Won’t you come see about me?
I’ll be alone, dancing you know it baby
Tell me your troubles and doubts
Giving me everything inside and out and
Love’s strange so real in the dark
Think of the tender things that we were working on
Slow change may pull us apart
When the light gets into your heart, baby
Excuse me while I take a break from bringing back the Alex Vanderpool era to spend one day bringing back the Larry Blackman era. Just one day.
Got a text message from Sarah this morning telling me they were casting for extras in a movie and would I like to go. The Steelers had a late game today (the less said about that the better) so I figured why not.
So the movie is called Adventureland. It’s starring Ryan Reynolds and it’s written and directed by Greg Mottola (who recently made Superbad). It takes place in 1987, and they asked for people to show up dressed appropriately. Casting was from 11-2, and we figured there’d be a huge line by the time we got there at 12:30. Actually, there weren’t. We were in fact, #29 and #30. We would have been #25 and #26 if it weren’t for the fact that our outfits were so incredibly awesome that the local newspaper covering the movie wanted to interview us first. Sarah is as much of a press whore as I am, so of course we were all over that.
Anyway, the reason the newspaper people wanted to interview us is that no one else even really tried. I mean, most everyone was pathetic. I mean, sure people wore shorts and a t-shirt in 1987, but I mean, work for it people.
Anyway, we kinda just thought it’d be a fun way to spend a morning. But at this point I’ll be totally upset if we don’t get called back. Oh well, at the very least I got some press out of it. Well, hopefully, assuming they run the story. In any case, it was worth it just for the looks from the other customers at the restaurant where we had lunch.
Oh, and yes, that is my real hair.
OMG, that is so awesome! I am shocked that there were so few folks there and that nobody tried to dress the part!
You better get called back!
Nice!
Damn, Molly Ringwald and Tawny Kitaen are in your movie? Heaven!
Great idea for a selfportrait!
@sadandbeautiful (Sarah): I imagine they’ll call us. They all but told us they would. In fact, they said something to the effect of "Oh my god, when you guys come back you have to wear those exact outfits."
@MegaBee: Thanks. I love that they were like "wow, where did you find acid wash jeans and a mesh t-shirt?" and I was like "uh, my closet."
@Travelinjim: well, you know, it is my movie. And unlike Sarah, I actually remember the 80s, so… 🙂 Thanks.
No Ally Sheedy???
@max1975: thought about it… but given the space on the poster I decided to go with Molly Ringwald.
I was a huge Ally Sheedy fan. But between Ally and Molly, it’s got to be Molly.
@Travelinjim: I actually probably like Ally Sheedy better. I certainly find her more attractive. But I kinda felt like Molly was more indicative of the genre so I chose her.
sigh… I’m probably the only one that doesn’t even feel like ’87 is vintage.
Anyway, very cool for a Sunday afternoon! Let’s see, that’s 2 movies in a week. My Mama cut is getting good! But I notice you’re not producing this one. Oh well, you can’t hog ALL the jobs ALL of the time!
I gotta tell ya, when I looked at you in this pic the first thing I thought was "Lionel on The Jeffersons". The original Lionel, not the replacement one.
I love this shot, of course. Nobody does 80s quite like you anymore babe. I just wish I coulda been there with you (in my leaopard mini, neon tank top and the mesh shirt of my own. hmmm. may have to add that outfit to my list of shots now.)
@lrayholly: yeah, when we were leaving Sarah’s house she was kinda worried and asking me stuff like "i dunno, did people really wear this stuff in the 80s?" and I was all "umm, I wore these pants and this shirt in the 80s" and she said "oh, I forgot. You were there." *sigh* Damn kids today.
And Steph asks if looking like Lionel is a good thing or a bad thing.
@mickeysacks: well, maybe they’ll shoot an 80s movie out there. And if not, hey, it’d still make a cool shot.
Neither good or bad (well, good I guess – the 80’s timeframe is right). I just think the pose and the hair instantly hit me as LIonel.
@lrayholly: well, except Lionel was only on the show til 81 before he was written out.
Nah, he went to write Good Times after the 1st season (’75) of the Jeffersons, then he came back as Lionel in ’79 – ’81. After that his character didn’t appear much, but he would show up occasionally until it went off the air in ’85.
No, I didn’t remember all of that, I had to look it up. But I did remember that he was replaced and then came back to replace the replacement.
@lrayholly:yeah, I looked it up too. According to both IMDB and wikipedia he didn’t appear after 81.
Ok, here’s what imdb has to say on "The Jeffersons" page re: cast members – Mike Evans 26 episodes ’75 – ’85, Damon Evans 22 episondes ’75 – ’77; although it doesn’t list the 80’s episodes on Mike’s pages. wikipedia says this on the Jeffersons page:
"At the end of the first season, Mike Evans left to write episodes on Good Times. From the second to the fourth seasons, Damon Evans portrayed Lionel Jefferson. During that time, Lionel was seen less frequently, and Jenny was seen more. In the sixth season, Mike Evans returned for two more seasons. After that, Mike Evans portrayed Lionel Jefferson on special occasions. His final appearance was on the February 5, 1985 episode, in which Lionel and Jenny decided to get a divorce, which threatens the relationship between Helen and Louise."
@lrayholly: you know, I actually remember the episode where they’re getting the divorce. But I assumed it must have been earlier because IMDB says that he left the show for good in 1981. That must have just been his last appearance as a regular.
I LOVE the pants, Mav!! And your hair!
Sarah’s hair isn’t quite right — not that long hair with no bangs didn’t exist then among the young — but she wouldn’t want to cut it just for this.
I should check out the girls’ hairstyles in my HS senior yearbook again (1985).
Sorry, I’m going to have to vote for NC-17 on this one….
@phlewght: oh, there were totally girls with long hair and no bangs in my class in 1987. But their hair was usually BIGGER. She tried to tease it up more, but she couldn’t quite get it. (also, the wind is blowing in this pic) Still, it was definitely close enough. And really WAY better than anyone else there.
NC-17? For an 80s highschool romance? Really? Why?
Yeah, the hair doesn’t quite work. Its cool. When we start filming I’ll bust out the hot iron and the teasing comb.
@spresogna: you know, I constantly forget that you have a flickr account. It’s not like certain people EVER post pictures. 🙂
hey now! I lost the cable that connects my camera to my computer… so I’m stuck in a sad sad limbo right now.
@spresogna: uh… I could have been talking about anyone. 🙂
Not your *ordinary* HS romance! I don’t know how you managed to squeak by with an ‘R’ with all that "strongest of sexual content." I mean, that full frontal was brief and all, but we knew where you were going with that…!
When can we see the unrated director’s cut?
@phlewght: oh, well yeah… the MPAA slaps that warning on anything I’m in… can’t be helped.
Love this, of course! I love that movie Some Kind of Wonderful, so very eighties high school love story! And starring the always irresistable Mary Stuart Masterson and her cutest!
@sassyshannon999: yeah, its a great movie. I couldn’t really mimic the poster since that would have taken 3 people and I wouldn’t have been able to see the outfits, but I thought I got the spirit of it pretty good.
Hi, I’m an admin for a group called Dinner and a Movie, and we’d love to have this added to the group!
@Ll’sWorld: added. Thank you