LIE TO ME, Part I
So, I booked my first role since the move. Yay!
It's a co-star on a mid-season replacement on FOX called Lie To Me starring Tim Roth. The show is about a group of behavioral doctors, etc., who solve cases by reading "microexpressions" in people's faces which indicate that they're lying. I watched a promo for it, and I actually think it's going to be a really good show.
I'm a little bummed to be back in co-star land, but am happy for the work. And the main thing is that I got in to see a casting director who I met two years ago, and she really liked what I did, took some time to get reacquainted with me, and called me in the next day for a much larger guest star on a different series. Actually, a Mossad agent, which would have been incredibly fun. But she decided I was too young, told me she'd definitely use me in the future, and in the meantime, did I want to play the original role I came in for? Which was Videographer #1 at a Korean wedding. And having hardly even auditioned all fall (it's been deadly quiet), I was happy for the job.
The shoot was most of last week. This post is about the first couple of days, which were wonderful and bizarre. The main action at the beginning of the episode takes place at the wedding of the son of a Korean ambassador—a huge, opulent affair. Most of the other co-starring roles were Korean-American actors (or other asian types who were playing Korean-American). Plus there were about 250 extras (or "atmosphere" as they are called here), by far the most I've ever worked with on a set before. The extras were about 3/4 asian, 1/4 caucasian. There were guests, waiters, other videographers, photographers, secret service people, the wedding party, a group of traditional korean fan dancers.....and of course about 40-50 crew. Madness!
It was fascinating. First of all, I was hanging out with the other co-star types. The Korean guys all pretty much knew each other and what kind of work each had done lately. Many of them had appeared together before, on numerous occasions. I realized that as a subset of all LA actors, the Korean acting community must be pretty tight. There were animated discussions about the script, which dealt with "microexpressions" of behavior but with a Korean twist (i.e., one character had to betray his inner feelings by not bowing deferentially enough....a tip-off to the resentment he's feeling. The actor playing the role was debating how low he should bow so as to show the microexpression, yet not be too obvious). At one point the episode's author writer came over and said he'd read that Koreans never showed disgust as an expression; the actors all cried in unison, "unless he's drunk!"...indicating to me that this must be a commonly accepted fact in Korean culture. Again, fascinating stuff.
Looking around the wedding reception, I saw many older actors (which is right for a wedding, yes?), including an entire table of extras of what I guessed to be Indian descent. They were wearing saris and seemed completely out of place compared to the rest of the room! I found myself wondering what in the world they were doing there, and decided that the ambassador must have colleagues at the embassy who he invites to his son's wedding or whatever.
All in all, it was a great couple of days shooting the wedding scene. The kind of stuff I love about shoots: meeting a bunch of talented and very diverse people, figuring out how to make the scene consistent but fresh for each take, having fun imagining what the actual wedding would have been like.
Alas, Part II of the shoot was not as great. But more on that in my next post....
It's a co-star on a mid-season replacement on FOX called Lie To Me starring Tim Roth. The show is about a group of behavioral doctors, etc., who solve cases by reading "microexpressions" in people's faces which indicate that they're lying. I watched a promo for it, and I actually think it's going to be a really good show.
I'm a little bummed to be back in co-star land, but am happy for the work. And the main thing is that I got in to see a casting director who I met two years ago, and she really liked what I did, took some time to get reacquainted with me, and called me in the next day for a much larger guest star on a different series. Actually, a Mossad agent, which would have been incredibly fun. But she decided I was too young, told me she'd definitely use me in the future, and in the meantime, did I want to play the original role I came in for? Which was Videographer #1 at a Korean wedding. And having hardly even auditioned all fall (it's been deadly quiet), I was happy for the job.
The shoot was most of last week. This post is about the first couple of days, which were wonderful and bizarre. The main action at the beginning of the episode takes place at the wedding of the son of a Korean ambassador—a huge, opulent affair. Most of the other co-starring roles were Korean-American actors (or other asian types who were playing Korean-American). Plus there were about 250 extras (or "atmosphere" as they are called here), by far the most I've ever worked with on a set before. The extras were about 3/4 asian, 1/4 caucasian. There were guests, waiters, other videographers, photographers, secret service people, the wedding party, a group of traditional korean fan dancers.....and of course about 40-50 crew. Madness!
It was fascinating. First of all, I was hanging out with the other co-star types. The Korean guys all pretty much knew each other and what kind of work each had done lately. Many of them had appeared together before, on numerous occasions. I realized that as a subset of all LA actors, the Korean acting community must be pretty tight. There were animated discussions about the script, which dealt with "microexpressions" of behavior but with a Korean twist (i.e., one character had to betray his inner feelings by not bowing deferentially enough....a tip-off to the resentment he's feeling. The actor playing the role was debating how low he should bow so as to show the microexpression, yet not be too obvious). At one point the episode's author writer came over and said he'd read that Koreans never showed disgust as an expression; the actors all cried in unison, "unless he's drunk!"...indicating to me that this must be a commonly accepted fact in Korean culture. Again, fascinating stuff.
Looking around the wedding reception, I saw many older actors (which is right for a wedding, yes?), including an entire table of extras of what I guessed to be Indian descent. They were wearing saris and seemed completely out of place compared to the rest of the room! I found myself wondering what in the world they were doing there, and decided that the ambassador must have colleagues at the embassy who he invites to his son's wedding or whatever.
All in all, it was a great couple of days shooting the wedding scene. The kind of stuff I love about shoots: meeting a bunch of talented and very diverse people, figuring out how to make the scene consistent but fresh for each take, having fun imagining what the actual wedding would have been like.
Alas, Part II of the shoot was not as great. But more on that in my next post....
posted by Zachary Knower at
11:30 PM
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