A Destrehan resident was on the set of a recent filming for the TV Series “American Horror Story: Freak Show.”
In the background, specifically.
Reuben Tweedy, a retired Sara Lee key account manager, embarked on a new part-time career last March that has taken him throughout the region for the production of movies and television shows, including upcoming “Jurassic World” and “Trumbo,” a movie planned for release in 2015 starring Bryan Cranston.
Tweedy said he got his first break when his daughter invited him to a casting call for “Jurassic World.” As he approached the set, he said it seemed that only women who had “just stepped out of Glamour magazine” were coming from the casting call room. Once inside however, he found that the need for background actors requires a large variety of shapes, sizes and colors of people.
“Basically, what you are is a live prop,” Tweedy said. “It dawned on me there, this is something I could do and probably enjoy doing.”
St. Charles Parish is increasingly drawing attention from Hollywood production companies. Quixote Studios recently opened in St. Rose that, in addition to providing production space, also rents out equipment that would normally have to be shipped in from Los Angeles.
Production companies have also been coming to St. Charles Parish sites for filming. Ormond Plantation was recently used as the backdrop for ABC series “Astronaut Wives Club.” A thriller starring John Goodman is currently filming in Hahnville.
Tweedy said since his initial work on “Jurassic World,” he has received work at a rate of about one job per week. Some jobs are not as easy as others.
“I’ve been on shoots where it’s been 16 hours,” Tweedy said. “An all night shoot and you get to see the sun come up.”
In addition to strange schedules, Tweedy said many shoots require meetings to be fitted for a suit and oftentimes call for a specific hair cut. For “Astronaut Wives Club,” the theme was set in the 1950s and crew told the extras to use a special type of Brylcreem in their hair when they showed up the next day. Tweedy said that finding the product required a lengthy search for a dust-covered jar.
Though Tweedy said he has not had a long, drawn-out conversation with any A-List movie star, he has had the opportunity to interact with many of the different productions’ actors. Bryan Cranston – the former star of “Breaking Bad” who is now starring in the biopic of Dalton Trumbo, a Hollywood writer whose career was upended by the mid-century congressional witch hunt throughout Hollywood—was particularly friendly, according to Tweedy.
However, the general rule is that the actor is not to be spoken to by the background actors until they speak first.
According to Tweedy, the actors are often hard at work remembering lines.
“[Cranston] would joke around with people in between lens changes…things of that nature,” Tweedy said.
Tweedy said he was fascinated by the process by which movies and TV shows are made. During an “American Horror Story: Freak Show” shoot with Jessica Lange, Tweedy said he and other background actors were encouraged by the director to give feedback as members of a fake audience. Lange fed off that energy.
“They must have shot that thing about 20 times,” Tweedy said. “Towards the end, she was phenomenal.”
Tweedy has not gained access to this world by virtue of closely held Hollywood connections. He points to free resources anyone can use to find work as background actors, including registering with the regional branch of Central Casting and creating a profile on Mycastingfile.com. Both systems ask users to upload pictures and some basic information and, when a profile matches a need, that person receives a call from the office asking for availability.
Tweedy is not the only St. Charles Parish resident doing these shoots. He ran into a fellow background actor who hailed from roughly the same Ormond Estates neighborhood as him only a few weeks prior.
The growth of “Hollywood South,” including the expansion of films into the parish, has led to greater competition for work.
The nature of the work is that it’s hard to call home and tell friends about your appearance in an upcoming film. Background work is often done as part of a very short scene and can often be cut in the final production. Tweedy said the only time he was able to spot himself was in a show where he knew precisely what he had worn for the shoot. Even then, the scene was blurry and very short.
As he has continued to garner more background roles, Tweedy said he has encountered a community of helpful actors. He sees many of the same faces, and finds that they are always willing to help. Though there are no speaking roles, the nature of the work requires a lot of pantomiming. In his first role with “Jurassic World,” a woman next to him immediately started pantomiming a full conversation as soon as the director said “action.” The woman later coached Tweedy.
“When I retired, I knew I wanted to do something,” Tweedy said. “With background acting, it’s kind of like an opportunity to learn while doing.”
Being a part of the production, however, has allowed Tweedy to even further appreciate what it takes to get a movie or TV show from the set to the screen. He describes a veritable symphony of set workers constantly making adjustments and paying close attention to details, including how the background actors, like Tweedy, are positioned.
“To me, when you watch TV, when you watch movies, you don’t get a clear picture of what all goes into it,” he said. “Watching the people behind the scenes was just amazing to me.”
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