A New York State of Mind

There are four constants for any trip I make to New York. 1. There will be a lack of public bathrooms available. 2. I am guaranteed to get lost at least once trying to get somewhere. Every time, I come out of a subway, I am disoriented about which direction is uptown and which direction is downtown. Ergo, I usually end up going the wrong direction for a block, and then the backtracking gives away the game that I’m not a New Yorker. 3. My feet will be killing me from a day of traipsing all over the island, and finally… 4. My trip to New York will be acting related.

Tuesday evening I was down in Greenwich Village in Manhattan working on a film called “Duplicity” starring Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Tom Wilkinson, and Billy Bob Thornton. I arrived an hour early in the village, and signed in once they had everything ready. It was a slower shoot. I was only used as deep background for the night shoot, walking on a street, and quite literally, walking in circles. Although Julia Roberts and Clive Owen were both on set for the scene, but I was so far back, that I never saw either.
The reality is that not every job is going to be as fulfilling as the last. It’s not possible. They are going to be variances. Not as exciting, but that’s the truth about extra work, and you take the good with the bad because you love doing it!

Towards the end of the night, standing on my mark a block away from the scene, the punchiness of a long night awake began to get with me. Where you just don’t care. Not a lot of extras around me to talk to in between takes, I kept pacing back and forth singing Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” quietly. The punchiness. It’s like being mildly drunk without drinking, and it’s common on a set. Some of the good things that also happened during the shoot, the casting director came around and greeted each of us, and it was nice to meet her, and look forward to working with her again in the future. And also for the new friends, fellow extras that you meet on set. The extra community seems to be a small world. For DC and Philadelphia. New York is a world unto itself, and I’m only scratching the surface there! Good things to come, means New York. It’s becoming more and more my center of attention over the past year and a half.

With that attention, comes the second half of my trip to New York. Getting over to 88th street…eventually. Once we were wrapped at 5:30 in the morning I made my way up to 79th st and Riverside. The bike path there along the edge of the Hudson, with New Jersey on the other side is one of my favorite places to be in the city. At night, with the skyscrapers of New Jersey lit up and reflecting on the water, it’s very beautiful, very peaceful. Unfortunately, I didn’t get there until after sun up, but still I strolled a mile along the edge of the Hudson, singing Billy Joel again along the way. Another favorite spot is Times Square at 3am-5am when the streets are empty, and the huge lights on signs reflect and blink on the black pavement. And lastly is St. Patrick’s Cathedral. A place where I enjoy going to for a little peace and prayer. I wound up there after Riverside, but didn’t have much time to stay before heading out again.

I arrived back up around 88th st. just in time for the open call Sylvia Fay Casting was holding for the upcoming movie “Brooklyn’s Finest.” Starring Wesley Snipes, Ellen Barkin and Richard Gere. In addition to being an open call, it also turned out to be an open enrollment into Sylvia Fay Casting. So this has been a productive trip for sure! After that I visited the Screen Actors Guild office, and then the office of castingnetworks.com which were stops I could have done without. Hopped back on the NJ Transit for home, and when I did get home, being awake and walking around New York for 24 hours, you better believe I crashed for a long time!!!