Modern Life: Hollywood Heads Here

A friend and I were viewing Oscar winners through the veil of a television set on Sunday night, fantasizing about what it would be like to sport a custom-made dress like Marisa Tomei’s and stun foes of our past (e.g: “Remember when you didn’t cast me as lead in the high school play? Take that!”).

The next night, believe it or not, we were standing right beside a two-time Academy Award winner: Hilary Swank.

We were featured as extras in the production of the new film “Betty Ann Waters.” We portrayed law students of the ’90s.
“Where’s Hilary?” I asked a camera man. “Standing right next to you.” I glanced over. “Are you sure?” I asked in denial. “One hundred percent.”
The actress was seated less than an arm’s length away from me, but I had to shift angles to see more than the back of her head. The cameraman was right; it was the star from “Million Dollar Baby.”
I expected to see her standing next to me on the streets of Los Angeles, but instead she was standing next to me in the University of Michigan’s Angell Hall.

In the acting world, you have to be aggressive. Sometimes downright sneaky, even as an extra. I was told by an executive that there was absolutely no way I could be featured in the film before the departure of the last train back to Kalamazoo.

But I found a way. Tip: they pulled people seated by the door first.

I was in a group of eight that were supposed to be sparsely walking in the background. So, I put on glasses that I own but seldom wear, pretended to fix them (improv!), and walked expressionless down the hall toward a sign that read “Tilch Hall.” We took two takes and we were done.

In Burbank, Calif., extras are paid over $100 for a day of filming. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, we did it for free. Being in a movie, even as an extra, is exciting and new for us Michiganders, so we’ll take what we can get.

As I walked along Rodeo Drive last summer, I was unaware of the fact that the state I left behind was in the process of generating feature films of its own.
While in LA, I stood inside the soundstage where they filmed “Pirates of the Caribbean” during a guided tour of Warner Brothers Studios. I got to see Jay Leno in person dressed in something other than his usual blazer, and I surveyed the majesty of Westwood’s UCLA at midnight.

Point made, I needed an excuse to move out to Hollywood. An excuse that extended beyond the condition of Michigan’s unpleasant weather.
My original reason for the planned move to LA was to pursue acting. But, after the results of Jennifer Granholm’s tax incentives, my perfect excuse had vanished into cold air.
Stars as big as Clint Eastwood and Rosie O’Donnell are making their way to Michigan to work on films being produced right here. Last semester, on two separate occasions, after telling friends “you know, they say Hollywood’s coming to Michigan,” they responded with the same words, “Oh, it’s HERE.”

I envision myself confronted about my movie career at age 50 by a young girl. I’d throw a scarf over my mink coat and say to the girl, “Oh, I didn’t have to move to Hollywood Dah-ling; Hollywood came to me.”
A multimillion dollar studio in Pontiac, Mich. is currently in the works. The new 600,000 square foot studio will be launched inside an old General Motors plant.Motown Motion Pictures expects the entire project to be completed in five years. However, a portion of the studio may be ready by the summer of 2009.

“Jennifer Granholm signed into law the most aggressive film incentives in the nation,” wrote Troy Anderson of Dailybreeze.com.
The article also cited 35 other states offering similar tax incentives. Pieces of the Hollywood Pangaea are breaking away from California to form their own Hollywood subcontinents elsewhere.
With this, in addition to movies like “Prayers for Bobby,” and Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino” popping up all through Michigan’s east side, we are feeling the buzz of show-biz more than ever.
For Michigan, that’s like going from Hollywood to the Holly ‘hood.

I strain to admit this, but for aspiring actors, staying in Michigan might be a wise decision. Why? Less competition.
Michigan residents are interested in a whole assortment of specialties. Just about everyone in LA yearns to be the next Penélope Cruz.
A friend of mine who recently moved to Los Angeles from Metro Detroit had this to say about Hollywood: “too many people fall into the trap of the Hollywood Strip; everyone here is an “actress.’”
One day the hand of Michigan may be enveloped in a mitten made of red carpet. Patches are already showing up everywhere. Last November, the movie “Cherry” was filmed here in Kalamazoo.
Glitter-up that mitten.

Kelly Bacon, a Western Herald Arts writer, is a junior majoring in creative writing and can be reached via e-mail at ktbaconster@gmail.com.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=4417

Posted by HeraldAdmin on Feb 26 2009. Filed under Weekend Scene. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
Web Manager: I'm a Communication Student at WMU, a SCUBA Diver, Boater, Ordained Minister, Notary Public, Web Designer, Film Maker, DJ, and of course a Journalist. Born and raised in Port Huron, MI and a graduate of SC4. http://www.codykimball.com