Thoughts.com Blogs - knocking on strangers doors

All this talk about houses reminds me of a few location jobs.
one in particular was so much fun
I have a million stories
and at least
a hundred are from this one movie alone
CODE OF SILENCE
with
CHUCK NORRIS

but to make a long story short
I will only talk about 2 scenes in this post
I promise

one of my assignments was to find a mansion on North State Parkway
so,
I'd literally knock on doors without knowing who would be on the other side.
It was so exciting to discover who lived behind the big door and meet the owner.
some pretty famous people live on that street
another story

One nice sunny afternoon,
after I secured the State Parkway mansion,
I just kept going,
I wanted to see the rest of them.
I had always been curious about the people who actually called
one of those gorgeous historical million dollar places,
home.
The Cardinals Residence is at the end of this beautiful block but I didn't want to bother him.

when the movie was released
all you saw was a young girl walking down the street with a suitcase
(my girlfriend, who was an extra...another story)
and some big guy standing at the door
I can't really recall that part
I only remember my friend
so excited about being in a movie!

for another scene

I had to find a very specific type of home in River Forest

it had to be in the middle of the block on one street
and have another street perpendicular to it running north of the front door

the scene that was to take place in this house
involved an entire family
all of them were going to be murdered
windows broken
bullet holes in the walls and closet
the whole nine yards

the reason for this T formation
a funeral was going to process down the street
past this house
to make it a very dramatic shot

and a fruit and vegetable truck was going to pull up in front of it
watch how fast the scene flies by in the movie
you'll be amazed that we were there for a week

for the same scene
I also had to find another house where we could sort of set up

a make shift office
this particular one would not be in the movie
but all sorts of people from the producer to the PA
would be passing through it the entire time

in addition
some kind of building for the caterer and the extras to do their thing.
within walking distance
of course
was needed

It always amazed me
Whenever I rang the bell in these homes
that the friendly stay at home moms greeted me with so much enthusiasm
I'm sure
after being a stay at home mom
about a decade later

that they must have been
thrilled to have some excitement
in their life for a little while

I would explain who I was and what we intended to do to their residence
that is, if the big important people working on the movie agreed on it

these lovely women practically did flip flops
over the idea of a production company filming a movie in their home
"oh yeah
no problem
bullet holes
broken windows
murder
blood shed
I hope you choose ours!
Can my kids stay home from school and watch!"

they'd run all around the house making beds and picking up toys and dirty clothes off the floor
and trying to hide the dishes in the sink while I roamed around their private domain
taking pictures

The home they eventually chose was absolutely perfect
and
I ended up getting pretty chummy with the family who lived there
part of my job was to act as a liaison between the owners and the production company
Their oldest son wrote a paper on the experience
that I helped him write

it was as if a circus came to town
the entire neighborhood was watching us
we brought along so much equipment
sometimes I believe people think we are only going to have one little camera
when we arrive
and they see all the lighting paraphernalia and cables

and a block or two
filled with a long caravan of trucks

they are usually blown away

the dad in this family was a lobbyist
I had never met a lobbyist before
and
we stayed in touch
exchanged holiday cards for years

they even invited me to their Christmas Parties
where I met a whole bunch of Chicago's
politicians
and on a sad note
I heard the mom died
a few years ago
and she was so nice
another story
unfortunately that is a sad one