidated residence in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania provided the major backdrop for the movie. I filmed on the very last day of the two-week shoot when the entire crew mercifully looked for closure.

Since I arrived to the set an hour before cast call, I decided to grab a cup of morning coffee before reporting to work. Wearing a navy blue Lanzetti suit adorned by ice blue aviator sunglasses, I walked into a Dunkin Donuts and ordered partners coffee and donut. The whimsical irony occurred to me before the first donut bite down slithered down my esophagus. In playing a law enforcement official, I was getting into character by stuffing my face inside a donut shop. Dollars to donuts, acts like this dominate the scene in the blog Freudian Slips.

The time came to actually leave the donut shop and act my part. Scene 2C of the script called for a detective escorting a handcuffed criminal into Lower Merion police station for booking. Why then did the rally point of the parking lot look nothing like a police station? That chaperone type scene got scrapped for the detective arresting the perpetrator on the streets. While acting is subject to constant improvisation, a sudden change in plans is chaos to an obsessive compulsive like me. About the time I convinced myself that I can roll with the punches, a gargantuan 6’5” actor showed up to play the criminal element! The re-worked part called for stinking violence not a shrinking violet. At 5’10” 225 solid pounds, I had to throw my weight around to make a believable scene. I own a pedestrian 28” reach but I needed to act as the long arm of the law.

So what was left of the chewed up script allotted for an hour and a half of takes for this scene. All I had to do was throw the gargantuan on the hood of the cruiser, handcuff him, frisk him, then muscle him inside the car before driving away. Tight angles and rehearsing can work wonders but we needed multiple takes to get the scene right. Before I got used to Frank’s angular body frame that was fresh off the set of Rocky 6, I slipped in my Miami Vice alligator shoes during action. Take two. The extra spot lighting that the crew duct taped inside the cruiser fell down during another take. Take three. No fault of my own, the novelty handcuffs broke on the next take. Take four. Fault of my own, I forgot to cuff the perpetrator on another take. Take five. I sped away too fast in the cruiser on another take. Take six. Call it arrested development but the scene finally came together for three successful takes. Forget about reading Miranda rights. That is what they call a Hollywood wrap.

They say strange things occur during an Eclipse. Like a rash of bad luck, I came home from the shoot with poison ivy. I’m scratching like crazy but it hasn’t satisfied my itch for acting.