The End of the LOST Saga

Need to catch up? Read about my Jealousy LOST, Final Casting Call, Getting LOST,
and On the Set of LOST.

I rounded the set in my orange abaya, and plunked down in my chair. I started to read my book, knowing we would break for lunch soon, and the chances of me being in another scene before lunch were slim to none. So I thought! A production assistant rounded the corner of the Iraqi tavern and announced that any extras not used in the last scene would be in the next scene. I jumped up, and was snatched up for a on set with another man. As Ben (Michael Emerson) ran out of the tavern after forgetting to pay his bill, he skirted his way around me and the man who walked with me. We did the take three times. A wrap was called, and it was time for lunch. This first meant a trip to my car to pump.

I rolled my shirt up in my car window that I had worn earlier, and threw the long skirt I had worn to the set up on the dashboard all bunched up. I dialed Hubby and spoke to him in the meantime. Son2 actually took milk from a bottle with a cracked fast flow nipple. It didn't work well, but it worked. That was a huge relief that I had not left a dehydrated baby!

I made my way to the lunch lines. There were two lunch lines. One side was for the extras, and the other was for the cast and crew. The food was the same on both sides, though. There was also a lunch wagon that made some food to order that was only available to the cast and crew. I don't think anyone used the lunch wagon, though. I met the caterer. His little boy was an extra that day, too. He used to own a restaurant in town, but he closed his business and does all of the catering for LOST and for any films shot in Hawaii. Throughout the day he had runners bring trays of sandwiches on set, trays of water bottles and drinks, and boxes of ice cream. He also had snack tents set up just off the set. WOW it is a really long day for his company. When I arrived at 5:30am breakfast had already been served. The best thing at lunch was the guava cake. Mmm. I love living in Hawaii! After awhile a production assistant popped by and gave us a ten minute warning to get back to the set. Lunch was over. The only other cast member I saw was Jin. He (Daniel Dae Kim) was not filming that day, but he did stop by to have lunch.

Now here is where it gets exciting for me! I really think the reason I got picked for the last scene before lunch was my orange abaya. It worked well for me all afternoon. After lunch we filmed a scene at the open bazaar in the Iraqi market. Ben and this bad guy that Ben is after were running through our bazaar. Thanks again to my orange abaya I was picked to do the cooking in the Iraqi market. Ben and the bad guy bump into me in this scene, if I don't end up on the cutting room floor. I was cooking chicken and steak kabobs and throwing seasoning salt and pepper all over the already cooked kabobs. The lady with the pan next to me was pretending to cook dry ice. I can't remember how many times this scene took, but it must have been at least 24 times. I remember the assistant director saying we were almost out of letters when this take began with an X. They took this scene with camera men running through the bazaar behind the actors, in front of the actors, and then rolling in a truck in front of the bazaar. When the final wrap was called, we sat on the steps of the tavern. A meeting was called for everyone on set, including cast, crew, and extras. Quickly the extras were divided into two groups. One of the assistant directors gave a long speech about how wonderful the day had been, thanked the extras, and all of the cast and crew began to clap. He said the day had been a success because of our help, said some other mushy gushy things, and then dismissed an entire group of extras. I was not dismissed. Neither was the other extra in orange. I am sure it had to do with my orange abaya!

We went on to film a little more of the bazaar. This time Ben was making his way through the end of the market, and we were filming from a different entrance. Ben was about to make his escape into a back alley. An assistant director chose me to try and block Ben on his exit. Then, there was some discussion about how Ben's exit should go, and instead, they decided he should go behind me while I was serving coffee beans. The discussion went on, back and forth. I took one look at Ben and he started to smile, and I started to crack up. He said, "This sure is crazy isn't it?" I asked him what he meant. "This sure is a crazy way for me to make a living. Me, running out of a market and running over people, over and over." We both chuckled. I was standing with my back to the camera crew and I didn't catch the final decision on what I was supposed to be doing. I asked Ben one last time if I was supposed to block him. What was the final decision? He told me to just scoot forward so he wouldn't pummel me when he ran past me. And the next thing you know, he was off! We did the take a few more times, and Ben went under an arch. I stood in the gateway of the arch and watched the rest of the filming. Over and over I saw the same scene take place where Ben was held at gun point by the bad man. It was odd to see Michael Emerson go in and out of character so much in between takes. That is by far the most popular question I am asked. Is Ben really that creepy in real life? NO! But it was oddly familiar to watch him turn into his Ben character. He was actually very nice in real life, but the creepy Ben you would expect while in character.

After that take, another meeting with extras was called. They dismissed another half of extras, but I wasn't one of them. Again, I credit this to the orange abaya. There were only a handful of us left, and we were directed to sit on the steps. Two of the costume folks emerged on the lot. One had a blood stained jacket, and some clothes for Ben. The other costume person sat on the steps next to me. Sayid showed up about this point, too. While we were waiting she and I got to talking. Everyone on LOST was really nice, but she really felt that was the culture of the show, though she had worked on a lot of nice sets recently. She said that when they film five days a week, the days are long every day. She gets up every morning around 3am and works until 6 or 7pm. Whew! Our conversation came to an end when a production assistant came around with ear plugs. We were about to hear gunshots and she wanted us to protect our ears. I heard gun shots come from the alley several times as *someone* was killed. Then the next thing you know we watched Sayid emerge from behind the arch with someone teaching to fire the gun over and over. All of the gunfire was finally over, and we had one more take in the bazaar. I was walking with another guy in the market place. Once that footage was taken, we sat on the steps. It was 4:30 and I knew I had at least an hour of driving from town back home, in traffic.

Call me sappy or silly, but I really started to miss my husband and kids. I had gone to bed late the night before, and had about 4 hours of sleep. I hadn't seen the kids since the day before. One of the program assistants thought we might have two more hours of filming left. I usually don't miss my kids when I leave them with a a babysitter or with Hubby when I have plans, but I missed them today! I called Hubby and told him I was ready to just leave early, and tell them if they needed to cut someone I was ready to go. Hubby did not like that idea. He said that was going back on my commitment. He told me not to worry about the kids, and that they were fine. I went back to sitting on the steps when our little group was called to the back alley of the set. The production assistant started to give us direction, when the director gave the word that we would not be needed for the rest of the day. We walked off the set close to 6pm, and they were still filming. What a longER day for all of the cast and crew on LOST than for me! After handing back all of my clothes I was given my time card. It was kind of funny to laugh and point with the other extras at how different we looked in our street clothes and hair than we had in abayas and hijabs.

My clock read 6:10pm when I drove off the lot. As I drove home I thought about how much I had enjoyed my day on the set of my favorite show. It will air on 4/24, I think. I imagine most everything I did will be cut. Just in case, though, look for me in orange. I will DVR LOST and have a debut get together with folks from my Bible study. We filmed episode 9 of the season that day. I had lots of stories to tell Hubby. When I walked through my door around 7pm at night, and saw my kids for the first time all day, I was greeted with some loud shouts of "Mommy!!" and other happy screams. I hugged Hubby and thanked him for taking the kids all day, and taking a day off work. While I had a fun and memorable day, I was so glad to be getting home to my real job.

On the set of LOST

Need to catch up? Read about my Jealousy LOST, Final Casting Call, and Getting LOST.

I jumped up the stairs into the hair trailer with my hijab in hand. I was led to the seat right next to NA. I sat down, still mortified by the little convo outside, and tried to completely pretend it hadn't happened, firing off tons of questions for the hair stylist. But NA was making some great political jokes, and had everyone giggling about historical figures trying to affect change. Obviously I was ineffectively ignoring him. I self consciously stifled a giggle. He looked up at me, and I don't know what got in to me, but I looked away!! Awkward! The hair stylist pulled my hair back in a loose pony tail at the nape of my neck. She bandaged my hair down with some ace bandage material nearly across the middle of my head. Absolutely no hair could show from under my hijab. Next she pinned the hijab back in place with some discreet bobby pins. I was done. I glanced to my left. NA was gone. Alone, I bounded the down stairs of the trailer, found a production assistant, and walked onto the set.

You can read a short blog post from a fan about our scene here, and see some pictures from the set here. The ones with the cast were taken the day we were filming. I am not in any of the pictures, that I can tell.

Once on the set, it was a chore not trip over my abaya, or trip someone else with it! Incense was burning everywhere. Totaled cars were smoldering with more incense and more smoke. It was pretty stinky. The first scene was in Tikrit. Well, anyway, the taxis said Tikrit Taksi. It was a funeral procession for Sayid's wife. That is what I got from an extra that had filmed the day before. We were never exactly told that on the set. There were many takes of the scene. I doubt I made it in the scene. I was standing on the edge of the procession. The directors kept coming in for narrower and narrower shots of the procession. Still, I was chased down by many hair folks, constantly tucking back my hair that polked out with a comb, pulling my hijab forward, safety pinning the hijab to my abaya, all in between takes. The abaya and the hijab were surprisingly cool. Since they were rather large on me, air flowed through the costume with ease. The material was so sheer and breathable the 80 degree weather did not bother me. Still, I hadn't gotten over the embarrassment of the morning. Was NA trying to make eye contact with me on set or was I imagining it? He came up to me several minutes later and said, "Sorry, my love." Ok. Now I could quit doing the whole ineffective avoid eye contact thing, and look him in the eye. I smiled, knowing it was over.

Nearly an hour and a half later, we finished filming less than a 20 second scene. The production assistants met with the extras off to the side. They announced a private ten minute rehearsal was in the works for the cast. Meanwhile, they needed eight people to change costumes, and the costume director picked. Well, I stretched my little 61 inches to the moon, attempting to make me be noticed. PICK ME PICK ME. Change me into something SHORTER. I was the last one of just eight extras picked to change clothes. Hooray! We started toward the costume trailer. I thanked the costume director for picking me. I couldn't wait to get out of the long abaya! The costume director looked me up and down and assured me I wasn't getting into anything different. I joked in total shock. "You mean I won't be wearing a miniskirt?" He chucked and said, "Oh honey, this ain't no miniskirt." It was similar to what I was wearing already. The costume resembled an Indian sari. My costume was orange. The pants were devoid of any elastic. They were so large they could have fit three or four of me in them. The costume director folded material from both ends of the pants toward the middle and pinned them, kind of like an old fashioned cloth diaper . Next he took one look at my feet. Black shoes were not going to work. He handed me a pair of bejeweled shoes that looked like a cross between Aladdin slippers and ballet slippers. I slid off the black athletic socks and black lace ups off and exchanged them for Aladdin geenie shoes that totally matched my outfit. Next, I headed off to hair. to have my new orange hijab placed correctly. I sat in the same set where I was before, only now Michael Emerson (plays Ben) was sitting where Sayid had sat. He was there just briefly. Finally my hair was done, and I headed back toward the set. Filming for the scene started already. Anxiously, I headed toward a production assistant. I asked where I could join the scene. I was told to hang out for the time being. Well, that sounded indefinite, and I really wanted to be in the scene. I was directed to stand under the director's easy up tent. I started to inch my way closer and closer into the scene. But the assistant director was wise to me, and moved me right back to where I should have been standing! Well, it wasn't all bad not being in the scene. I interacted a teensy bit with Jack Bender who is an Executive Producer for LOST. I watched the filming on the directors' camera, and observed camera lens changing. Honestly, it was getting very HOT, and I was standing directly in the sun. It was clear to me I wasn't going to be in the scene. I rounded the corner behind the set searching for my camping chair. I located it, pulled out my chair, and turned to find a good number of extras waiting to be useful. Ah ha! I wasn't the only one....

Come back to hear the end....

Jealousy LOST

In case you missed this before, I originally posted this earlier in the week. I was on set yesterday from 530am until after 6pm. The baby took bottles from Hubby and I was grateful for the opportunity to pump during the day. I had scenes with Sayid and Ben from LOST. I will post more later.

Everyone knows the Farmers are huge LOST fans. Since we live in Hawaii we know people who know people on the show. We know people that have seen LOST stars at restaurants. Someone in our Bible study was best mommy friends with baby Aaron's mother from Season 1 and 2. Another friend helped scout for LOST filming sites. Then, one of my own baby friends was told YES he could be baby Aaron and then NO he wasn't going to be baby Aaron last fall. SIGH. I wish my baby could have auditioned. Shhh! I was even a little bit jealous! My baby was the same age as the would be baby Aaron, but Son2 just wasn't blond and blue eyed. Still, more friends from that mommy group said there was a casting call for extras. So Hubby cropped my pictures and submitted them the first week in October.
Well, my Caucasian friends got called immediately for extra parts for the scenes of Kate's trial in Los Angeles. SNIFF SNIFF. But not me. I wished I may, I wished I might, but it didn't happen. Then, wouldn't you know I got another email from The Baby Hui, saying that LOST was looking for more baby Aarons, male or female, blond, blue eyed, 8 to 15 lbs. Well, that didn't fit me or Son2 again, so SIGH, I forwarded on the email to J.


Her son got an audition. Still, no call for me. Oh well, I was wearing ten more pounds of baby weight in these pictures than I am now. My hair was long then. Hubby suggested resubmitting new pictures about a month ago. But I didn't.

The phone rang on Tuesday. I looked at the caller ID. Hawaii State Govt. Ugh. Did this have something to do with this year's election? I hit the Talk button and said hello. The person on the other line said, "Is this R?" Suspiciously I told her it was me. I am always wary when people ask for me by name. I can't even remember the woman's name, but she was a casting director from LOST!!! Pick me up off the floor, splash some cold water on my face, YES, YES, IT'S ME!!! She and I chatted for awhile, and she said, "I see in the picture you have a baby." I told her I had TWO of them, you know, just in case. "Oh, well, we may need you to work on Friday 6am to 6pm. Will that be a problem?" Hubby was off that day, and I mouthed LOST to him, and then paused and looked at him and mouthed FRIDAY. He gave me the nod. YIPPEEE!!!! I assured the casting director that childcare would not be a problem. So the casting director and I chatted a little while longer, getting all of my measurements, stats, and numbers before we got off the phone. I am getting a final call tomorrow. That phone call will give me a final call time for Friday. See this is so secretive. I have no directions, no time, no nothing except for a final call tomorrow when I will get all of the final directions. But here is what I can tell you. I can tell you that I am being cast for either someone buying or selling in a flashback to a Middle Eastern market. Ta-dah! That is fine with me. I have actually been mistaken for Middle Eastern before. It happened a lot when I was a student at UCLA and also when I lived in Northern VA. I have been mistaken for a handful of other nationalities, too.

Ooooh I am so thrilled. I am not listening to the little voice in the back of my head that says they may just forget to call me.

JOB (un)WANTED

I thought I knew what I wanted. A job opened up with a great non-profit I adore. The hours were part time, I could work from home, and my kids were welcome if they had to come with me for any work outside of our home. I updated my resume, prepared with a list of talking points for my interview, and interviewed boldly. What do you know, I was offered the job this week! The dynamics were a little different than when it was advertised, though. They weren't bad, just different. I told them I needed overnight to think about it.

I mulled it over that night. I was still considering all the next day. Night time came, and I was still undecided. I sat Hubby down and he reviewed the pros and cons with me. Still, I had no decision. Hubby offered one last piece of advice. If accepting the offer took me this long, I probably already had my answer. A little relief came over me. He was right. I voiced all of the reasons I shouldn't take the job. The reasons sounded solid. At last Hubby volunteered a few of his private thoughts. He told me how valuable I am to our home. Any time I spent away right now was time taken from our children and our household. The monetary compensation wasn't really comparable to the value of my physical presence in our home, particularly with Hubby's hours and travel. I came to a final conclusion. Since the monetary compensation wasn't a huge benefit, the only other benefit was the personal recognition. I smiled as I picked up the phone to share my final decision with the non-profit. My husband just gave me plenty of personal recognition. The recognition from my kids comes in sweet phrases and giggles. I work plenty now. This non-profit job sounded perfect. Hmmm, but not better than my current job, even with all of the overtime, stressful days, and toilet dramas.