Ms. Tara Key: Being on
the movie set was like waking up at a carnival without my glasses, scratching
my head and wondering if I had passed out or gotten rolled. The whole
set was wrapped in the traditional Factory (tm) Reynolds reflective
material and I had been deprived of my prescription eyewear by wardrobe,
so all the colors and shapes and reflections of people just bounced
around the whole time. In fact, my visit to wardrobe was interesting
in that I became a xerox of myself...I walked in wearing my black leather
jacket, black jeans, a smart pair of beaten down Byrdsy boots, a black
shirt and sunglasses (mine). I was asked to disrobe and don...a black
leather jacket, black jeans, a black shirt and sunglasses (theirs).
The boots were deemed "fab" and stayed.
I have to admit a perverse pleasure in having someone
run over at a third party's beckoning to straighten one hair on my head.
Someone needs to shout "wardrobe" at me every morning!
Anyway...since I was "in character", I could not
see for two days - which was very cool combined with the effects of
sprints around the block for "refreshments" every few hours...even more
trippy, and, I like to think, in tune with the true spirit of the time
portrayed (since the party joints in the movie were mere tobacco --
I know, because they were rolled by the prop person and myself). I also
enjoyed seeing Donovan the Younger "jam out" on my prized Gretsch guitar
(the beauty queen of my collection who was, indeed, "ready for `her'
closeup, Mr. DeMille") during breaks in filming. To think that the same
hands which had wielded a whip violently and extremely close to my head
moments earlier could caress its neck with such sweetness!
I also enjoyed Ira's sideburns immensely - kinda
like what he would have looked like pitching for the Athletics in the
70's. When Billy Name (the real one) was led by the film makers to inspect
the replica closet where in real life he had spent months without coming
out, it was a definite waitress on the catsup bottle holding a tray
with a catsup bottle with a waitress holding a tray with a catsup bottle
with a waitress (etc.) moment.
