Yesterday Miles had his second day of filming. I was not super excited when I got our call time of 7:30 am, especially since it meant driving to Baton Rouge beforehand. The movie biz isn’t all glamour, y’all.

We were about 20 minutes away from the set when I got a call from a PA asking if we could get there sooner, because they wanted to get Miles’s scene done first. Fortunately, we were on track to get there about 15 minutes early.

Once we got there, of course, there was a little waiting around. Miles had a snack and after not too long, we were called to the set. (Man, I sound so knowledgeable with all my movie lingo, eh?)

In the library stairwell. Can you tell he’s excited and a bit nervous?

A bit more waiting.

Finally, it was time for Miles! His scene involved an elevator. The director had him practice a few times.

Remember, his last scene was at the pool, so he had to wear the same bathing suit, and get wet down. They used water and baby oil so it would bead up and look shiny, I guess.

Action!

Gotta keep the talent warm between takes.

Rehearsing for another part of the scene.

Soon, he was all done! The crew all cheered for him when they said, “this is Miles’s picture wrap” or “Miles is picture wrapped” or “wrap picture for Miles.” I dunno, some kind of lingo I didn’t quite pick up about him being done with his scenes. I also heard someone say he has a bright future ahead of him, so I am pretty much assuming he is going to be taking me to the Oscars one day.

But in all seriousness, I don’t know if this is the beginning or end of his acting career, but I’m glad he had the opportunity. It’s kind of tricky when filming involves missing a day of school, but hopefully there will more chances coming up.

Today Miles and I went to Baton Rouge so he could be in a movie!

A while back, Miles said he wanted to be an actor. So I added him to an extras casting website, and every so often, if I saw something he was qualified for, I’d submit him. Recently one came up for kids in a pool scene, and it was for today, which is a school holiday, so I figured, why not?

Lo and behold, I got a call on Wednesday saying the director wanted him to be a featured extra! Which, I don’t know, means he was just a little bit more of a special extra.

When the casting person said, “he’ll be playing a drowned child. Is that okay with you?” the amazing mother that I am said, “SUUUURE of course that’s cool!” I didn’t actually tell Miles he’d be playing a dead kid until we were on our way today.

We got to the set at about 9 this morning. I was doing everything I could to pretend I knew what I was doing, but I did not. I think I managed not to look like a complete idiot, at least.

When we arrived, the makeup person said they were going to cover his body in blue dead-looking paint, but in the end, since he was freshly drowned, it wasn’t necessary. Bummer. That would’ve been even cooler. Miles was v jealous of the other kid who got to be covered in blood. Maybe next time.

Anyway, after much waiting and watching them film some scenes by the pool, it was Miles’s turn! The director said, “okay, just get in the pool and hold your breath and float face down.”

I was skeptical. It was 56 degrees when we got there, so I’m sure the water was frigid. But Miles was game. He got in the pool, and turns out, while he can swim, he can’t really do the dead man’s float. After a bit of sputtering, the director was like, “oh hey, that’s fine, Miles, we’ll just have you dead on the side of the pool.”

(Everyone was v nice.)

So Miles climbed out, laid on the ground, and they took a bunch of pics. (He’s only dead in a photograph in the movie, in this scene.)

After that was done, he was in the background of some scenes, playing by the pool, apparently freaking out the main character, who I guess is thinking he’s seeing a dead kid? I’m not completely clear on the plot of this movie. I suspect it’s a thriller or a horror movie or something. It’s not in IMDb yet.

So after they did a zillion takes of that scene, from different angles, Miles was done! Except we didn’t find out we were done for about three hours, wherein Miles got very bored. Eventually, we were told we could leave.

But we’ll be going back in a few weeks to film another creepy scene (the casting people sent me that part of the script.) Should be interesting!