We had another opportunity to be extras in the John Travolta movie that is currently filming in Puerto Rico. This time it was held at El Conquistador Resort in Fajardo and I was almost as excited to see this famed locale as I was to do the movie!
Tram up the steep slope of El Conquistador
We took the Mustang again, and again had car troubles, this time with a form of overheating. Thankfully we made it. Though it made the day a little more stressful not knowing if we would be able to get home or not!
If you look closely, you will see me in the background of this shot in the movie
The first scene I was in was a trophy award ceremony for the main protagonist (John Travolta’s character). I loved my 70’s style pants in this one. Dressing up is so much fun!
Full outfits from the front
Unlike the other day of filming, most of the day was spent in a huge ballroom of the hotel which meant it was a lot more comfortable and air conditioned! We ran into a few friends and met many more!
With friends Terrie and Mark
With the group of extras in the trophy scene
After that initial scene they moved me in to get changed for the elegant dinner lounge scene. For this one, we were to be fancily dressed. I bought my own dress because that was part of the instructions, but they ended up saying that since I am the right size for wardrobe I could use one of the vintage dresses on the rack. I haven’t particularly liked any of my outfits in the other movies/scenes, but I just loved this coral-colored one!
My dress for the dance scene
All the extras need costumes as well as hair styling and the lines can get pretty long!
The line for just two hair stylists!
¡Qué elegancia! With friends Rafa and Priscilla
The dinner scene was pretty cool because I actually sat at the same table as John Travolta! You will definitely see me if you look for me! Here is a covert shot as they set up to shoot the scene.
From Britton’s table across the room in the dinner scene
They had an awesome local Puerto Rican band for the scene. What a boon to their career!
There was one final scene that the assistant director called for: anyone want to dance? They had already had a couple’s dance scene, but this one would be a little funkier and dance to the song Fire. Me, me, me!! I jumped out of my seat and danced my booty off on the dance floor with John Travolta. It was an awesome moment in my life as I don’t think many people can say they’ve danced with John Travolta in one of his movies! Overall, it was a very memorable day and I can’t wait to see the movie!
With acclaimed cinematographer Andrzej Sekuła and director John Luessenhop
Costume changes with friends- I’ve always loved playing dress up, being a ham, and meeting new friends so this kind of work is perfect for me! (Thanks to Carolina for this comparison shot)
We were invited to be a part of another movie! This time it was a John Travolta film and we were super excited to go. We learned a few things from our last experience as extras in a movie, though, one of which was that the day would be very long and sometimes boring and that the drive to San Juan was excruciatingly long. Thankfully we have some friends on the east coast who welcomed us to use their condo in Fajardo.
Luquillo Balneario beach on one side and the rows of kiosks are on the other
Down the line of kiosks
We stopped by their kiosko in Luquillo to pick up the keys to the condo. It was the first time I’ve ever seen Luquillo and I thought it was very busy and a little dirty, but it seemed like a fun, social beach.
Britton says, why aren’t you at Monkey Threads in the kioskos de Luquillo! It’s awesome!
We got really turned around because we don’t have a smart phone and had to just rely on screenshots of maps, but eventually we made it to the condo at the marina in Fajardo. This building was 30 stories tall! We went up to the penthouse level and looked out over the railing. It gave me that tingling feeling in my heart and feet that says loudly: DON’T FALL!
This building is huge!
Careful! That’s a looong way down!
The views off the balconies were amazing and we spent some time just enjoying them. I think we’ve become somewhat hillbilly though, living in the jungle for so long. I felt the compulsion to just go out on the deck naked as I always do at home and also to throw banana peels off the balcony as I do at home. Britton had to hold back from peeing off the deck! Haha! I also was mesmerized watching cable TV for the first time in a long while and I took an actual bath and filled the tub with hot water. We also wandered around to the pool area and gazebos of the property. It felt kind of good to be back to civilization for a while! These are the sort of things people take for granted as modern man I suppose.
Check out all the boats!
I still tend to gravitate towards nature -and au naturale 😉
It was the first time I had seen a sunrise over the ocean and it was incredible!
We thought our scene was going to be at El Conquistador Resort in Fajardo which would have been great because it was only 5 minutes away from us, but they changed it to be in Santurce in the heart of San Juan.
El Conquistador from the balcony of the condo
We filmed at La Casona in Santurce which is a very old remodeled building and is now an elegant restaurant.
Looking down at the courtyard of La Casona during a scene
Do I look like I’m going to a semi-fancy/conservative restaurant in Cuba in the 60s?
The first thing when we arrived we had to fill out our paperwork and then head over the wardrobe and makeup where they changed my look a few times to fit the time period (mid 60s at first) and feel of the scene. It is sort of random and serendipitous which roles you may get as an extra. Some are “heavy” like the guys who played Mafioso guards opening the doors for Travolta’s character. I would say I got a medium role. I got to sit at the table with Jordi Mollá, a famous actor in Spain who has also done a number of Hollywood movies, most noteably, Blow. His role in the scene was to sit with three women (one of which was me) and then signal to Travolta. So I may get about 1 second of screen time, mainly the back of my head! (Famous hair!!)
Vicky, Jordi, Me and Carolina -the best table in the restaurant haha!
We actually talked with John Travolta a little while he waited to enter the room of mob bosses. He said we all looked great and he loved that time period. They really don’t like us to take pictures during filming, so I didn’t get a picture with him, but it was pretty cool. The only thing that I can say was really bad about this experience was all the smoking! I am getting over a slight cold and since they were smoking inside the restaurant during our scene (they would probably say to be period accurate but that I would say was just plain disgusting) it caused me to have a coughing fit. I had to try to hold in my coughs while they were rolling and it was quite torturous if you’ve ever had a cough that needed to get out and you couldn’t! I had to get up various times to get a drink of water to calm it down.
Makeup!
We had a late lunch/dinner and then headed to wardrobe/makeup again to change time periods. This time to the 80s! I really didn’t get much of a role in this scene, but Britton did. He and a friend played a couple crossing paths in front of Travolta as he heads out the door.
Britton looking sharp at La Casona
Still, even though we were all dressed up with nothing to do, we ladies had a great time laughing at our bright blue eyeshadow, huge hair and red lipstick. Girls just wanna have fun!!
Sara and I -Crazy makeup!
So much fun! Priscilla, me, Carolina and Vicky
Britton’s scene ran late and I had to wander around the building for a while. I talked with Manolo, the owner of the restaurant, and he took out his beautiful macaws and African grey parrots for me. He also showed me some of the finer details and mosaics around the building. It was a tesoro. The night ran long and we didn’t get back to the condo until about 4am!
Me at Las Vistas
We slept in late and then went out to brunch at a nice little place in the hills of Fajardo called Las Vistas. Then we were on our way home in the Millenium Falcon (the Mustang)! The drive back was pretty uneventful until about Arecibo when I told Britton I needed him to stop so I could use the restroom and get something to drink. As he pulled off the highway, the car began to sputter. We were only about 1/2 a block from a gas station! Come on, come on! But nope. It just died right there.
Where we broke down
Serendipity strikes again, however! We broke down precisely at a mechanic shop! How odd is that!?! They pushed the car into the shop lot and diagnosed the problem. It was the fuel pump! Yikes! I walked down to the gas station and went to the bathroom and cooled myself down in the air conditioning. The mechanics were very helpful and friendly and said they would contact Auto Zone and see if they had the fuel pump in stock and that they could work on it today! Wow! That would be awesome! We were tired and worn out from a long two days in the city and really just wanted to get back home to the countryside. Britton being the always helpful type, stepped up and they finished installing the fuel pump in only about 2 hours from the time of the breakdown! We were so grateful. They probably could have taken advantage of us, but only charged us about $40 in labor! If you are in Arecibo I highly recommend Nachi’s mechanic shop!!
First they had to take out the fuel tank to get to the pump-I even got involved and helped jack the car up while they got under the car
Unfortunately it was Noche de San Juan and there was a big tapón, but finally about 8 hours after leaving Fajardo, we made it home…safe and sound. Stay tuned to the silver screen and look for us in the movie Speed Kills or it may go by the very appropriate name of Cigarette.
We recently had quite an experience and learned a lot from it. I couldn’t write about it until it aired, but it truly was amazing and a lot of fun.
Our first scene in our tiny house
We were cast for a reality house hunting show! It is basically the same premise and format as House Hunters International except on a different channel. I’ve always thought being on TV would be a fun thing to do and it really was! This show is called Waterfront House Hunting and airs on FYI network which is part of A&E.
Before we were cast we had to make a submission video that sort of spelled out some of the things that are unique about us and our search for a house. We knew we had to pretend that we were still looking for a house, but they would try to show us things that were sort of in the same line of thought as we had when we were looking in Puerto Rico. Boy were we ever wrong about that! For instance:
Some of the factors we mentioned that we were interested in a property in Puerto Rico were: Most important feature: LAND! This was the biggest factor for us. The house really didn’t matter as long as we could grow food and raise animals, had some privacy and seclusion and had room to expand or build if we wanted later. In Fantasy-land none of the properties had much usable land at all. And the ones by the ocean would be little use to grow fruit trees. Style of house: Not important, but Spanish Villa architecture would be kind of cool. In Fantasy-land we did look at a few cool styles, though in reality this doesn’t matter to us. Size of house: Not important but 3-4 bedrooms or extra buildings would be nice for rental income potential down the road. In Fantasy-land this varied. Price: Around $150,000. This was our budget when we came here and we found plenty of properties in this range. I said I would be willing to pay a little more to have what we really want like land. In Fantasy-land we would be looking at houses in the $650,000 to 800,000 range! That would be craziness for us! View: A nice ocean view would be great, but not necessary as long as there was usable, flattish land. In Fantasy-land all of them had nice views, but very little usable/arable/flat land. Location: Rincón, if possible (balancing out that things are more expensive in Rincón, but also with more rental potential due to tourists the closer to the ocean you are). In Fantasy-land all the properties were in Rincón.
We also mentioned that we know real estate, both here in Puerto Rico as well as in Colorado. And we see property as shelter, potential income as well as a food source and not simply a status symbol. Though it can be that as well.
Lots of people and equipment in only 300 sq feet!
The first day we just did our backstory. Basically introducing ourselves to the audience. Most of this was true with just one major lie: that we were currently renting (where we actually live) and looking for our first house in Puerto Rico! It was a tight fit getting everyone in our tiny cabana for this one! We met the whole crew. Two camera-people, a sound guy, the field producer, and two assistants. I am not sure what their official titles were. We all had to go turkey herding because they were going to mess with the sound, so that was pretty funny.
At House #1
The next day was the first house we were to see. They wanted each house to be a surprise to us to see our true reaction. There was a learning curve to this because we weren’t sure what was allowed and what wasn’t. They said they wanted us to move around a lot and interact with the house/environment not just stand around and talk. Make it interesting to watch! Well, I am always up for having fun…
Like Goldilocks I tried out each of the beds
I think we have lost all ability to be really WOWED by a house because we have seen sooo many houses in our real life. We have seen pepto pink walls, brothels, meth houses, wine cellars as big as houses, houses literally hanging off a cliff, fun houses with crooked floors and tiny hidden rooms and houses frozen in time like a museum. So anything that is not wildly amazing just doesn’t get much of a reaction from us anymore like it might if we were first time home buyers. So a lot of our reactions to these properties were fabrications. Don’t get me wrong! These were awesome places -right by the water or with amazing views! It’s just that I know I have a much different take on properties than most people, or probably at least most TV-watching Americans.
One thing that was super cool about House #1 was that we were able to get our band in it! Go Rincón Continentals! Since we “buy” this house in TVland, and our “characters” are also in a band we pretended that we got the whole band together for a party to celebrate our new home. We even played a few of our original songs! What awesome exposure!
Getting the band set up for the scene
What a cool backdrop to play music! Rob on drums
A fun experience for all of us in the band!
We learned that they do try to actually show properties that are for sale, but sometimes, they are not. Such as this one that our characters ended up buying.
I say our characters because it became immediately apparent that we were not actually supposed to be ourselves. We were playing a role. We were basically actors playing a part that has some similarities with our normal day-to-day life but not many. We even asked them to spell our names incorrectly for the show (Kassey and Briton instead of Cassie and Britton) because we wanted it to be clear to anyone who knew us that we were acting. Obviously in order to be these characters we had jobs again, we were very wealthy to be able to afford an $800,000 ocean front place, we were not concerned with income potential of these properties, and were sort of aloof to pretty much anyone else around. We were fed lines and points of contention in order to build a conflict in the story line to make the viewers wonder which one we would ultimately choose! We joked that they would all be wrong because we chose none of the above (in real life we have our little farm and cabins)!! Haha. So much for “reality” TV.
I think most people know that shows like this are something of an escape, a sort of fantasy, but I don’t know if people really quite grasp how much so! Especially when it is presented as real. Sometimes the houses had more bedrooms but we said they had less or the kitchen is downstairs but we acted as if it were upstairs, and the choice out of the three places was not even made by us!
Playing the part
And all of this is just fun entertainment, I get that, but I think sometimes these shows may be sending the wrong message. People may not wake up to the fact that you CAN indeed just up and move to the Caribbean and you don’t have to be a millionaire to do it! That you can have a great life without all the materialist garbage of whether or not a granite counter is the make or break point in a house-buying decision. That you already ARE good enough! That you can leave the rat race. You don’t have to work all the time just to get the next great toy or bigger house. You don’t need to compete or struggle or battle against something or someone (your weight, your career, your house, your car). All of that struggle is just to sell you more of the same lie (and more stuff). But it’s all fake.
It also was a fantasy because it barely skimmed the surface of what it is truly like to live in Puerto Rico. Most people do not live in or buy these types of properties. It also sort of paints a strange picture of the North Americans who move to Puerto Rico as an escape from their “realities” of life in the states just to have a playground here. This dichotomy is especially apparent in the current economic crisis of the island and the heavy hand of the US government and corporations.
Face the cameras but don’t look directly at them! Jeff, Hillary with the cameras and the great host of the show: Seth
But it was not our job to portray “real life” in Puerto Rico. It was to act in this Fantasy land. And it was a lot of fun being an actor. We had to learn not to look directly at the camera because this breaks the “fourth wall” as they explained to us. The fourth wall in theatre is where the audience watches. Or in TV it is where the screen is. So if you break the fourth wall, it feels to the viewer that you are looking right at them through the set. It breaks the spell of the fantasy. The illusion is that there are not cameras, that all of this is not a show. And I suppose this is a type of parallel to life. When you realize all of this is an illusion that you are simply experiencing through your senses for a short time, it may become slightly uncomfortable. But you may also feel more awake and in tune with it all! Here’s a great video about purposeful 4th Wall breaks. Very interesting!
Throughout the scenes we focused on surface stuff. Tiles, sinks, ceilings. We didn’t get into construction, foundations and settling, what it would actually mean to take down a concrete wall (sort of like a 4th wall?) or build something. It was basically “house porn” -just the titillating sexy side of house buying. Whenever we would touch something in a scene we would have to go back and film a close up of our hands opening the oven door, turning on the water in the sink etc. And whenever we would have a discussion about a house we would have a “reaction” period where they filmed us just looking and smiling and nodding at each other without talking. It took some getting used to but this crew knew what they were doing.
Also tried out all the couches in the various houses with the host Seth
This was another part of this process that I don’t think many people talk about or appreciate: All the people you work with to make this happen. You learn about their lives and interests outside of this job. You learn the toll this takes on them to travel so much and the long hours they put in. They are seasoned pros for sure! In some ways in their world we were just another couple to be filmed because they have done so many of these shows. But they made it so easy. Pretty cool to see such dedicated people in motion.
Like Dave the sound guy. So knowledgeable and all around fun person
Or Fran the local Puerto Rican film student and production assistant
Some of the crew at a house in Palatine Hills
Jackie the field producer has the hardest and most demanding job of them all! She had to coordinate EVERYTHING from the ground like coffee and wardrobe to story line to continuity to back in Los Angeles to the next episode or show down the line. This woman worked non-stop from 5am to midnight! Just thinking about what she had to deal with wore me out!
The whole crew after the “Decision Scene” at the Horned Dorset
Britton, Seth- the host of the show, and I definitely had the most glamorous of the jobs. And it is no doubt why so many people want to be rich and famous and be on that side of the camera. In fact touring all these places and hanging out at the ritzy spots you start to get a feel for what it could be like to live that lifestyle. When we were filming at the beach people looked at us like we were stars and asked us what movie we were making! A pretty cool and ego-boosting feeling. It is truly the hook of any of these shows and probably show business in general.
Do I look the part yet? At the ritzy Horned Dorset
Most people have watched television or movies but not nearly as many have seen what goes on behind the scenes, beyond the walls! The production of the whole enterprise. To me, more so even than all the fabrications we had to put together for the story this was the most impressive part of fantasy-building. The whole illusion is a sum of its parts. We saw a little of it with our friends Jon and Rachel when we filmed the short movie and the commercial, but this took it to a whole new level.
Yah we’re just a couple of Hollywood stars haha
In this scene you will only see what the camera sees, but look at all that you don’t see behind the curtain!
A cool feature of this particular show is that the couples also have a water activity. In our case, we went out on a small sail craft with our friends Jeanne and Jeff from Rincón Sailing.
Loading up
While the camera crew circled around us -just be sure not to look at them when filming!
Britton, me, Jeff and Jeanne
Overall, this experience is one I will cherish and never forget! Because I like to look at the bigger picture in things this helped me to sort of understand more in depth how the media in general forms a sort of reality that is anything but. With just a touch of truth it magically turns everything else into fantasy. And my reality for these five days was a sort of fantasy away from the norm.
Setting up the beach and B-roll scenes at the Marina
It also took me some time pondering exactly what my role was in this fantasy-creation. Once I understood that it wasn’t Cassie as I know myself, but the character “Kassey”-as-seen-on-TV, I was able to sort of detach from my personal outlook on conspicuous consumption and see that I was just playing a role that was really not like me though we may look the same on the outside. It’s also sort of funny, I think, to note that we don’t even have a television or cable/dish to watch this show on. We filmed in February and it aired in August! We were very excited to see it and how they edited down 5 days of filming!
Sort of surreal. We watched ourselves on TV at Jackie’s Gyro shop in downtown Rincon
Seeing yourself on TV is a trip!
Our life has truly come around to being kids again. This was just a bit of make-believe on the other side of the wall.
I haven’t been able to get a good easily playable link to the full episode (if you have cable or dish you can login and watch it here), but here’s a little I caught off the TV of the ending “band scene.”
I found this link to the full length video but I was unable to play it here in Puerto Rico. Let me know if it works for anyone else.
As part of the tropical fruit video series we’ve been doing, I decided miracle fruit should be next on the docket. We have three small trees and recently two of them started fruiting!
Miracle fruit berries growing on the tree
Miracle fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum) is a little different from most of the other fruits of the tropics because the fruit itself is not really so much a food as a food enhancer or transformer. It makes nearly anything sour taste sweet after eating just one berry! The effect on the taste buds lasts a little less than an hour depending on the person.
When Britton and I first tried it, we were amazed and astounded that foods like lemons and limes tasted like lemon merengue and limeade. So we brought a couple of berries to a party and everyone who tried it was also wowed by the powers of this fruit. We did learn that not everything sour should be changed however! At the party wine changed to a flat Dr. Pepper taste and Medalla tasted watered down. The reactions people had to this amazing fruit gave me the idea to get a few friends together to try miracle fruit for themselves. This video is the result. Not only does the video demonstrate the magic of miracle fruit, but it also showcases some of the wonderful and adventurous people who live in/near Rincon. Enjoy.
