So I'm just going to skip to the good part here. Last month, Jizelle auditioned for a featured film, "Gentlemen Broncos." After 3 callbacks, she was offered a principal role--the Troll-like Girl. Anyways, it was Jizelle's first audition for a movie, so having been offered the part was very exciting for us all!
March 18th--her first day at the set. Jizelle experienced what it was like to be a principal actor and not a background extra. In her own words, she wrote a lengthy email to her agent describing her experience, which I am going to share with you also. :)
Hi ... this is Jizelle! I had a really fun experience at the set of Gentlemen Broncos! I had my own trailer, with a bathroom, sink, and tv XD. It also had my name on it, which felt really special. When I went to wardrobe, they dressed me up in several different outfits, and each time the lady took a picture of me. She showed the pictures to Jared, and he decided on which outfit I should wear... (and he picked a really dorky one but that's my part so I can't blame him hehe.)
When I went to the makeup trailer, Jemaine was there, but I didn't recognize him... until he asked me "Are you the girl who writes about trolls?" in his really cool European accent. I said "yes" and he put his hand out for me to shake and said "Hi, I'm Jemaine" and I was like "OH OH, you're the bad guy... the ronald... che-che something guy!" Yeah, I was completely blanked out hehe. He was all "yeah I am". I was kinda surprised... how did he know I was the troll girl? I felt really special by that time hehe.
Soon, I was called to the set, and I got a ride... even though the set was like, only 20 feet away from my trailer ROTFL...
They filmed Jemaine over and over again... and he changed around his lines each time. By the 10th time, I had already memorized his lines LOL
Soon, Jared approached me and told me to say a new line... which, like my mom said, "triggered a comedic line/response from Jemaine." I didn't know what he was going to say, so after I said my new line, Jemaine went on to his, and I was kinda caught by surprise... his line was HILARIOUS and I was about to explode from laughter, but luckily I didn't... til the director said "CUT" and the entire room burst with laughter LOL. Then the director declared lunchtime.
After lunch, (and the tofu was DISGUSTING, let me tell ya O_O) we went back into the room, and Jemaine did his hilarious response to my new line once more... but, it took about like... 2 hours or so for him to go through his line without any mistakes, because he kept cracking up in the middle of each sentence. (Yes, it was that funny!)
When the camera got focused on me, I had to interact... with a piece of tape. Sure, I was ok with that... a piece of white tape. Yeah. How hard could that be? Until... a crew member drew a smiley face on it that had a smile of... a cat being pet by its owner for the first time in 3 months. It was difficult, because in the story, Jemaine gets angry at me, and I can't really concentrate that well on the feeling I wanted to portray because the piece of tape that I am interacting with has this really peaceful smile that just says: "I love you. You are so pretty." and you can't really feel what you want to feel when you stare at that happy piece of tape. Jemaine was right behind the piece of tape, and I could see his face/emotion a little, so sometimes my eyes kinda shift so I can see him, but then I remembered: "PIECE OF TAPE. MUST LOOK AT PIECE OF TAPE."
During the entire time I was on the set, this guy kept taking pictures of me... like, the same angle, pose, and expression, but he took pictures of it about 8 times. Sometimes, I wasn't even aware, then I'll notice about a minute later, that he was right in front of me, snapping pictures. Sometimes, he'll tell me to look someplace else, then he'll take about 10 pictures of me looking away ... it felt like you were being mugged by paparazzi. hehehe.
It was fun, and plus, the crew kept complimenting me, and so did Jemaine and Michael. They actually talk to you when you have a part, unlike when you're an extra... also, extras don't get food til lunchtime (and sometimes I have to wait til 3 pm!!) but when you have a speaking role, there's this huge table filled with precious items that entertain your taste buds... and you can eat from it... ANYTIME XD
Now I know what it's like to be on the other side of the fence... and dude, the grass on the principal side... IS DEFINITELY GREENER. :D
~Jizelle
