Remember the Alamo-Part 3

The atmosphere on the Alamo movie set is always so positively charged. I've never worked with a group that is so focused, such a family. I don't know how long I'll get to work on this movie, but I'm certainly enjoying it while it lasts. The following paragraphs represent a summary of my first movie experience so far. Everyone I have told about the movie has been interested, and they all want to hear about it, and that's great. I like talking about it, but it makes more sense to tell the story only once, and let every person read about it at their leisure. So here it is:

I arrived at the casting call in the fall of 2002, filled out an application, and gave the staff a headshot. A few days later, I got a call from the casting department regarding my availability and arranged for a meeting with the 1st AD (Assistant Director) K.C. Hodenfield. I then attended a 3-day training/audition and was picked to be part of James Bowie's group in the movie. A brief explanation of the training is here.

During the first week, my dress rehearsal was Monday and Wednesday, January 20 and 22. The main points of interest were getting into full costumes, seeing the set, and practicing loading and firing our guns. We were all issued either a rifle or a musket. I got a Kentucky rifle. There were always cameras around, and some of those 2 days will be on the DVD "behind the scenes" featurettes. Some real filming occurred that Thursday and Friday, but I wasn't involved. And I found out that the best part about making movies is the FOOD. There's always more than you can eat, a wide variety, and the quality is outstanding. Sometimes, the food staff (commonly referred to as Craft Services) even brings food and drinks right to you. Nice, eh? More details of the dress rehearsal week are here.

My shooting work on the Alamo movie began on Monday, January 27. The first shot of the day was a test of a cannonball hit on the front wall of the long barracks. Three cameras filmed it. The hole has since been patched and I'm sure it will be blown up at least one more time, probably with actors and extras in the scene. I was picked to be in one scene, carrying a small powder keg on my left shoulder and walking into the shallow background while Travis' slave and Bowie's slave (Edwin Hodge and Afemo Omilani, resp.) were digging a well with shovels and talking to each other. Later, I was in a separate scene for a couple of takes, but they had to do more takes the next day due to loss of sunlight. I found out the next day that they also needed to replace me in the shot, since the scene immediately follows the first one I did, so there were continuity issues. Plus, I don't think the director wants any extra to have TOO much screen time. It's nothing personal against us, but I'm sure the audience would wonder why a certain person was seen so much, but never really interacts with the other actors.

On Tuesday, January 28, I was in 3 shots, one in the afternoon with Billy Bob Thornton. I was pretty deep in the background on that one, but I was in there. Another shot was basically the same scene, shot in the morning, but from different angles, without Billy Bob. The scene was supposed to be the first morning after being bombed by Mexican artillery all night for the first time, and we're walking outside for the first time to see the damage. For the 3rd shot, I just walked across the background.

On Wednesday, I was only in one shot, barely. I stood in a trench outside the north wall while other guys replaced a broken log that supports the north wall. Travis (played by Patrick Wilson) stood on the north wall, just over my left shoulder. I think he was the one that joked about how we should all turn around and moon the Mexican army, a la "Braveheart". There is occasionally some joking and chatting between takes, although sometimes it's not a good idea to do that, especially for a dramatic scene, since a lot of actors prefer to stay in character until the shot is complete. Most of the day was spent watching, or reading my Alamo book, Alamo Legacy, by Ron Jackson. I think they only got 2 shots that day, mostly because of the weather, well the clouds, to be more specific. Consistant lighting is always a concern for certain shots. There was one bit of unforeseen excitement when a news helicopter circled the set a couple of times. KC was pissed. They couldn't shoot because of the helicopter engine. It was pretty far away, but close enough to be heard well, since sound carries out there very well. I think KC had a few people make some calls and *poof* the chopper turned away and vanished.

Thursday morning was very quiet for me. I wasn't involved so I read my book and tried to stay warm. There were a couple of large propane heaters for us. But after lunch, we shot part of a scene that has the defenders rushing into the main gate of the fort after just learning that Santa Anna is approaching. There were horseman, wagons, cattle and lots of people. It was fairly chaotic, but the director wanted it to be that way. They purposely gave us little instructions regarding where to go and what to do. For our characters, this was our first experience inside the Alamo. I think we did 3 takes of that shot. They asked the Bowie men to find Sgt. Ward (played by Leon Rippy) to get "instructions." The tricky part was that they never told us where he would be, and he was in a different spot each take. I didn't find him every take, but when I did, he "spoke" to me only with mumbles and gestures. I realized in that instant that he didn't really have to say anything because the mics would not pick up his voice, but he had to appear to be giving me instructions. Still, the mumbling sounded a bit awkward and was certainly unexpected, so I nearly laughed, but I think I managed to keep a straight face. The cattle, all Texas Longhorns, were a bit out of control. I don't believe the cattle wranglers were as competent as they should have been. Some cattle kept straying where they weren't supposed to go. If I had known how out of control the herd was, I would have been much more nervous. We were spread out so that there would be certain groups of people mixed with wagons and 2 herds of 10 cattle each. I was only 2 or 3 people away from a stampede of 10 cattle right behind me, and we were running pretty fast. I found out how unpredictable the cattle could be the next day when I had a pretty close call with an angry Longhorn steer.

Friday, they shot another version of the chaotic Alamo entrance with some principal actors, protected by a barricade. The shot included at least 3 cameras, 1 of which pointed northward, all they way to the northeast corner of the fort's courtyard. The director wanted a bit of movement in the background, and that corner was where I went during the previous shot, so I was one of the deep background guys for that camera. The area where I disappeared from camera view was between 2 buildings that were about 12 or 13 feet apart, and this ally was about 15 or 20 feet deep before it reached a large wooden gate that's about 5 feet tall. Between the courtyard (where I was) and the barricaded crew and actors, the same cattle were stampeded through, in the shallow background between the church and the long barracks. After one take, we realized that there was too much dead space in the background after we had all gone to our positions (it's about a 2 minute shot). So in subsequent takes we would go to our positions (into doorways, around corners, etc.), wait a few seconds, and then emerge and exit at screen left. I think it was during the 3rd take that one steer broke through the barricade and into the courtyard. I had waited my designated time and was prepared to run back into view when I heard people saying "Don't move!" There were extras, crew members, women and children all along the walls of the courtyard. There were a few men standing near the center of the fort, and in the middle of it all was the biggest damn steer I've ever seen. There were some calves in the herd, as well as some medium size cows and steers, and then there were a few of those 2000 pounders. This was one of the big ones. Big, black and confused. I kept waiting for a horseback wrangler so show up. The steer just kept walking in a small circle, looking in all directions. I was a little nervous, but I didn't move. 40 or 50 seconds went by, which SEEMED like an hour. Finally, a rider appeared and manuvered so that the steer went out of sight, presumably to rejoin the herd. I waited a few seconds, and could see that people in the courtyard started to walk around again. I took a few steps toward the corner of the building I was behind when the steer came charging around the corner right at me. There were no screams, no warnings, nobody yelling "watch out!" Just this huge animal coming right for me. It was coming so fast that it physically could stop before it reached me even if it wanted to, so I somehow ended up on the other side of the gate that was behind me. I can't even say how far from the gate I was, if I climbed it, or if I just jumped over it. There was a goat tied by its horns to the other side of the gate, and I remember landing on the rope. The goat was cool with me. It may have been frightened by the steer too. Sometimes, those goats will kick or butt with their horns, but I was much more scared of the steer than the goat. As I stood up, I saw that I had managed to not drop my rifle, and over the gate, right in front of my face was this steer's huge head and horns that must have been 6 feet from point to point. The rider appeared and drove it away. I had never been so scared in my life. My heart pounded for 20 minutes after that. I think we did 2 more takes. After thinking about what happened, I arrived at 2 conclusions: first, the gate I jumped over in my narrow escape was the gate to the Alamo corral, which some of the livestock had actually been kept in earlier in the week, so that steer may have been trying to charge into the corral and I just happened to be in the way. Secondly, some of those livestock wranglers should be fired for incompetence because of their consistant inability to control the animals. Someone on horseback should have been there sooner.

After lunch, we shot a scene that chronologically precedes the one I just discussed. The afternoon scene shows the town of Bexar rushing toward the Alamo fort. I had to run about 150 yards or so at top speed. We did 2 takes of that scene. During the first scene, I tried to run past a wagon that was pulled by 2 Longhorn steers. I heard the young driver yelling "Whoa!" and saw him pull on the reigns. The cart kept going faster. I slowed down, looked around (you have to keep "playing out the scene" no matter what happens, when the cameras are rolling) and I ran behind the wagon in the direction I was supposed to go, toward the Alamo. The wagon was driving straight for a road where people were and an adobe house just beyond the road. I don't think anyone got hurt, so the steers must have decided to stop at some point. When we reset for take 2, I overheard the driver of that cart telling an older wrangler what happened, and the old fart didn't seem to care. He gave some bullshit instructions about pulling harder on one steer to turn them. The kid told him again that the problem was that the harder he pulled, the faster they went. The old guy repeated the same instruction and walked away. The young driver just sat in the wagon and shook his head. Needless to say, I ran for my life the next take. That was supposed to be what my character was doing anyway, but I was running for real! I got around that wagon and ran my ass off. I even passed up several horses and at least one horsedrawn wagon on the way. There were several cameras rolling, so I'm sure I'll be in that scene. In truth, my face may look scared, but I was more frightened of being trampled by cattle and wagons than by Santa Anna's approaching army. There were reports of other people having close calls with cattle and horses, so the stunt coordinators continuously preached caution to everyone. They should have been lecturing the wranglers on safety. I've definitely lost some respect for the livestock wranglers (and gained respect for the awesome power of some of those animals) and have learned to keep an eye out for an escape route in scenes with large animals. It will be a MIRACLE if there are no serious injuries during this production caused by the incompetence of the wranglers in handling the livestock. I know these are wild animals and everything, but DAMN, there are ways to keep the cast and crew safer. Most of the crew has been exceptional, and I have generally had fun, but for me this was by far the worst day of the production so far...with the near-death experience and all. I should clarify that for a "bad" day, it was still very exciting and I wouldn't have traded it for 50 "good" days at my last job. Hopefully, it'll be smooth sailing from now on.