It's been about 2 or 3 months, so time for an update! Above you is a gigantic Panasonic FILM camera. Mike and I had the pleasure of stumbling upon a Russel Crowe movie being filmed in downtown Washington DC. The film, entitled "State of Play" was being shot at the same Metro stop where Mike gets off to work to work at the illustrious "Custom Shop Clothiers", Farragut North. The day started relatively normal for me, I had woken up and traveled to Sears Optical for a contact lens check up at about 2 pm . About 10 minutes before I entered the store, I receive a phone call from Mike. "Jeff my friend", he said excitedly, "It is very important that you get down to the Farragut North stop immediately".
"Why?" I replied. "Lets just say that Russel Crowe is filming a movie directly across from the custom shop. Yeah, pretty important."
"What!? That's amazing!" I said. "I've got to do this eye appointment real quick and then I'll head straight down."
"Ok, very good."
50 minutes later, still waiting in the optometrist's chair, I'm finally shown to the doctor. 30 minutes later I'm pulling into the Americana Finmark, our new condo that's 8 steps walking distance to the Forest Glen Metro stop.
I quickly run up the three flights of stairs to our apartment, open the door, run in and find my camera. Moments later I'm out the door, opening the secret gate that gives our condo residents VIP access to the Metro, and I"m on the train.
I pop out of the Farragut North stop and meet up with Mike on the street level. The first thing I see is a giant crane stretching hundreds of feet above L street. Atop this crane is a 20K Arri Professional Lighting film light. 20,000watts. Enough to make a city street at night appear to be daylight.
Mike and I decided that for the next 9 hours we would spend gawking, staring, and otherwise trying to infiltrate the "State of Play" infrastructure. First off, we planted ourselves at a conveniently located Starbucks (though that's really an obvious statement, as Starbucks' are always conveniently located, especially in DC.) We had an insiders view of the whole arena. The street level view gave us unlimited access to the entire street setup for the shoot. On the other side of the glass were the logistical and artistic minds behind the film that were its inner workings. The DP and gaffers were setting up the next shot literally 8 feet from us. The line producer and the Assistant Director were working with the extras and some other crew members about placement and timings. One of the producers stopped into our Starbucks and started up a conversation with a Washingtonian waiting in line. From this convo, we learned that Crowe was going to be returning across the street in about an hour. Good, we thought, we'd be able to have an encounter with the Gladiator. This day might turn out to be profitable.Unfortunately the Starbucks closed at 4pm, and minutes later every gawker was kicked out of the store. Mike and I decided to cross the street and find a new place to plant ourselves for the next Crowe sighting. It came sooner than later, and actually quite discreetly. One moment the crew members were setting up the next shot, and the next moment Russel waltzed out of a nearby building, crossed the street, and sauntered about 20 ft from Mr. Kelly and myself. Thinking on my feet, I quickly brandished my camera and snuck off a few pics of Mr. Crowe. Seconds after I snapped a few pictures, a nearby crew member made several announcements how no one was to take pictures of Mr. Crowe, because he "doesn't like it". Really I think they just wanted to avoid having phones thrown at passersby.
The Washington Globe was apparently the newspaper that Crowe's character works for in the film. They had posted a huge Washington Globe sign over the Bender building, which is a parking garage, and like that, they made Crowe's newspaper office headquarters.
By this time, it was around 6pm and getting a little dark and cold, so Mike and I made the decision to head back to the condo for some dinner, with the plan of going back down afterwards to catch a glimpse of Rachel McAdams. After a hasty meal of black beans, corn, onions, and garlic (The Number One), Mike and I suited up and hopped the train back to the Farragut North Stop.
It was dark by now, and the humongous 20K light was illuminating an entire city block. We wandered over towards a group of extras for a bit, then walked right through the "set" a few times. It's pretty crazy how open the "set" was, since it's just a city street in DC. The crew can't really stop people from walking through since it's a fairly prominent street in the city, and Washingtonians must have their way. Mike and I took full advantage of this rule, and the triumphant moment happened just minutes before they had wrapped for the evening. The entire day, Mike and I had been discussing how amazing it would be if one of us took it upon ourselves to confront Mr. Crowe face to face, simply say "Russel, what the @#$#?" and proceed to shove him in the chest. The events that would transpire next would be almost to unfathomable to think of. Most certainly, Mr. Crowe would shove back, and most likely with a shot to the face. We're talking about Russel Crowe here, the man does not suffer fools. We're also talking about national media coverage, instant street credit as being "the guy who shoved Russel Crowe, and definite jail time.
The moment finally came.
They had just wrapped a scene where Mr. Crowe and Ms. Adams have an encounter on the street. Russel had wandered off somewhere momentarily. "Mike." I said. "Let's just walk right through the crew, just so we can say we did it."
"Um." Mike pondered.
"Let's do it."
We walked across the street and headed for a group of crew members joking about something that happened in the last scene. Ahead of us were a few fairly large black men, most likely security. Behind us and to the sides were grips, gaffers, DPs, Ads, PAs, best boys, LDs, the director, and some extras. We kept walking a few steps, when all of the sudden, a figure appeared out of the parking garage and turned to walk straight toward us. I recognized his wool trenchcoat from before. His confident and composed walk was all too familiar. At this moment, Mike was head down, in the midst of telling a story about how he had seen the batmobile in Chicago when he was there with his brother. My eyes looked up at the appearance of the man. His steps seemed larger and more spread apart as he neared us. In fact, the whole scene feels like it passed in slow motion. His eyes started to turn from the ground in front of him and gaze toward Mike and I. Then, Russel Crowe brushed past Mike's shoulder, and our eyes crossed. He held his look for a moment, and I just stared, dumbfounded. Then he turned his head and strutted past us. Mike finished his story, then slowly came to terms with what just happened.
"Was that Russel Crowe?"
"Yes, keep walking."
We turned a reached the end of the block and dared to look behind us, thankful that no large security men were following us.
"Russel Crowe just bumped shoulders with you!" I exclaimed. "And he looked me right in the eyes!"
"I think we just acheived total victory." Mike stated.
We ran back to the Metro, catching the last train to Glenmont for the evening. When we arrived back at Forest Glen, the Security guards were already starting to close the gates for the night.
When we arrived back at the condo, we sat down on the couch and cracked open a couple Yeungling's. I think we both agreed, the Wacky Adventures of Mike Kelly and Jeff Allen were still just beginning.
