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 Post subject: Encounters with cast and/or crew
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2008 7:38 am 
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Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2005 11:37 pm
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Location: North America, south of Canada.
Interesting news, though it takes a bit of time to get to the point...

My ciry is one of several location settings for a new Universal film, Public Enemies, about the life of notorious 1930's gangster John Dillinger, starring Johnny Depp in that role and directed by Michael Mann.

Back in March of this year, the town was dressed to resemble a typical American town of that era, complete with storefronts, cars, extras in period costumes and so on. Rubber 'bricks' were even laid out on the streets.

Shooting lasted three days, and more was scheduled for late April, but got postponed twice. Finally, Monday, May12, the cast & crew were back for two more days.

Both times, I happened to be in the right place at the right time--with a camera, to boot--and got a few pics of Depp & the other actors during some of the shooting. Yesterday, I even got a couple of director Mann.

But even more interesting was getting to meet actor John Michael Bolger before he went on set. A very gentlemanly man, he took time to speak one-on-one with each member of the small crowd gathered around him. He was especially inspring to the children there, including my younger son & one of my son's classmates, a girl who gave Mr Bolger a flower... he pinned the flower to his costume's lapel, and signed autographs & posed for a few pictures. He also asked the kids what they wanted to be when they grow up, and encouraged them to hang onto those aspirations; to paraphrase: 'If you think you can do it, then you will do it!' He told us of his lifelong desire to become an actor, and how he's now living out his dream (after 'breaking into it' around the age of 28!).

Afterward, my son & I looked up Bolger's IMDb profile, to see what else he'd been in (besides the tv series 3rd Watch, which he'd mentioned to the crowd). Turns out that he had a bit part in the 2005 Spielberg War of the Worlds! (Told you there was a point to all this!)

Later that evening, a larger crowd had gathered around the crew's Base Camp in town, in the hopes of getting Depp's autograph; he'd done a 'meet & greet' session back in March. Anyway, Mr Bolger was there, this time on his way back from shooting his scenes, and again spent time meeting the crowd members. Full of grace & humour, he was as pleased by the crowd as we were pleased by him.
I got to mention to him that my son & I had found out about his bit part in WotW, and he said, "Yeah, I did this!" and struck a pose of mock terror, gazing fearfully at the sky. I laughed and said jokingly, "Oh, yeah, THAT scene!" :D
For the record, IMDb (and the film's closing credits) list him as 'Man holding woman.' :-k

Anyway, just thought I'd share the experience here at the forum. :)


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PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2008 11:59 pm 
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Martian War Lord

Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2005 10:31 pm
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:D Cool :D
I must admit I've not heard of John Michael Bolger, but he sounds like a nice guy, I Googled his name to see if I recognised him and I did, apparently he has made guest appearances in LAW & ORDER, NYPD BLUE and ER.
Can you post some of your photos please?


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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2008 7:02 am 
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I've got one of Mr Bolger ready to post, which I took during his talk with the crowd Monday afternoon. He's in costume waiting to go to the scene he was shooting.
Image
Oh, I misspelled 'Zarkovich' in the embedded caption. D'OH!
He also is in 3rd Watch. I must confess that I don't watch a lot of tv anymore, so I've missed just about everything he's been in. But I'm glad to have met him.
I also found out tonight from one of the other onlookers who spoke with him that Ray Bolger was his great-uncle. Ray was the Scarecrow in Wizard of Oz. Small world! John Michael Bolger mentioned to us that the world is not very big, and it is likely that any of us might meet again someday.
I'm going to try to pick him out in War of the Worlds and make a screen grab. In other words, shoot a pic of my tv, so don't expect great quality! I have an idea of where he might be. ('Man holding woman'... there is one distinct shot that stands out in my mind; I'll see if I'm right.)

By the way, did you want to see non-Bolger pics? I'll have to start a new thread for them if you do.

edited to add pic & additional comments


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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2008 6:52 pm 
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Martian War Lord

Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2005 10:31 pm
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Yeah, people and even shots of the alteration they made to the streets to give them the right period look, Britain's best selling TV magazine The 'RadioTimes' often show you how the BBC turn a modern-day street into a Victorian street for our many period dramas; turning a tarmacked road surface into a cobbled road, blocking the drains and flooding the gutters just to hide the modern road markings like double yellow lines (I think you call them 'NO PARKING ZONES'), I find it all ingenues and fascinating, so post what ever you've got.


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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 5:25 am 
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Hmm... OK, I'll create a new thread in the 'Movies & Sci-Fi>>Upcoming Movies' section. See you over there!


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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 6:39 am 
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Back to Bolger's WotW part, I can't tell if it's him in the scene I thought of. Unfortunately, my camera's focus button is malfunctioning (I miss my old film camera for the ability to manually focus by cranking the ring on the lens, but otherwise, I've really gotten to love my new digital camera.)
On my Region 1 two-disc Special Edition copy of the film, the scene I was thinking of is near the beginning of Chapter 7, 'Escape,' where Ray is taking Robbie & Rachel toward Manny's Garage in hopes that Manny has succeeded in getting the van's engine to work. At 30 minutes, 5 seconds by my dvd player's timer, a man holding a woman runs in front of the Ferrier family, and the woman lets out a panicked cry, which stuns Rachel as she watches them pass. The shot lasts a whopping two seconds, and I really can't tell if the man there is Bolger or not.
He's wearing blue jeans, a red plaid shirt covered by a dark blue insulated vest and a grey baseball cap pulled down low over his brow. Might be him, though the man looks a little thinner in build and panicked, so it's really hard to tell.
Next time I watch the movie, I'll see if there are any other men holding women in other scenes, like the car ferry, the battle on the hill or during the battle in Boston.

Edited to add: Just scanned through the chapters, and nothing else stands out; I guess that's him, and of course that shot was about four years or so ago, so he probably looked a bit different. It's either that shot, or one that ended up on the cuting room floor (like the bar scene, or the 'Camelot' scene).


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PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2008 12:47 am 
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Martian War Lord

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I would have thought if he was in the credits he'd still be in the film, I'll have to dig my copy out and see if I can spot him.


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PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2008 4:06 am 
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Well, the credits list 'Bartender' for Lisa Ann Walter's character, though the bar scene in the beginning was completely cut. Ms Walter still appears in the film, though, as Cheryl (with her daughter Laura) at the Ferry scene. I never noticed Cheryl nor Laura listed in the credits, but was certain who the actress was; IMDb confirmed it, and not long after, I discovered this forum & the 'shooting script' book, which all explained why she was listed as 'Bartender' in the credits.
So anyway...
I figure that shot has to be Mr Bolger, and of course after four years and completely different make-up & costuming, he looks a little different. I have one pic of him at the 'meet & greet' where he's looking up roughly in my direction (he'd been siging an autograph), which makes his face look a little narrower than in the one I posted here. In the WotW shot, he was leaning forward a bit and had his head raised to look ahead, which looks similar-ish to the pose in my other pic. If I had any Photoshop skills, I'd add a cap on his head & five o'clock shadow to his face in that pic to see if it resembles the shot in WotW.

Given that he's done a bit of tv work in the intervening years, I wouldn't expect him to remember such a brief role; his joke was pretty close to the actual shot, except he never mentioned holding a woman. (I wasn't about to grill him for details; I was just happy he took time to chat with me and all the others gathered there! )


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PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2008 3:54 pm 
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Martian War Lord

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craigr wrote:
(I wasn't about to grill him for details; I was just happy he took time to chat with me and all the others gathered there! )

No, your question would have come across as a bit strange and a bit sad, wouldn't it? :lol:


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PostPosted: Sun May 18, 2008 2:58 am 
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Yeah, I don't need to show off my nerdiness too much. (Excepting online forum posts, of course!)


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PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 9:10 pm 
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Martian War Lord

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:lol: Hey we're all nerds here, welcome aboard. ](*,)


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PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 9:30 pm 
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:lol: Thank you, thank you.... :D


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PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 9:54 pm 
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Martian War Lord

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oever532 wrote:
:lol: Thank you, thank you.... :D

You especially :lol:


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