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Monday, April 18, 2011

LOCI Episode Cadaver Dress Rehearsal and Fan Photos-4-14-2011



I shot footage around the grounds of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, including the campus outside the Price Center Block Research Pavilion on Morris Park Avenue between Seminole Avenue and Eastchester Road, where the actors' trailers were parked. After a nearly two-hour trip from Brooklyn by subway and bus, I found myself one stop away from Pelham Parkway, in Morris Park, the Bronx. The college was a short walk from the bus stop and the weather was beautiful this Thursday morning, especially after the drenching rain we had the previous two days. Funny, I'm watching the LO:CI episode "Gone" as I'm writing this and Ruth Stockton's son is duped by blackmailers who set him up with a hooker who asks him for a ride to New Rochelle, which is where the LO:CI crew were filming last Wednesday. "Is there a train?" to New Rochelle, NY-of course, there is. Just take Amtrak at Penn Station. That guy was such a fool!

OK, back to Morris Park. Just after 10:30 AM, I was walking around Morris Park Avenue and saw the LO:CI crew trucks and actor trailers parked on Eastchester Avenue around the corner. I wanted to take some photos. However, to my horror, I discovered that my camera phone was not working properly. I feared that the micrSD card was defective, so I walked back to Williamsbridge Road near Morris Park Avenue and went to CVS to get another card. Only CVS only sells regular SD cards and the nearest electronic stores were on White Plains Road, according to a CVS employee I spoke to in the Photo department. I'm not familiar with the Bronx and I didn't want to travel too far from the college and possibly get lost. I was able to find a one-time use digital camcorder and bought one so I could at least take some video, and went back to the college to begin my video diary.

It was a long wait until the crew began setting up for an exterior shot outside the Block Pavilion between 12:30 PM and 1 PM. Until then, the crew had been shooting inside the pavilion, where the official set and holding area were set up. According to the crew call sheet I found discarded near one of the trailers, Vincent and Kate were to shoot a scene outside the pavilion with two other actors portraying Dr. Maya Zhuang and her mother Joanne Zhuang. At 1 PM I saw actor Rosalind Chao arrive and wait on the sidewalk for the other actors to appear on set on the campus grounds near the pavilion. Kathryn Erbe arrived next, and then Vincent D'Onofrio and Camille Chen, who portrays Dr. Maya Zhuang. They did a brief run through of their lines in street clothes, then left the set. Vincent was dressed, as usual, in black and did not wear a coat, since the temperature was in the 60's and rising.

After 2 PM, the dress rehearsal began and the actors were back in full costume. Camille Chen wore a skirt, black pumps and a blue coat and Rosalind Chao wore a black coat, white shirt and black slacks. Vincent wore a black suit with a white dress shirt and red patterned tie with a clip and his Goren detective badge. Yes, the size 13 shoes were black, also. LOL Kate wore a black long sleeve shirt and shiny black jeans and boots and a dark brown coat with her Eames detective badge. Of course, Vincent came armed-with his Goren binder! All right!

Between rehearsals, Vincent and Kate took time out to pose for photos with fans, but Vincent got the most attention. Kate was lovely and sweet, despite her recent stalker trauma, and was even cracking jokes about not knowing her lines, ha ha. Vincent was enjoying the love from the crowd that quickly gathered around him when he stepped onto Morris Park Avenue. Two actual NYPD officers stood nearby to maintain law and order :) while we all fan girled Vincent. The officers seemed happy to be there, judging by their smiles at Vincent and us. Just before the scene was actually shot, I got my moment with Vincent and shot the video myself. Nobody was gonna touch my camera, especially after the drama I had this morning getting it and returning to the set. Next time, I won't forget to bring my mini-cam, which is my failsafe in case my first camera malfunctions. Of course, Vincent was gracious and sweet, as he always is with me, and even asked, "Get it?" as he did the Goren lean and peered into the lens, the same way he did at the AMC Empire 25 Theatre in Times Square last month after the "Kill The Irishman" Q&A. Just makes me love him even more now. **Sigh**

I enjoyed speaking to fellow fans on the sidewalk while we watched the rehearsal and filming, which ended at 3:30 PM. Several were employees of the AE College of Medicine who were returning from lunch or probably snuck out of work to watch the filming. One lady told me her boss gave her permission to stay and watch the filming, which I thought was so cool. I had taken the day off work myself, since I needed time to travel to the Bronx and back home. Another fan told me she needed to pose with Vincent twice because the person who took the first picture goofed and cut off Vincent's head in the photo. Darn, I should have used that excuse. LOL Except that Vincent leaned down when I filmed him so that wouldn't have worked, anyway, ha ha. BTW, Vincent is 6'4" and I'm just 5'3", about Kate's height. That makes Vincent exactly 13 inches taller than me. How about that? :)

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