Roman Theatre

Today I had the day off so I decided to do a little exploring of Amman City Center. Today is Friday and a lot of the businesses are closed except in the City Center. I started out at the Roman Theatre and then went on to do some shopping for gifts. FYI, shopping for men is very difficult. Below are some pictures from the day. I am getting more comfortable and confident alone in cabs so I can venture further away from the hotel.

base of amphitheatre


view from the top


columns at the base


browsed museum after
below are some interesting parts of the exhibit


original tiles from a Church in Jerash, Jordan (6th century AD)

Going back to Dead Sea tomorrow for a day trip with Christian. Nice and relaxing I'm sure.

Update

We left Aqaba at 8 am this morning only to find that there was a protest along the one road into Amman. The farmers were upset about gas prices apparently and were literally all just sitting in the road. What should have been at 2 1/2 hour drive turned into about 5 hours! I'm finally here and just got a call from our AD. We're not going back to work until Monday. So now I'm scrambling to get back out of town again. I've pretty much exhausted Amman and would like to see some more parts of Jordan. I do have to admit that I am quite ready to get home though. Its all boys and all the time here. We all work, eat, play, everything together and some new faces would be nice. My friend Erin, from high school, worked at the UN in Paris with a guy named Eric who now lives in Amman. I think I'll get drinks with him tonight. I'll keep you updated as I know more.

Under the Sea... Literally

We left Amman at 6 am this morning after Jeremy was able to roll out of bed and headed down to Aqaba. The highways here are empty but narrow and wind all over the place.

Wadi Rum- we passed this on our drive down

We arrived in Aqaba at the Movenpick Hotel around 8:30 where Christian, Mark, Kathryn and Chris (Mark's Bro, who is working on the film) were eating breakfast. We all then headed over to the Diving Center to pick up our gear then off to the Red Sea. From our location we could see Israel, Eqypt and Saudi Arabia.

The Read Sea... Israel and Egypt in the distance

Kathryn, Christian, Jeremy and I decided to stick to snorkeling. We saw a lot of fish, eels, and even a sunken ship! I had a blast. We topped the night off with a relaxing dinner by the water.

Aqaba

I'm leaving Amman and heading to Aqaba tomorrow for at least 1 night. Leaving at 5am! I'll try to bring my laptop.

Stalled

So... Jeremy injured his foot yesterday so we're taking a few days off for him to recover. I am trying to plan a trip as we speak. I'll keep you updated as I know.

The Dead Sea

I just returned from the Dead Sea today. Yesterday around 1pm Anthony, his girlfriend Amber, Fadi and I drove down to the Kempinski by the Dead Sea. Though it was only an hour away, we decided to make a weekend of it. On our way we had to stop at a few checkpoints where they of course stopped us and checked our ID's because we are clearly foreigners. Fadi said he never gets stopped when he's alone. There are a lot of security measures here like checking in trunks and under cars with mirrors.

check point on Dead Sea Highway

We met up with Brian and his girlfriend Laura at the resort. We had an infinity pool looking out over the sea and over to Israel. Although its far accross the water Israel seemed so close. We hung out by the pool for a bit then went and floated in the sea and had the mud bath. There is so much salt in the sea, you literally just get in and float. You'll see in the picture below my arms and feet are above water. The mud bath is supposed to be very good for your skin. Its a weird feeling but cool at the same time.

me floating in the Dead Sea


Anthony, Amber, Kate, Laura, and Brian covered in the mud from the Dead Sea

We watched the sunset and then went back to our rooms and returned for dinner. At 9:30 pm it was still unbelievably hot. I'm still extremely jet-lagged so I forced myself to bed at 11pm to try and get myself off naps and on to a regular schedule. A very loungey day but very relaxing with great food, views and company. I could get used to this lifestyle.

sunset Dead Sea

This morning we did breakfast and a little more poolside chillin' then back to Amman. I am called at 6:30am tomorrow so it'll be an early night for me.

Lost in Translation

Note: I am very tired.

Spelling and grammar will be awful in this post.
Read with caution.

DAY 2:

After night one when I stayed up until 5 am the next day’s wake up call at 10 am was a bit rough. I found a letter under my door letting me know that I would have a car pick me up at 1pm to take me to my fitting. After returning from breakfast I fell back asleep and woke up at 12:45 and still hadn't heard from production. I called Nick, the AD (Asst. Dir.) and he said there had been a bus accident with the extras so we were short on transportation guys so everything ended up getting pushed back. So, around 2pm I finally left to go to my fitting and ended up at the production office where they asked me what I was doing there. I said that I had simply gotten into the car they sent and went where he took me. After some discussion in Arabic I was carted over to the Costuming Dept., which is housed in a converted furniture store.

Here’s the thing about driving here. I honestly fear for my life almost all the time when I’m in a car. A lot of the cars don’t have seatbelts, no lanes, and seemingly no laws. There is this unspoken understanding between drivers, which I of course don’t get because I’m not a local. They tailgate so severely that the emergency brake is pulled at every stop so they don’t roll back 5 inches and hit the car behind them!! Anyway, I’m off track. So I had a very long and scenic drive to the costuming department.

Here are some pics from that drive:

There I met George, Moira and Dan. I was fitted with camo pants, a beige shirt, boots, a jacket, vest, and helmet, all very heavy and very warm. After finishing my fitting I was driven to the set to see Kathryn, the director, and Mark, the writer who I had not seen yet. They were shooting in the middle of a neighborhood. It's interesting because there are civilians everywhere and real military people too. Hard to tell sometimes who is in costume and who is actually military, not to mention all of the Jordanian extras who look American. I then came back to my hotel and headed out for dinner. I decided to venture out by myself and happened upon a Turkish Restaurant, which was quite nostalgic, I have to admit, making me miss my days in Ankara. I took a picture of the menu when I had another lost in translation moment.

Look at the sixth item on the menu:

This is the night club I see from my Hotel window:

After wandering around a little more I ran into Fadi, Jeremy and Malcolm who were headed out to a bar. We went La Calle, which was a balcony bar looking out over the city. Pretty mellow and not too late of a night, which was nice, considering I had a 7:30 am call the next morning.

DAY 3:

6:30 am wake up call, breakfast and I off I went to set. Christian and I got into costume and went through make up and hair. Make-up consists of dirtying us up. We went over to the set at around 9:30 and until 1pm shot in the beating sun. The make-up assistant, Elizabeth, fainted and was sent to the hospital. Both Christian and I were used but said no audible lines today. I was also given some script changes written on the spot by Mark. We, however, did not get to them. Lunch was a 1:30pm and after that I pretty much slept until I wrapped at 5:30pm. I think jet-lag is starting to catch up with me. It was both exciting and weird to actually be on the set. I am playing a Lieutenant in charge of several men, many of them much older than I am, and all of them of course bigger than I am. Oh well, I’m used to being bossy! I’m realizing how hard this job can be sometimes. I had a fairly cushy day today sitting in the air conditioned trailer but all the guys were out there in the beating hot sun for hours on end. They’ve been here for 5 weeks away from their friends and family. With all the good comes the weirdness of having no real home base other than a hotel and being in a constant state of change. Ok, I'm off to bed.

Finally Here!

After all the anticipation I'm finally blogging from in my hotel room in Amman. I left my house at 11:30 am on Tuesday, Aug 21st and arrived here at 7pm on Wednesday, Aug 22nd after 20 some odd hours of flying. I do have to say having a first class international ticket is pretty sweet. The seating, the lounges, and the service were all fantastic.

I arrived at the airport to a man holding a sign who helped me through customs and I was off with a chauffeur, with no snags. I was met at the hotel by a very friendly man named Imad who helped me check in, gave me my cell phone, and told me to meet him in the lobby. After changing I met back up with him, Anthony, and Jeremy (two other actors from the film). We all went to Chinese with some other folks from production. As we drove I asked Imad what street we were going to and he explained that there are 8 circles here. People always just refer to what circle your destination is close to and then next to this, around the corner from that and the restaurant was in the middle of a very residential area. Glad I wasn't driving. Great food, honestly much like a Chinese restaurant in the States. Then we were off to Club Cube.Upon arrival we had a hard time getting in but after many cell phone calls and texts we were granted entry. It was essentially an 80's club predominantly populated by teenagers. Very interesting set up, it looked a lot like a living room in someones house. Surprisingly, many of the kids spoke English to each other. Almost everyone here seems to speak English and all the signs seems to be in both English and Arabic. However, we ran into a girl named Leigh at the club who is here on a Fullbright and she said this is just the upper class showing off their wealth by speaking in English. I haven't been here long enough to make a judgment call. However, I will say I am surprised how many blonde haired blue eyed people there are here. We left the club around 4 am and I couldn't fall asleep until 5 am because it was merely 7pm my time in LA. Today I'm sure will be rough adjusting to the jet lag. As of now I have a costume fitting set up for today.

Accomodations and more

I got the info. for where I am staying.

Click on Kempinski Hotel Amman for pix and info.

The reviews I've read online have been very complimentary about the service, rooms, food, bowling alley (in the hotel), etc...

Its getting more exciting by the day. My shoot dates have changed but I'm still there for the same block of time. As of now I'm flying out the 21st and returning to MD for a wedding on the 31st. Looks like it'll be a 20 hour flight! Too excited to care, got plenty of books to read.

Unrelated but totally Cool!

I started compiling my packing list for Jordan yesterday and stumbled upon this site. Packing list Online You enter your destination, the weather, how many days you're going for, what kind of activities you're going to do, etc... and it creates a packing list for you! So this is very exciting to me, just wanted to share.

Good News an Bad News, which do you want first?

Good News: OK...so Friday I get a call from Allison Jones casting to come in and read for a role on the next episode of "The Office". Great comedy, I'd love to work on this show.

Bad News: It shoots while I'm in Jordan. I had to turn down the audition so I didn't burn the bridge and double book.

Conclusion: It'll come back around again but still disappointing and exciting all at the same time. It feels like it's all starting to happen.

Skype...get it

So I just discovered you can talk for free between computers if you use Skype. You just download it here Skype and then we can talk for free! My cousin does it from Peru to CA all the time. If anyone wants to talk while I'm abroad that's how but remember its 7 hours ahead there....I think. Hope to see you in cyberspace!

Suggestions

If you've been to Jordan and have any suggestions for places to visit, stuff to see, anything I should know ahead of time leave me a comment under this post. I'd love to get any info other than the stuff I'm reading online from strangers or reading in books.

How it all started...

June 2006: I did Much Ado About Nothing with The Haven Theatre Company. It was a really tiny production in a middle school auditiorium. Needless to say, not my best work, and as a side note the company doesn't even exist anymore. Anyway, I played Hero and the man playing Benedick, Ken Ward, and I became fast friends.

January 2007: Ken gets a call from a buddy of his from college, Christian, who was in a movie called K:19 starring Harrison Ford and directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Kathryn has called Christian asking him to round up some friends to do an informal reading at her house of a movie she's thinking of directing called The Hurt Locker. So Christian, Ken, a few others, and I all go over to Kathryn's and read through the script. I leave thinking nothing of it.

June 2007: Mark Bennett, a casting director, calls me out of the blue saying Kathryn has requested me for the movie and wanted to put me on "hold" and to make sure I had a passport and availability in August to go to Jordan to shoot. I, of course, said yes! (Luckily when Will went to Prague 2 summers ago, I tagged along to the passport office and got a passport too.)

July 2007: I signed with a new agent, Jana Luker.

August 2007: Jana calls to let me know I'm off "hold" and "booked" for the film. As of now I'm flying out the 21st.

My First Posting

The purpose of this blog is to keep anyone/everyone who may be interested in my acting career up to date on my latest gigs. Feel free to read it daily or never.


My first big gig:

I just got word that I booked a feature film called The Hurt Locker. What I know now is the information up on IMDB.com (Internet Movie DataBase.com)

Here are some links to stuff online about it:
IMDB posting
another article I found about the movie

I'm flying out to Jordan on August 21st and planning on being there a week. I have no idea exactly what role I'm playing, however, I think its a soldier.

Right now I'm scouring the net for info on what I should bring, what not to wear, and info. on travelers cheques.

I'm very excited and will keep this updated as much as I can although I'm not sure I can take a laptop with me to Jordan.