Rick Johnson & Reuben "Groove" Rojas

Day 2 -- Wednesday June 11

Up at 5am. The van showed up at around 6am. We reached the location by 7am. Bagel, makeup, costumes. Ready to shoot by 8am. The first scene for RUSTY (Scene 19), the slow-witted small-town bully, was at the funeral of his high-school friend and star-quarterback, Sparky. No lines for me. Just dim-witted staring as the coach said some parting words to Sparky. Lined up on the bench at the football-field ceremony were Don Mobley, the wayward officer, Reba, Sparky's fiancee up until right before his death, Rusty, and then Shank, another bully and old friend of Sparky. The rest of the bench was made up of extras: boys in footbal uniforms and a gaggle of cheerleaders.

The coach spoke. Reba cried. I stared at the coach. I saluted as the crowd cheered. Fascinating character work all around. Done by 10am. Everything went remarkably quickly and smoothly. It was quite an efficient little group. That was a surprise, but a very pleasant one. Hope that trend continues.

I returned to my hotel and prepared to leave behind this Utah. When I spoke with Chris Dreyer the night before, I had asked him about leaving today when I was wrapped. He said he would look into it. I gave him a call when I returned to my hotel and after I reminded him I wanted to leave today, he said he'd look into it and call me back.

And so my work here was done. Or at least it was done for the next eight days. I was not scheduled to return to the set until Friday, June 20. So it's back to L.A. to sit in front of the computer and type up a website. The only difference between this week and my usual week is that for these days I'll be getting paid. Ah, Hollywood.

Go on to Day 3

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