My trip to Mexico City to film a movie

Hey everyone,



Just to warn you, this is going to be a long ass blog about my trip.
It's more for me to have as a "journal" of my experience and for those
of you interested in how things went and what happened and to get a
first hand account of what it was like in Mexico and not just what is
reported in the news.



I'm back from Mexico! To start off, it was an incredible trip and I
met incredible people who I will hopefully continue to know for a long
time. What made this trip even better was that it was to film a movie
and completely paid for and I even made money as a result. My goal has
been to do 1 international trip per year plus many other trips around
the United States. As many of you know, this year has been the worst
I've ever had and even though I was able to do trips to Tahoe, Austin,
Dallas, Vegas and New Orleans, I had to cancel the trip me and Kiyo
were hoping to do to the Caribbean in December after I went to jail and
had to file for bankruptcy because of legal fees and then losing my job
last month. So my mindset was just get through the end of the year and
enjoy my 3 weeks in Texas and come back in 2010 and basically start
over and try to rebuild my life.



Last Monday while I was sitting at my bankruptcy hearing, I checked my
email on my phone and saw an email with the subject "Hello from
Mexico." Fortunately I didn't delete it as was my first instinct,
thinking it was spam. I read it and it was from a director in Mexico,
Gerardo Naranjo, telling me that he was shooting a short film in Mexico
City and he was searching for actors online and came across my comedy
video and wants to fly me down to film. To be honest, it was so random
that I thought it may be a scam of some kind. But who knows, it could
be legit, so I told him I was interested and to contact my agent to
work out the business details. A couple of hours later, my agent calls
and tells me they called her and emailed her and so she's negotiating
to get this amount for me, plus her commission on top, plus air fair, a
4 star hotel, and per diem. So I'm like ok, in the email he said it
wasn't a commercial, so they didn't have a large budget, so most likely
they aren't going to afford all that, so don't get my hopes up.



The next day she calls and says it's a done deal and I'll be flying to
Mexico that Thursday. Everything happened so quickly that I could
barely believe it was happening. Especially with how bad things have
been, I'm no longer use to anything good happening. I had already
accepted the idea that I wasn't going to book anything in 2009, which
would have been the first year in the last 7 years that I didn't book a
commercial, tv show or film. And now all of a sudden I'm being flown to
Mexico to film a movie for a role that I didn't even audition for!
Hopefully my luck is turning around!



I'm given 3 options for flights. Gerardo tells me that I can fly back
after the shoot on Friday or stay and fly back on Saturday. Obviously
I pick to fly back on Saturday so that I can go out Friday night. I
was under the impression that one or two other actors are being flown
in as well, so hopefully we can all go out Friday night.



I arrive to Mexico City on Thursday and stumble my way around through
customs. Outside of customs Julio is waiting for me with my name on a
sign which makes me feel like a big shot lol. Julio works for the
production team and drives me to my hotel. Mauricio Katz is there to
meet me. Him and Gerardo are the writers and producers of the film.
He checks me into my hotel which is pretty nice and gives me my $1000
pesos per diem, which is like $77 US Dollar. I check in and settle
in. The area seems nice which makes me feel better, because going down
there all I could think about was the news I always read about how
dangerous Mexico is and how the cartels run the streets and kidnappings
are very common. But they picked a hotel located in Colonia Roma,
which I was assured was a very safe area. The area reminded me of
North Hollywood. Very artistic feeling. There were huge fountains in
the park in front of my hotel. Two university campuses were also
across the street. So it was nice.

I think hotels get an extra star if they put towel animals on your bed.
I think this is 2 swans having sex or 2 snakes about to fight.

Since phone calls were expensive, me and Mauricio and Gerardo
communicated through email for everything. I sat in my room watching
the Simpson in Spanish and resting up until Mauricio and Gerardo showed
up and took me to dinner for some delicious tacos and to discuss the
script and the characters. They had written a rough script, but wanted
me to come up with ideas for how to make it a little more humorous and
to say things as I would say them, using American slang. So I spent
all night rewriting the script and punching it up with ideas that could
be funny.



Ok, so let me explain what this project is. They have gotten 10 of the
top directors in Mexico to each do a 9-10 minute short that talks about
their idea of Mexican Revolution. And from my impression, it'll be
political and against the current government and how the government
isn't as great as they claim to be. In Mexico, a lot of the films,
plays, etc are political and against the government. Then, all the
shorts will be combined into one feature film that will be released in
Mexico, as well as into film festivals such as Berlin and American film
festivals. So I'll basically be in a Mexican feature film and he said
they would try to bring me out to any American festivals. Though I was
like, um, screw the American festivals, bring me to BERLIN!!!

Me and director Gerardo Naranjo. Doesn't he look like a director!

The short film I'm in is about a Mexican woman, played by the beautiful
Adriana Paz (more on her later), trying to make it into the United
States. Her van breaks down and she starts walking, when a jeep full
of minutemen drive up and attack her. Other Mexicans who were hiding
come out and attack the minuteman, killing 2 of them. They start
pulling one of the minuteman behind the jeep but scatter when a Border
Patrol truck pulls up. The border patrol agent sees Adriana, but lets
her go, even though he tells dispatch that he didn't see anyone. Then
it cuts to me in the border patrol office watching the film of this
happening. I call the officer in, who is also a friend of mine and
basically for 6 minutes I have a monologue where I chew him out, etc.
So basically all the talking in the short is done by me. The other
actor is a Mexican actor who didn't speak English, so they had to teach
him to say his two lines to me during my speech. It was a little hard
at times, because I would be like ok, say your line AFTER I say this
word. But then he'd say it too early or too late, etc. I'm sure it'll
be fixed in editing.

My new friend, the beautiful and hilarious actress, Adriana Paz.

So, I was the only actor that was flown in which is a lot of pressure,
because the whole short rides on my acting and my improv and being
funny.



We shot it on Friday and they really liked my work and told me that
they are working on another feature film for next year and they have a
role that they'd like me for. Oh yeah, and Gerardo's last two films he
directed were Executive Produced by Mexican superstar actor Gael Garcia
Bernal (Motorcycle Diaries, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Amores Perros). He's so
huge there, when I was watching tv, every 20 minutes during a
commercial break they would wish Gael a happy birthday and then show
clips from his movies. So Gerardo is a well respected director/film
maker and his last two films have won awards at festivals. He's a good
person to get in with.



And what's great about Mexican filmmakers is that they are very loyal
to actors they like. They will use them in films and help make them
famous. The style of filmmaking in Mexico is also very different.
It's very laid back. In the United States, time is money! Everything
has to be on schedule and if they run behind schedule people flip out,
because it costs more money. In Mexico it's different. Thursday night
he was like ok, we'll pick you up at 10am...no 9am to be safe. So on
Friday, 9am comes, then 10am comes and I get an email that they are
running late and will pick me up at 11am. I finally get picked up and
chill on set for a few hours in costume. Finally around 3pm they are
ready to film. But then pizza arrives for lunch, so they take a break
to eat. Finally it's ready to film, we shoot the scene all in one
take, so each take is 10 minutes and I have to do my whole 6 min speech
in one take. I do a couple of takes, then they take a smoke break.
And so on. I finally end up doing 6 takes and we finish around
6:30pm. I also really liked his style of directing. He basically
tells you, ok, he wants you to get to point A to B to C to D. However
you decide to get there is up to you. So as an actor, you are free to
improv and try different things. After a take, he'll go over what he
liked and anything he didn't think would work for the film and ideas
for things to try. So it was very freeing as an actor which I think
allows for a better performance. I think it also allowed me to be
funnier. Going into it, I thought it was going to be a very serious
and dramatic role. But by the end, it was serious mixed with natural
humor, which is why they decided to find a comedian.

Border Patrol Officer Gonzalez. On set.

So during the shoot, there wasn't anyone to really talk to, because I
was the only American and nobody was very fluent in English. Then
towards the end, I started talking to Adriana and found out she spoke
pretty decent English. I was asking her what she was up to afterwards
and she said she was going to a play. I thought she meant she was
going to be in the play, so I was like cool, I wanna come see it. Then
I found out she was actually going to SEE a play with some friends and
I ended up inviting myself along...hehe... Adriana is one of the
coolest chicks I've ever met. She's a working actress in Mexico and
has been in 8-9 feature films. She's nominated for the Mexican version
of an Oscar for her last film that she did, so she's an actual legit
actress. And she's pretty hot.



We get to this play which is like a one man show. He does characters
and sings songs and interacts with the audience. I, of course, have no
idea what he's saying, but it's still fun to watch. Her group of
friends is all guys, unfortunately, including her boyfriend and her
brother. Her brother is a photographer is extremely cool. Luckily
they all speak English pretty well, so I'm able to talk to them and get
to know them.

Me, Adriana and her awesome brother.

After the play, Adriana invites me to go with her and
her boyfriend to a house party that is also a wrap party for her last
film. So I'm like sure! Despite not knowing anyone or being able to
speak Spanish, I was determined to go out and meet people and have fun
and adventure. The party is cool. Lots of 80s music that they love.
I get introduced to another actor guy, I can't remember his name, so
I'll call him Juan. He's a funny guy and tells me he's gonna email me
his contacts that he has for casting people who work in LA. We talk
about where the finest girls in Mexico are, etc. Which is strange at
first, because I'm almost positive he was gay. But who knows. At this
point, I'm starving. I hadn't eaten since 9am that morning. I've been
drinking tons of Mexican beer all night at the party. There's this
beer called Indio that's the best beer I've ever had. They also give
me a shot of something called Mezcal. I'm like is it tequila? And
they say no, it's stronger. They really can't explain to me what it
is, but someone compares it to gasolina. I drink it and am pretty
buzzed from not eating and all the beer and then this Mezcal.



The party was cool. I did my best at my international game. I talked
to many girls who didn't speak English and did my best, but the
majority of them had guys with them there and the last group of girls I
tried talking to were lesbians, which I didn't find out til
afterwards. Everyone was really nice and cool. I explained to Adriana
and Juan the concept of being my wingwoman and wingman, so they did
their best to help out. I was talking to one girl who didn't speak
English but had kept looking over at me and smiling. She had a guy
with her, but I was like screw it, lets see what happens. I start
talking to her but we don't understand each other, so I take her over
to Juan and like a good wingman, he translates for us.

3am after the party. Adrana's boyfriend, Adriana, "Juan" and me.

At 3am it's time to go. Adriana tells me that Juan lives in the area
where my hotel is, so he would take me back. I say by to Adriana, and
hope that it's not the last time I see her. She is so awesome. Very
fun to be around and funny. Even though she wasn't fluent in English,
she still got my humor and was able to joke around with me and talk to
me about acting, etc. She hopes to get a Visa soon so that she can
come to LA and do acting.



I get into Juan's car. Now Juan has been drinking with me a the party
beer for beer. He also gets into the car with a beer that he's
drinking. The car keeps dinging because the driver side door doesn't
close all the way and his headlights don't work. Plus in Mexico,
driving there is crazy. I don't even know why they have lanes, because
people drive however they want. So it was a scary drive back, but he
fortunately had no trouble driving and got me back to the hotel safely
and didn't try to rape me. lol



Saturday I walked around the neighborhood and took pics. I checked out
at noon and Gerardo and his beautiful girlfriend Ana, who was also the
costume designer for the film, came by and got me and brought me back
to his house to hang out til the taxi came and got me for the airport.
His house is incredible. I could definitely live in Mexico if I was
living in a place like that. Plus his maid was HOT! I was like damn.




One funny thing I noticed was that lots of hot girls there were dating
ugly ass dudes. So if your an ugly dude, you should go to Mexico. I
guess that's why nobody got with me...I'm just too damn good looking!
lol



I barely made it back home. Even though I got there 2 hours early, I
was sitting at the gate they told me. Flight leaves at 4:55 and I am
engrossed in my The Lost Symbol book by Dan Brown cuz it's at the end
where everything happens. I look at the time and it's 4:35pm and I'm
like hmm...they should have boarded by now. I look around and everyone
is gone so I start walking to the other gates and see a sign for Alaska
airlines, but the other info has already been removed. I go up and ask
if they are going to Los Angeles and they are like yes, hurry. They
check my luggage by hand before I board the plane, which is new to
me. Even though they xray, they still hand check your stuff right
before you get onto the plane. I'm the very last person to get on the
plane, so if I was 5 minutes later, I would have missed my flight.
Another thing I found out is that they don't make you take your shoes
off when going through the metal detector. How did I find out? I got
in line and took my shoes off and felt stupid when I looked around and
saw that I was the only person with my shoes off...



That was my trip. Everything went smoothly. I made some good money
and had a great time and got my international trip after all. I hope
that I am put into his next film so that I go back. I've posted pics
if you'd like to see them. I should get more pics soon of me on set.
I don't know the name of what the film will be called, because they
still have to put all the shorts together, but once I do, I will let
you guys know. I should get a copy of the short though towards the end
of the year. And hopefully Adriana will make it to LA someday so I can
see her again...and hopefully she doesn't come with her boyfriend! :)



Hopefully this is just the start of great things and my bad luck has finally ran it's course.

The food was awesome!