A Star is Born

Famed Hollywood director Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon/Hulk/Brokeback Mountain) is currently shooting his new movie in Shanghai. Co-starring Hong Kong big wig Tony Leung and the great Joan Chen, it has at its helm an as yet untapped source of talent.

Me.

I got the opportunity the other day to go west of the city and chew up some scenery on the set of "Lust, Caution" (which is a literal translation from the Chinese, "Se Jie"), which is a movie set in World War II and has something to do with spies and espionage and so on, though being Chinese it will probably involve a convoluted love story of some design. And when I say chew scenery, I do of course mean in the sense of being an extra and walking around in the background, foregorund, and generally standing around looking cool, but I did get to wear a snazzy suit and have my hair slicked back.

This was a quick snap as photos were absolutely forbidden from the set, and anyone caught being snap happy had their camera/phone confiscated and all pictures deleted. Thats the price you pay when working with a Hong Kong crew. Apparently.

Though I didn't actually get to speak to the big man, we did exchange a smile and a knowing nod at the beginning of the day, a mutual acknowledgement towards each other's greatness no doubt. From then on it was fairly standard "stand here and when your man says action walk over there," but on the second last scene of the day, fellow extra Alexander and I took it upon ourselves to change the direction of our path, and even laboured on our start point for a few seconds after the camera started rolling. We felt it added a certain something to the overall effect - not to mention maximising our chances of being on screen. It all went a bit pear shape when our new and improved course saw me walk into the leading lady not once, but twice, prompting a rather heated "CUT." Doh!

All in all it was a good experience, and I got paid to stand around all day and see how a movie gets made. Having said that, it was a very long day (up and out by 5am) and my feet and back were knackered by the end, and on top of everything it was bloody cold. So when they asked me back the following day I politely declined; I feel my mark on the movie world has been well and truly established. All that is left to do is sit around the apartment and wait for Hollywood to call.

Other Great Things I've Been Paid To Do:

1. Watch the 2003 FA cup final. Was living in Cardiff so signed up to do silver service waiting at Cardiff's Millenium Stadium, but they were really over-staffed so shoved 20 of us into a small hot dog stand. I decided I wouldn't be missed so got paid 50 quid to watch Chelsea vs Arsenal
2. Police Line-up. I didn't actually play with Sting, but Preston police officers used to lurk outside the Students Union of the prestigious Universtiy of Central Lancashire, offering students a tenner to take part in a line-up. Basically translates to free beer.
3. University. I attended Uni a year before the introduction of tertiary fees in the UK, so the Western Education and Library Board paid for my formative years in Beer World. Sorry, University.