Meagan's News

Well, my legions of fans, (and by legions, I mean handful.  And by fans, I mean family and friends), here is the long awaited blog on my 2007 Tony Awards experience.  I was hesitant to work it this year, mostly because it’s a really long day and I had already met most of the presenters this year the other two times I’ve worked AND I haven’t been able to see any of the shows this year.  Plus, it was going to be tough to top last year’s experience since I got to meet Julia Roberts and ended up staying in touch with James Earl Jones.  Having his voice on my voicemail was one of the more surreal moments in my crazy NY life so far.  But, I digress.  The point is: I went into this not expecting much out of it and of course, at the end of the day I was really glad I went.  I had a FUN time.  I was in charge of the presenters signing the posters again this year, which is the job I prefer because that way I get to meet everyone, not just a few.  And they were using a ton of escorts this year, which meant there was going to be a lot of downtime.  So I had a good “job”.  Here are the people I got to meet:

Christina Applegate, Zach Braff, Harry Connick, Jr., Claire Danes, Jeff Daniels, Brian Dennehy, Taye Diggs, Fantasia, Harvey Fierstein, Carla Gugino, Marvin Hamlisch, Marcia Gay Harden, Neil Patrick Harris, Anne Heche, Marg Helgenberger, Judd Hirsch, Felicity Huffman, Mark Indelicato, Eddie Izzard, the cast of Jersey Boys, Melina Kanakaredes, John Kander, Jane Krakowski, Robert Sean Leonard, Patti LuPone, John Mahoney, Audra McDonald, Idina Menzel, Bebe Neuwirth, Cynthia Nixon, Donny Osmond, Bernadette Peters, Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose, Liev Schreiber, Naomi Watts, Harry Smith, Tommy Tune, John Turturro, Usher, Ben Vereen, Sam Waterston, Patrick Wilson, Rainn Wilson and Vanessa Williams.

I was psyched to meet Robert Sean Leonard.  I used to be slightly obsessed with Swing Kids circa 8^th grade and every time I’ve seen him in something since it is always worth watching.  Maybe you’ve heard of a little show called House?  He is an actor I really enjoy watching.  And he was completely generous and a little overwhelmed by the gift lounge, which made him even more endearing. 

Taye Diggs came through and remembered who I was.  He said, “Haven’t we met?”  “Why, yes, yes we have,” I replied.  Then he said, “Or do you just look like Alyssa Milano?  I bet you get that a lot.”  Only since I was ten… sigh…

The highlight for me was getting to spend some time with Zach Braff.  I actually escorted him through the lounge so that I could talk with him and we hit it off.  It was such fun meeting him, since I love his work.  Scrubs is great, Garden State is great, the soundtrack is great.  I would love to work with him one day.  A lot of times, meeting with agents or casting directors, you get asked, “What kind of roles do you see yourself playing?”  Natalie Portman’s role in Garden State is my go-to answer.  She was sweet and funny and quirky and dark and light.  Well-written and well-executed and a role I would have loved to have done.  So Zach, if you ever bump into this blog in cyber world, remember that I should be your next leading lady.  Just a thought...

Other fun stuff:  Marg Helgenberger gets best dressed from me, with Carla Gugino in a close second.  Felicity Huffman was incredibly sweet.  Harry Connick, Jr.'s daughters are very cute and he is cute with them and...that is all I can think of off the top of my head. 

The fun part about working the Tonys is that I am such a huge fan of most that come through, BUT, since I’m “working”, I’m suddenly part of the crowd.  So I can hang out and talk to James Earl Jones (like last year) or joke around with Zach Braff (like this year) and I’m just a girl.  I’m not the giggling fan like I feel I am inside.  PLUS, this is great practice. Because one day, I’ll be the one presenting at an award show, being escorted through the gift lounge and even though I will have “made it”,  I’ll still have to play it cool, hanging out in the green room with these people who are suddenly and truly my peers.  And there will be another escort doing my old job and feeling like she is giggling inside when she talks to me.  And I’ll know exactly how she feels.  Because believe me, it is a surreal experience sitting backstage at Radio City Music Hall as the Tonys are being broadcast live, hearing the musical numbers, seeing the presenters go on and off stage and then exchanging hellos with Donny Osmond.  

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Yesterday was SURREAL.  I have loved/admired/pined for Leonardo DiCaprio since his invasion into my life with his role on Growing Pains.  I have seen nearly all of his movies, hung pictures of him from teeny bopper magazines on my wall, voted for his nominated performances for the SAG Awards...basically I am one of his biggest fans.  I think he is a brilliant actor and incredibly good-looking.  And yesterday...I worked with him.

Now, when I got the call to do background work I was not interested.  Background work is a long day, a thank-less job, and not rewarding.  You are basically set dressing.  You fill in the scene.  But.  When they said it was for Revolutionary Road, with Leonardo DiCaprio, my middle school self overpowered my jaded current self and eagerly replied yes.  Who cares if I'm just sitting in the background, a small blur in the picture?  I would be near Leo and be able to watch him work.  Even if the scene is huge and I'm at a far distance from him, that seemed like it was worth it.  And it was.

Since the movie is a period piece, I was costumed and put through hair and makeup.  The two scenes that were shot yesterday took place in a restaurant and I was cast as a waitress (the type-casting in this business is unreal - ha!).  There were only three other waitresses and the restaurant we shot in, Barney Greengrass, is the size of my studio apartment.  Literally.  Dan and I can hold hands and touch both walls in our apartment, to give you an idea of the tight space we were shooting in.  When I got on set, I was surprised (and secretly thrilled) that the location was so small.  I was ready to be told to walk from point A to point B with plates of food or something else non-descript as "a waitress".  I did not expect what happened next.  The assistant director called me over, asked my name and said, "Meagan, you're going to drop these two plates off at this table over here..." So far we're on track for my expectations of the shoot.  "Then you're going to walk back to the kitchen, turn around and then come drop off the check on this table."  I said, no problem - since I have a little practice with that - and then he told me it was very important that I drop the check off in between the salt and pepper shaker.  That is when I looked at who was sitting at the table.  I did not even notice that Leonardo DiCaprio was already seated, with the three guys who play his work buddies.  I thought that we were still in rehearsal and that the stand-ins were on set.  I didn't realize that my dropped check was at the principal characters' table to begin with!  So here I was, suddenly "the waitress" for the scene.  Turns out, my movements were critical to this 59 second scene that took nearly five hours to shoot.  When I walked in with my plates and I got to a certain point, that is when the dialogue started.  When I dropped off the check, I had to be careful to drop it on a certain word of the dialogue, which would then cue Leo to say his line.  Sam Mendes, the director, came over to me and said, "Hi, I'm Sam" and shook my hand. He directed American Beauty and is married to Kate Winslet.  I definitely know who he is.  And suddenly he knows my name.  Most of the people knew my name on set because "Meagan" was walking in and dropping checks to cue the scene.  Are you kidding me????  How surreal is this???  Now, if I was allowed to say, "Here you go, boys" as I dropped the check, that would have blown my mind.  Instead, I just put the check down.  And who knows how it will go in the editing process?  The reason it takes so long to shoot a scene is because they have to shoot it from a plethora of angles - wide, tight, from one side to the other, on one character, then another - so you may see me drop the check or you may see my arm as it goes in to drop the check.  The latter being the most probable of situations since that seems to be my luck. 

Now, let me get back to my impression of Leo: It was kind of like finding out about Santa Claus.  Leo is just a guy.  He's a talented guy, he's a good-looking guy, but I didn't even notice him sitting at the table initially.  He doesn't have a glowing aura of light surrounding him or a big neon arrow pointing him out.  He's just another guy.  He does have a certain spark on screen and a certain charisma in his characters but he is an actor, he's supposed to have that.  It was a little deflating in a way since growing up I had created such an image of him in my mind and I had really hyped up the idea of meeting him.  But, in the end, he's just a boy.  Our society has such a way of blowing things out of proportion and creating such celebrity worship that you can't help but be affected by it in your perception of what a person is supposed to be like.  But put Leo and my husband in a room and I'll take my husband any day.  I wonder if I did the same thing with Tom Brady, if it would be the same answer...

All in all though, it was a neat experience.  Being a background actor is not usually exciting - ask the other 62 people that worked yesterday how they liked the day and they'll probably give you a very different answer.  Some were walking outside to be seen as pedestrians from the inside of the restaurant, some were sitting there eating the same piece of cold meatloaf all day, some were lighting their 50th cigarette since they needed a new one with each shot to make sure the image matches when its all edited together.  Some ladies were in girdles and hats and uncomfortable.  I'm not going to lie, my feet were killing me by the end of the day.  But it was worth it.  Even though my Leo balloon was punctured, I still think it was neat that I had to get the check back from him with every take and that since it was a tight space, we literally rubbed shoulders getting back to our starting positions and that I actually got to see him work when we changed camera angles and I was able to drop the check and then stand against the side wall and watch until the scene finished.  Sam Mendes knows my name (even though he probably has forgotten it by now) and I befriended Max Baker, who plays one of Leo's working buddies, and who was also in Pirates of the Carribean (I imdb'ed him) and I made a good impression with the AD, who works a lot and I'll hopefully see him on another set somewhere, someday and you never know...  I wasn't just a number yesterday (you're given a number as an extra, which is why I know how many people were there - my number was "2"), people actually knew my name and even if I am just an elbow in the end, it was a really cool day.

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