Isaiah:
I am such a nerd I would have been happy just hanging out and watching the crew and cameras and seeing how they make the show. I am such a glutton I would have been happy just with the free catering.
I started off my early morning putting in a petition to get the van into a parking lot scene. Then there was wardrobe. While Amanda looked fitting for the screen during her extra gig, me not as much. I will blame the casting guy, who told me to look like I did in the picture I sent him (wearing a beanie, parka, and a look of disdain for having found New Mexico frozen). We've been waiting so long for the call back NM was now hot and the wardrobe department was disgusted with the clothes I had brought. "It's wrinkled," the wardrobe lady more spit at than spoke to me. "They told me it was casual," was my weak reply. We had been unable to find a laundry mat. I guess they didn't want me upstaging, or I guess more accurately, down staging the shows lead (see Cranston below). Of course the one time in my life I might be on TV also happens to be the one time in my life I'm homeless. But of course if I look frumpy, its only because hair and makeup conspired against me.
Next, my intended foresight turned disastrous. After hearing how Amanda nearly peed herself and got scolded for having to go (see free catering above. See also limited bathrooms below) I decided to be a good extra and ensure I was drained before leaving for set. Though when I returned from the bathroom everybody was gone. I was despondent and angry with myself, especially because by the time I was finally shuttled over to the restaurant, some extras were already sitting at tables with food and I was, with a group of others, swept into a waiting room, where you couldn't even see anything. This lasted only a couple of minutes though. The PA came in and said "they" wanted me. "They" then sat me alone at a table and gave me a computer and headphones.
Now remember I was sworn to secrecy. I had to sign a waiver and everything. The show's paranoid about details getting out, this being the last episode, and them having reason to be paranoid. Somebody broke into Bryan Cranston's car and stole his script. The other reason I don't want to say too much is I'm kind of upset by what I saw. The scene itself wasn't too monumental, I didn't, for example, see Walter White die in a barrage of bullets, but I think I pieced together some things that might happen after the scene I was in--that or the director is obsessive compulsive.
From across the room I'm trying to figure out what's going on, I see the crew, I recognize the director, I see a rough looking kid in the corner and marvel how good a job they did finding a stand in that looks like Bryan Cranston. The guy sits down a couple of seats down from me. Holy Moses, it is Bryan Cranston. All I can say about what he looked like--he's going to win another Emmy without even having to open his mouth. This is so cool, I am three tables down from Walter White. "Action." Crap. Focus. Look at the computer. Look like your doing something. I hear a scraping sound. Keep typing. Shoot, I shouldn't be making any noise. Type silently. "Cut." Whew. It was then I look up and see Bryan Cranston right in front of me. I was also startled to see another actor, one who was a favorite character in another show and one I was completely unaware was now on Breaking Bad, one who hadn't even been in the room when "action" was called (I haven't seen the first part of the final season. For one we are in a van. For two I want to watch the whole season all together. I don't even want to watch this episode until I see all the other ones first). He, unlike Cranston, looks exactly like he does on TV.
Ok, take 2. This time I am ready. An attractive woman walks in front of me. Naturally I look up from my computer. The creator of the show, who is also directing, comes up to me and says casually, "Hi. I'm Vince" and says that he likes that I looked up at the woman.
I found out, however, I wasn't to look up even if a sketchy guy starts making a racket or a nerdy guy is inexplicably hanging around a woman far physically superior than ought to be in his vicinity. What do I know. I'm just an average type guy from Albuquerque, who is annoyed there are weird people interrupting me from my very important computer work.
Not that I think much if any of that will get on camera, but you kind of have to make up things to do to entertain yourself, because you hear and do the same thing over and over all day and you can't openly gawk at the actors. Actors are so close I can hear dialogue. The talk was not appropriate for public, but I suppose my headphones are turned up real loud. I was tempted to rock out in the background to this nonexistent computer music, instead I thought the character(s) were nervous and me looking suspicious would be best.
Even though it was the same over and over it remained exciting. Then I realized I was the only extra left on set. It was hard to gauge time, but they shot like that for an hour or so. Then they brought the camera to film from my table and kicked me out. I managed to hide in the back of the kitchen for a while and continue watching before they turned the camera around and sent everyone but the restaurant staff out. I don't know to what degree the parking lot was filmed, but our van might make it on the show too. I stayed as long as I could inside, even though that meant ignoring a food truck outside. Another bonus of hanging out in the back was the narrow hallway leading to the sole pair of bathrooms, so at one point or another all of the actors brushed past me.
Bryan was funny, even though he stayed physically more or less in character. He told a bunch of jokes, but two specific ones I remember: He was on the periphery of the scene and didn't realize he was on camera and when he was told he had to put away his reading material, he yelled, "What Walter White can't have an Ipad!" Later when I was sent outside and was trying to avoid being sent to extra purgatory and instead make use of the snack truck, Cranston comes wandering out of the restaurant, perhaps still on camera, and mumbles how Walter White would definitely go to the food truck in this situation and how, as he reached for a bag of chips, deep in character he was.
We broke for lunch and the food was excellent. But after lunch I was stuck in the back with most everyone else and have no idea what else happened. I felt bad most of the people there were only extras for a few minutes. It was a short day, compared to the 12-14 hours they often do, so I had some time to kill as Amanda wouldn't be meeting up with me for a couple of hours. I debated whether to get a ride back up to base camp or get the van and which option might give me a better chance at seeing something cool. I went to the van and ran into the writer/creator/director Vince Gilligan, who was very nice and remembered my name from earlier in the day. I scrambled to get a camera and paper out of the van as Bryan was leaving the set. He too was very nice. He looked really tired, and having seen just part of his day, I know why, but still he posed for pictures and signed autographs and was charming. There were a dozen people, some from Venezuela, who had been camped out all day, though they couldn't have seen much. I felt bad and uncool but I too badgered him into a picture and signature. It was worth it. Amanda was super excited when I surprised her with proof of my unbelievable day. When I got back to base camp to finish up I saw Jesse Pinkman. A pretty awesome day.
Amanda:
As my day did not include meeting famous celebrities it's clearly not as exciting as Isaiah's but there were a few things worth mentioning. For lunch I had an amazing Doner Kebab at a Turkish place downtown. It was stuffed with fries and salad and was one of the best I've ever had. In the afternoon I watched Oz the Great and Powerful (terrible) and then snuck into The Croods (surprisingly good). After a communication error I found Isaiah circling the block searching for me. It was sweet that he thought I might have been kidnapped and though I did get some lewd comments and people following me, they seemed harmless enough.
After hearing just a portion of Isaiah's day, my shrieking may have alarmed some passerbys who were surely confused as to why I was screaming "VINCE GILLIGAN said hi to you! BRYAN CRANSTON was HOW close?" Being a covert romantic, Isaiah waited until the next day to show me the autograph and weeks later to show the pictures he took with Cranston. Guess he thought it would buy him some long term good will. It did.
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