\\ Encounters \\

Today I was an extra on the set of a new movie starring Chris Evans, called Safety Point. I arrived at the Downtown courthouse around 6:45 AM dressed in a sharp business suit. I met some of the other extras there, and as we went through the metal detectors we were told to go up to the 17th floor. Apparently, that was the extras holding area for today. We sat around as more extras came in. There are a lot of professional extras out there, I had no idea. There were also some volunteers that wanted to be extras in the movie. Although I realized that is probably not a good idea since it does involve a lot of waiting around and doing nothing. Our assistant director (also extras wrangler) was named Soloman Bachman. He came in, thanked us for coming, and gave out paperwork for us to fill out to get paid. Pay was $58 for 8 hours, and $8 an hour after that for overtime. After filling out my paperwork, they asked us our roles. I was assigned to the court gallery viewer role. There were 43 total extras on set today. After asking our roles, they asked people in the gallery to raise their hands. I raised mine. They picked 7 of us, and told us that we would be in another scene in addition to the courtroom scene as senatorial staff! I totally lucked out. Since I was wearing my nice suit, they told me to change clothes (of which I brought additional wardrobe) so I could be in both scenes. The senate scene would be later in the day, so I changed clothes immediately into a nice short sleeve shirt and my slacks. After changing, I went back to the room and waited with the other extras. The makeup lady came by and brushed and powdered me up. This was the first time I’ve ever had makeup on! Around 9:30 or so, they called us into the courtroom located on the 11th floor. I sat on the right side close to the jury, which was also the side that Chris Evans and his legal team were on. He plays Mike Weiss, the main lawyer in the film. Chris was wearing a red shirt, purple tie, black suspenders, and white slacks. His shoes were actually brown cowboy boots. On his left leg, Chris had his microphone case attached to it. In between shoots, he had to lift up is pants to make sure the microphone case was positioned correctly. Mark Kassen, who directs the film along with his brother Adam Kassen, was at Chris’ side as Paul Danziger. The scene we filmed involved Chris questioning a fire chief about dysfunctional fire engines. They filmed the scene over and over again, from different angles. The first scene involved the dolly shot, and they had set up the dolly track along the jury side of the courtroom. The second and third takes involved handheld cameras of Chris asking the questions from different angles. After shooting for an hour and a half or so, they herded all the extras back onto the 17th floor. We waited again on the 17th floor. After 30 minutes, they told the 7 of us that were going to be senatorial aids to change outfits and get ready to go. I changed into my suit again, and we were ushered onto the 8th floor this time into another courtroom. We waited there while they were filming a scene with the senator and Chris. Kate Burton plays the senator. Actor Marshall Bell was also there to film the scene with them. Around 2 o clock, the cast and crew took a break for lunch. The extras were the last to go to the cafeteria (of course), but at least the meal was free. Everyone was down in the cafeteria, except for Chris. We know he likes his privacy, so this was the most likely reason he didn’t join the rest of the crew. Adam and Mark Kassen, Kate Burton, and Marshall Bell were all down at the cafeteria with the rest of us. I knew that Marshall Bell and Kate Burton looked so familiar, but I couldn’t place where I’ve seen them. I so wanted to go to their table to talk to them, but was afraid I’d say the wrong information. Now looking on IMDB.com, I realize where I’ve seen them before. Kate was actually on the Pilot episode of a new legal drama on ABC called “The Deep End”. And Marshall has been in, like, everything on tv almost. I realized at lunch that the 7 of us were the only ones who got free lunch. All the other extras who were not chosen to be the senatorial aids were sent home by then. So after lunch the extras all go back up to the 8th floor courtroom where we wait it out again as Chris films with Kate and Marshall. Before filming, I watched Chris put his microphone on. The sound guy attached the case to his left leg while Chris reached down his pants to make sure the wire was set up correctly. Chris had also changed outfits into a dark suit with purple shirt now. After that, they filmed Kate and Chris scene over and over again. Our AD told us that they had to film it from different angles and with close head shots, so the director wanted it perfect. The wait was brutal, but I was too excited to let it get me down. I mean, I was on set in my first film! Besides, Chris kept walking in and out of the other room and kept walking past us, so that was cool. It was during one of these break times that I said hi to Chris and he said hi back to me. That was truly awesome! Around 7 pm, they decided not to use the senatorial aids, so they let four of us go home. Fortunately, I was not one of the four. I got to be one of the last 3 extras of the day to film! They filmed the second to last scene with Carinne, one of the other extras. After Carinne came out, she said goodbye to us and proceeded to check out. I got to be in the very last scene of the day. It involved me and the other extra walking by Chris down a hallway. The first cut went by, but then they had to remove me because it did get a little bit crowded in the hallway. Plus I accidentally bumped into Chris and the other actor walking by us. But that is ok, since I was already in the courtroom scene. After a few takes, we finished our day and I thanked the crew for giving me this wonderful experience. All in all, I have to say this has been one of the BEST days in my life so far. I got to meet one of my favorite actors and be in the same film as him. How sweet is that? As for what I thought of Chris, he was very into his work. Between takes, he would converse with the other cast and crew, and seemed very happy. They say that on sets you do not speak unless you are spoken to, and I respected this with Chris and the rest of the actors. Although when I did manage to say hi he did smile and say hi back. I do wish though that I could have interacted more with him, but that opportunity never came up as he always went back to his private office after takes. At the end of the day when shooting wrapped, Chris just headed to the elevators to get the heck out of dodge while all the rest of the crew had to clean up and move all their equipment out of the courthouse.

I met Chris on the night that I attended the 'Open Mike Night' at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. His uncle, Mike Capuano was running for Senate here in Massachusetts. We arrived at the event twenty minutes late due to parking issues. Everyone knows it is almost impossible to find parking in the city, and while it would have been easier to take the "T" we foolishly decided to drive in instead. Once we arrived, we quickly found out where the event was being held and made our way just in time for Mike Capuano to hit the stage. It was a great event and Mike did a fantastic job, I was already a huge supporter of his, and by the end of the night my friend also became a supporter of his as well. Once the event was over the crowd seemed to thin out a lot. We waited for about five minutes and then I spotted Chris on stage. We started to make our way to the front of the stage. We didn't just want to stand around and wait for Chris so my friend and I started picking up Mike Capuano signs and helping the lady collect them into a pile. At this point Mike Capuano was right in front of me taking pictures and talking to voters. We were about to ask for a picture and say hello to him when I spotted Chris in the crowd. Now, I really wanted to talk to Mike and let him know how much I supported his campaign, but Chris Evans was so close to me! I had to try and meet him, right? I told my friend and she's like, you have to go over there- now! Mike was still talking and wasn't facing us anymore at this point and I didn't want to be rude and interrupt... so I took a picture (of his back) nice, huh? Chris was getting closer and all I kept thinking was, "Am I really going to get to meet him? Seriously? I've only loved him since NATM and now he's almost like right in front of me?!" I made my way over, well, more like I was given a push over by my friend. In my final moments I was kinda worried and had all these thoughts like, What if I'm bothering him? What if he's got like an attitude or isn't as nice as he seems? I've met a few celebrities before and sometimes after you meet someone they're not really what you expect, they seem one way but give that whole 'I'm better than you' vibe. What if that's what Chris was like? He turned around and I was now facing him... he was looking right at me. It was now or never. I smiled and said hi and asked if he would mind taking a picture. He smiled back and said sure. I put my arm around him and he had his arm around me. Of course my friend couldn't seem to work my camera, unless she was just giving me a few extra moments with my arm around Chris Evans! :) It's not every day you get to meet your favorite actor. After we took the picture and I reluctantly let him go- can you blame me for not wanting to let go? ;) I thanked him. I wanted to say how much I enjoyed his work, how he was my favorite actor, um... how much I love his Boston accent which I finally heard!! Unfortunately, he was being pulled away so my chance to talk for a few minutes was gone. :( We ended up leaving but it was one of the best nights of my life. While, my encounter with him was brief, I did learn that he is such a down to earth kind of guy. He seemed really friendly and nice... totally how I thought he would be. While he may be a "Celebrity" he didn't act like one at all. He was friendly with everyone, taking pictures, and stopping to talk. I'm so proud to be from the same state as him. I'd also like to add that he is even more gorgeous in person, his eyes and that smile? *sigh* :) Hopefully I'll get the chance to meet him again one day soon. I wish him all the best with his career!

My little boy David loves watching the Fantastic Four films, he especially loves Chris Evans and spends a lot of time playing at being Johnny Storm. I have to play the baddie and he defeats me. He has got his walls covered with Johnny Storm pictures too and he knows all the lines. We were recently staying with my best friend Tom who lives in Manchester, England and found out that Chris Evans was coming to town. David was disappointed to find that we had already left before the film crew arrived so he sat down and made a card with some pictures for Chris Evans and wrote him a little note. I have never seen him sit so long at a table and concentrate! I wish I had scanned it but I never thought. On the front he did a little picture of Johnny Storm flying across the sky and inside another picture of a scene from the first movie with some speech bubbles and he wrote a little note to Chris saying he was his favourite actor. His uncle Tom promised he would try to get it to Chris Evans for him. Tom took the card to the film site but security was so tight that he could not get near anyone so he left the card with a note saying who it was from and that he was sorry not to get to take a photo for Davids birthday which was soon. The security guy told him to write down his address and he would try to find someone to pass it to but made no promises as everything was crazy. That was on Friday 24th Sept. The following morning Tom received a special Next Day delivery from Chris Evans! In it was a brilliant photo of Chris holding up Davids little card, a birthday card with a message from Chris Evans, he had also signed two BluRay DVD covers with a little message on each for David. On one it said FLAME ON! and was signed and on the other it said DREAM BIG, BUDDY and was also signed.

It was Davids birthday yesterday. When he saw the card from Chris he read it, looked up, read it again, asked us to read it for him then he just stared at it grinning just repeating, really? not really! really? is it real? When we told him what had happened he started to tremble a bit, ran to his room, ran back again and basically did not know where to put himself. He had actually seen the photo before his birthday but we have now had it framed and he knew about nothing else. For the rest of the day he kept running back to the card and picture to look at them for the millionth time. We have not been allowed to play the DVDs yet as they have to stay on display and no one is allowed to touch them. When he had gone to bed at the end of the day, we were tidying the mess up and had a big panic because we could not find the photo! We were just getting desperate when Davids older sister had an idea. She checked under his pillow and it was there! How cute! Most of the films on Youtube of the filming were taken on Fri 24th and I think it was their busiest day. Yet blockbuster movie or not Chris Evans still stopped to take the time to make a big effort for a little boy and for that he will always be loved in our household. Earlier this year David developed epilepsy really quite badly but is incredibly brave and is always cheerful and it meant a lot to us that he had such a special surprise this year. We are really grateful and Davids learned a lovely lesson about consideration, kindness and values that he will remember forever. Because of his age, 7 and one day, and his health problems we want to keep Davids details private but really wanted to share the story with people who are fans of Chris Evans so you can see he really is as decent a guy as people say he is. You can see the photo and a scan of the card though. So if anyone who knows Chris Evans actually reads this, PLEASE tell him that he made a little boy very, very happy. And his parents too! Good luck with everything you do Chris. We wish you happiness and success.