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I'm
an
Extra
in
Miami
Vice
by Stephanie Wilson
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Let's start with the important
things first: I Totally Touched
Colin Farrell… and Jamie Foxx, too, but I was
much more excited about Colin. (it’s a
ponytail- thing.)
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Colin Farrell |
Ok, now we can back-up a
little.
Miami Vice—the
TV show that made Miami famous as a city with flair—is back
at the
forefront of pop-culture thanks to an all-star cast turning this 1980’s
cop-drama into a full-length feature film, starring Colin Farrell as Detective
James "Sonny" Crockett and Jamie Foxx
as sidekick Ricardo Tubbs.
Miami Vice is one of the reasons
Miami Beach got its
current snazzy
reputation. It was a huge hit show
in the mid-80’s,
displaying fast cars, beautiful
women and amazing style. It had the 80’s flair
that epitomized the time—white suites, pink shirts and cheesy lingo. Miami has
progressed past the 1980’s, but we still are
the home of fast cars,
hot clubs and beautiful women.
Some things never change.
Casting for the film has been taking place
throughout Miami in recent months and people responded in droves. I
read about a casting on an obscure website, to be held on April 16th at
The Shelborne Hotel, and I thought about attending—until I heard about
it again on the evening news. Being that Miami is full of model and
actress-hopefuls, I figured this was not my calling,
since waiting in line all
day in hopes that someone
would think I'm cool enough just didn’t appeal
to me. Although, that's basically how we get into
clubs here in South Beach...
A few months later, a friend and I go to Mansion on a Saturday night for
an evening of dancing and cocktails, and upon arrival, I
noticed a table set up by the entrance—they were taking pictures
for Miami Vice casting. I decided to have my picture snapped,
I mean, the worst
thing that happens is they don’t call, and life goes on,
right.
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Extras on the set of Miami Vice |
Two days later, I received the phone call—I was in! I was given a
casting number and a phone number to call the week before the shoot to
hear about costume instructions, report times and
shooting location. When I
called, I heard a recorded message with very detailed instructions on
“Upscale Nightclub Attire” (bring three outfit choices— no white, dark
colors preferred, no multi-color outfits) and exactly how to wear my
make-up. (Clean base, no glitter, no gloss, three lipstick options, have
your nails done—hands and feet—make sure your hair is done when you
arrive). I hung up the phone filled with dread—I'm not one to freak out
about what to wear, but I immediately began to panic: WHAT AM I GOING TO
WEAR? Why couldn’t they have told us this was a nightclub scene three
weeks ago so I would have more time to shop?
Saturday and Sunday was a frenzy of malls and salons, and I finally
asked the sales person at GUESS on Collins Avenue to help. “I'm an
extra in Miami Vice, we're filming tomorrow, I
need an outfit!” “You too?” she said. “You must be the 10th person so
far today!” $300 at GUESS (fancy jeans, a hot top, huge earrings, new
shoes) and $150 at Sephora (for make-up) later, I was ready with the
perfect ensemble, and convinced I was going to be discovered!
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Miami Vice actress |
My call time was 8:30 on Monday morning
and I was up
at 6am to ensure my hair and make-up were perfect. Upon arrival at
Mansion, I realized my chances of getting discovered were actually
pretty slim—I was one of about 900 extras! We checked in, and were
ushered into an air-conditioned tent and told to wait…and wait we did.
The hours slowly ticked by as everyone’s perfect make-up and hair
became not-so-cool in the Miami heat. Around 2pm a woman came by and
checked out our outfits. I was expecting to have to stand-up, turn
around, show my other options and get some kind of approval. After
spending hours and dollars on my quest to look perfect, I at least
wanted someone in-the-know to tell me that I'd made the right choices, but
there was no such luck. The woman walked around the tent, only asking a
handful of girls to change. I barely got a passing glance after all my
frenzied trouble and dollars spent.
Around 5pm, we finally were ushered into the club to begin filming. Upon
entering Mansion, we saw there were already about 200 people throughout
the main dance floor. The extras were asked to fill the area to the back
of the club. I was asked to fill in a spot to the left by
the side entrance door. As I was standing there, Colin
Farrell and Jamie Foxx both
walked into the club in full costume to take their places for the
filming. Colin had to move around me to get to the stage and as he
passed, I brush his side—as if by doing so,
I would suddenly receive all the acting powers
in the world and become super-famous. After he passed, an extra standing behind me
claimed “I saw that!” Apparently, you are supposed to be calm, cool and
collected as an extra, and are not supposed to be awestruck. Too bad—I
was, and I was giddy at my brush with fame.
In the scene, Colin and Jamie are looking for a bad guy in the club. All
of the extras were simply asked to dance and look happy. Being that I am
very good at that, I managed to position myself right in front of the
camera with an extra-large smile on my kisser. Colin pushes his way
through the crowd on his quest for the bad guy, and in one of the takes,
he pushes me right out of the way. I did my best to not freak out or
smile because Colin Farrell was touching me,
and hopefully this is the take they'll use!
Filming went well into the evening and we finally broke around 11pm.
The next day, we were asked to show up in the same outfits, as the scene
continues. The second day didn’t entail quite as much waiting as Day 1, but
involved countless takes of a scene where Colin Farrell walks up to the
bar.
“Two Mojitos and a Gin and Tonic,” Colin says.
“Lemon or Lime?” asks the scantily-clad, beautiful bartender.
“Lime,” says Colin. “Gin never has a lemon. You must not be from here.”
“From Lisboa, that’s in Portugal.”
“But you got your tan in Miami.”
The conversation continues about rebels and spies, and my attention span
finally wore out. At the beginning of the day I managed to get myself up close
to the bar in the line of the camera as Colin made his way through the
crowd. As the day progressed and they shot the scene from a different
angle, the fame-hungry extras pushed their way to be in the line of the
camera, all hoping for their 5 seconds of fame (like
me). Being that I made my on-screen debut from the filming the night before, I decided to
back-off and give the others
a shot at fame.
The filming continued for two more days, a day
longer than originally expected. The number of extras decreased
exponentially as the days went on, and come Thursday they were asking
all extras to come with as many friends as possible to fill up the club.
Filming of Miami Vice is expected to run throughout September, so
if you haven’t gotten lucky enough to see Colin or Jamie around yet,
just get yourself out there into the right locales and you will. The two
stars are constantly being sighted all around town at the hottest
nightspots. I don’t know about them, but I've spent the past weekends
enjoying this town for all it has to offer.
The 4th of July weekend had me checking out the new La Boîte à Musique
at
Delano hotel Friday night, complete with personalities from the beautifully
bizarre CircX mingling amongst the crowd. The lobby was full by 10pm,
and the line at the side-door stretched half-way down the block as
everyone wanted to see what this new night is all about. It takes place
every Friday, so if you missed the debut night, don’t fret—It only
promises to get better from here.
The 4th of July was spent lying at the pool at the Ritz Carlton South
Beach taking advantage of their $50 all-you-can-eat barbeque and
free-flowing Champagne—most likely a once-in-a-lifetime deal, so don’t
count on it being available if you make your way to the
DiLido beach club. The holiday was completed
making my way over to the Flamingo South Beach to watch the spectacular
fireworks display while hanging my feet in Biscayne
Bay. From this location
we could see sets of fireworks from downtown, Key Biscayne, and the
personal fireworks from various mansions on Star
Island, making for a 360 degree show of light and celebration. It was a
perfect end to an amazing week, full of new experiences only
to be found in Miami Beach.
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