(Please note: minor SPOILERS ahead, related to Season 3, Chapter 3: “The Case of the Missing Lifeguard”)
Neon Orange & Hot Pink Banana Clips, Weird Science & Boy George Blush: Jazzercising in Stranger Things 3!
“What…the?!” says Dustin, as he and Steve bring down their binoculars, while hiding from behind a pillar in front of the Jazzercise gym. Finn Wolfhard (Mike) is to the side of Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) and Joe Keery (Steve), towering over the closest camera, and is not in costume but snickering uncontrollably while eating through a bag of Sour Patch Kids. Shawn Levy is shaking his leg; extending his sneakers out from his director’s chair, smiling, sweating, and fastidiously typing into his phone. “Bring me those posters. Let’s switch out this plant.” Props are switched, lights are readjusted, and places are called. A production assistant moves me closer to the camera as early 80’s pop music is cued, and Levy calls, “Action!”
Moodboards shared with the Starcourt Mall Patron Extras.
The 1980’s are my favorite decade for movies and music. In the fall of 1985, was the initial release of my favorite album of all-time, Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love. I didn’t exist until the summer of 1988 but for one day of work (during 2018), I am transported into 1985. Because of a text I receive from an extras casting agent (read while at a school-training in a very rural and odd place in Tennessee, called Hawkins County) I am told I was picture-picked by one of the Stranger Things directors, and am subsequently asked “Are you okay doing neck-rolls?” The next day, I am en route to experiencing the esoterically fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana; otherwise known as the setting for Stranger Things.
Just a few days prior to being fitted into my authentic-made-for-neck-rolling (though, it turns out I never did!) teenaged jazzercise attire, I had attended a kid relative’s 11th birthday party in North Carolina that was Stranger Things themed (myself the only weirdo attendee dressed in costume–I chose the more age appropriate to my actual real-life self, Joyce Byers/Winona Ryder. ) Of course I was wearing a battery-packed set of Christmas lights, and, at the end of the party was generously given the party photo backdrop, of a sheet emblazoned with a replica of the frantically hand-painted and capitalized alphabet letters created by the fictional Joyce for communicating with her lost son, in Season 1. I made a small drawing of the Mind-Flayer as a birthday present given at the party, and days later, was attending a costume fitting for Stranger Things: Season 3. OMG!!
Atlanta, Georgia: The Day of My Fitting
I am just about 5 miles outside of downtown Atlanta, where it is a hot and humid day in mid-July 2018, and after circling tree-lined premises of super nice condominiums that look kind of Disneyland-ish, I am finally met with a cul-de-sac and a close by waste-management facility. I after a few tries, I circle enough times to see a small turn-off I repeatedly missed on my right, entering an initially non-descript driveway, down to a bright, gated lot, where I stop my car beside a kiosk that is being monitored by cameras. The super chipper morning security guard checks my I.D. from a list, provides me with an electronic scanner to sign after quickly taking my picture and placing an arm band on my wrist, and wishes me a great day. I keep thinking I’m not supposed to be there, but between the enthusiasm of the guard and the yelling-into-the-ether (or, someone I couldn’t see) of a small man with a construction hat that is driving a go-cart beside me, I pull into the warmly overcast lot. I am at a studio called Screen Gems. After parking, I first walk past an open sound stage filming simulated underwater effects for what is presumably some kind of action movie, based on the sound and sharp imagery being displayed. I start exploring the open yet intimate-feeling film lot, looking for the location of my costume fitting.
The EUE/Screen Gems studios feel vaguely familiar to me, as it looks a bit similar to the Marvel lots I visited a year prior at the nearby Pinewood Studios, but just on a much smaller scale. This particular location seems to have just a handful of sound stages, though they are each very imposing in size. But naturally, I still get lost while looking for the wardrobe building (a super cute cabin behind the principal actor trailers, it turns out) and I first walk on to what I thought was just a woodshop because of the smell it similarly has to me dad’s carpentry workspace at his home. It’s not a woodshop. It’s the main interior sets of Stranger Things and I am nicely (but quickly) redirected out of an interior of “Hawkins National Laboratory” by some hard-hatted dudes placing some lights.
I am hired as an extra, knowing that my scene is part of a much larger crowd of hundreds of other extras, but somehow I was chosen or “picture-picked” to be one of only a dozen jazzercise characters — in particular, part of a friend-set of four girls. I remember applying to an open call to be a general “Mall Patron” weeks before, sending a super impromptu selfie from my basement art studio, not knowing what the large variety of different mall patrons would be like, or what kind of look would be created for me. I walk around the cloudy set in a daze, wearing my glittery gold non-prescription sunglasses, due to the brightly filtered sun I am being met with, but quickly switch to my real glasses when I realize I still do not know where my wardrobe fitting is, and a greasy-haired dude (also an extra) wearing jeans and a metal t-shirt, seems perturbed when I ask him if he knows where our fitting is –he’s lost, too, and quickly walks away from me with his backpack, in a nervous huff. I finally think to search for a map of the film lot on my phone, finding the grouping of actor trailers were all of the main cast receives costume & makeup, school, etc, and traipsed past Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), walking until I see a couple of young women in headsets organizing reams of clothes on a portable rack, outside of a super cute cottage-like cabin, where the wardrobe fittings occur and all costumes are initially brought in to be tailored, styled, photographed, and finalized.
There is a small white floor-fan blowing and my wristband is checked by a wardrobe assistant, as I enter the surprisingly cosy and personalized tiny-house, featuring an immediate fork in direction, to which I am led down the right, through a short hallway absolutely stuffed with dozens of racks of plastic-protected garments, each labeled, taped and pinned with descriptions of contents, sizes, and pictures of various cast members of the show. Winona Ryder, David Harbour, and anyone who has been a demogorgon (or, demodog) has had a fitting here, and I am taken to the very back, where a nice girl with pink hair and clear glasses starts to pull the two outfits that have already been labeled with a manilla-tag featuring my name on it. She realizes I have a visible tattoo on my forearm (a blackwork, stippled image of a movie camera, which has repeatedly been covered up with super-caked on make-up, when in the presence of real movie cameras.) She leaves to look for a possible third option that could include a long-sleeve coverup, though I do just end up with a combination of the two initial costumes they pulled for me, which are all short sleeved, layered leotards, one being a hot-pink suspender style that I had never before worn! (My leotard collection has in the past been very extensive, I thought.)
As she looks for a longer shirt, I see a handful of large bulletin-board sized collages featuring hundreds of pictures of 1980’s clothes, hairstyles, makeup looks mostly on what looks like fashion ads and everyday people (alongside a few known prominently 80’s icons, including Cyndi Lauper, and Nick Cave!) Next to the moodboard of goths, preps, pop stars, and all in-between, I see a small whiteboard with lots of handwritten notes written across — when I notice my name. It says “Liz Layton” alongside a list of other names, and beneath an underlined date that specifies next to it: FEATURED EXTRAS. I play it cool, which means my eyes grow bigger than I thought possible and I stay silent, not moving much except for darting around the room visually, trying to hide my excitement. Costumes, 1980’s, Nick Cave references, free breakfast coffee cakes AND I’M ON THE OFFICIAL STRANGER THINGS SET AS A FEATURED SOMETHING! How do I possibly contain this?! By not containing it and taking stealing some photos on my phone camera, while in my dressing room, of course:
Duluth, Georgia: Arriving On Set
The next morning, I am in Duluth, Georgia. An uber-driver seems confused to be dropping me off near a currently closed fast food restaurant at 5 am, in walking distance to the mostly abandoned Gwinnett Place Mall, with only an active Sears in place. The surrounding town is not only dark, but eerily quiet. I start walking towards the gargantuan mall building, trying to guess the direction to the correct entrance I need. I cannot see any visible lights from the mall. I start to have a feeling I’m at the wrong place. I frantically text my casting agent, and look again at the email in my phone for the call sheet details of the set-location. I walk around the perimeter of this building for at least ten minutes, picking up my walking and feeling pretty worried that I will be late.
I finally start to see a myriad of large trailers, and bright lights glowing beneath large white tents! I get closer and ask someone with a headset where the extras check-in, and he responds with a huge smile and a way more awake-than-I-am personality, exclaiming, “Is that your real voice!?” before showing me into the tent that has the check-in line for extras to sign in and obtain a tax document. The line quickly grows behind me. I share my I.D. and my name, and answering what my call time and character listing is — so many of the extras are part of the extensive hundreds of people labeled (for now) simply as “Mall Patron”. I feel a little conspicuous for saying “Jazzerciser!”
There is a large room created inside the tent, filled with rows of tables and chairs, where extras are setting down their handbags and totes, many carrying extra shoes and makeup bags, and sitting down to eat bagels and scrambled eggs from the breakfast buffet. I continue to walk through, to a clear-vinyl entrance connecting this room to another large tent. I see scours of garment racks and a giant background of black-sheathed dressing rooms, made simply of rods and tall, heavy curtains. I am immediately approached by the super nice stylist who fitted me the day prior. She finds my clear garment bag — I notice the cool costume combination they created from everything I tried on, with a hot pink, gray, and bright blue look featuring a teensy tiny floral pattern of some kind of white flower, on my cerulean spandex leggings. As I quickly start to switch into my costume that will be worn for the next 16 hours, there are 3 other girls sharing the same large, carpeted dressing room, one of them suddenly exclaiming “Oh my god! She gets to be one of the jazzercisers! Girl, you are SO lucky!”
The girls around the dressing room are wearing a super fun variety of costumes, from black and gold puffed-up-sleeved dresses, to primary colored pinstripe uniforms and hats for working at “Hot Dog On A Stick” and giant aviator sunglasses with windbreakers decorated in a palette of secondary colors. I think everyone is looking ICONIC!! 1980’s music is playing in the make-up and hair room, and I remember how much this part of the day might my very favorite aspect of being on sets. I think about the neon rainbow airbrushed across my forehead for Thor:Ragnarok, and can’t wait to see the treatment of new-wave-y colors I hopefully receive for today’s scenes.
Almost all of the makeup artists and hairstylists I’ve met on Atlanta film shoots are women of color, and have worked for a large variety of television and film productions. My makeup artist is super cool and has worked on all 3 seasons of Stranger Things. She first looks at her notes, and asks where my tattoo is, and then begins to paint a coverup makeup onto it. It turns out she is usually doing makeup for the principal actors, primarily working with Joe Keery/Steve Harrington, and I see her throughout the day on set when she is doing touch-ups and continuity checks. She creates a super fun and 80’s draping of bright blush from my cheeks to around my eyes, while I ask her questions about some of the more featured looks she’s done for shows. She completes my makeup with a matching pink lipstick, and then a bright cerulean blue eyeshadow reminiscent of my leggings, before sending me to the hair area.
My hair is styled even more quickly, and is teased for the FIRST TIME EVER IN MY LIFE! After tons of back combing and looking at myself every so often in one of the rows of bulb-lined vanity mirrors set across the long dressers of this room, I feel my hair being pulled up gently yet tightly, before being secured with two neon-colored banana clips. I only later realized what they were called. My hair that is peeking out from the clips is curled at the ends, as well as my bangs, which are then parted in the middle (the only aspect I was a bit not into!) It was fun to hear my hair stylist talk with the fellow artists about their own hairstyles in the 1980’s, while the music was blasting. I remember lots of Michael Jackson being played that morning.
My look is complete and I am sent outside, walking through the makeup/hair/wardrobe tent, past the breakfast buffet I still haven’t had a chance to grab from, to go outside where it is now daylight and probably close to 8 am. A large group of us in full costume, are lined up in a long and vibrant half-circle, as a production assistant walks down the line, inspecting each individual and looking rather serious. She sends a few of us back in, including me, as she tells one of her assistants in an air of disgust “WHY is her makeup SO bright? She looks like she’s going to a party.” About thirty minutes later and after some makeup was wiped away and re-done in more muted versions of their initial colors, I am led with a small group to one of the side mall entrances.
S T A R C O U R T
“Oh, sure. It’s over there, just past Hawkins’ Heroes, said a young guy with a mustache and small afro, wearing mustard-yellow & orange short-shorts with a ringer tee, pointing towards a fast food kiosk. His peppiness reminds me of a young Levar Burton during his role in 1985’s The Midnight Hour (also the same time frame as when Season 3 Reading Rainbow was being produced.) I crumple up the wrapper of my “Mystery Flavor Airhead” (those are ALWAYS blue raspberry) taken from the craft services table, to throw into a receptacle close to the Burger King of the food court, while smiling at how oddly fitting everything looks and feels, within the midst of so many young people in head-to-toe authentic 1985 ( and earlier) attire, while I press down on my teased & aquanetted to hardened-crispy-perfection hair, and tugging on my bulky white leg warmers.
Walking down a handful of tile steps, I turn left toward the girl’s bathroom, while digging at one of my neon banana clips that were jabbing lop-sided into my sprawled out and highly-seated ponytail. I step into the pink milkshake-colored and still functional bathroom, intact with “vintage” tampon and maxi pad quarter-machines, probably just frozen in time from the actual 1980’s. The time-capsule sensibility of the dispenser may have been coincidental, but the entirety of the merchandise offered throughout the food court of this mall set, are purposeful. From the to-go cups of the fast-food chain Orange Julius, to the hairbands found at Claire’s, to even the selection of Stephen King novels available at the mall’s bookstore, Walden’s, everything looks new, but, spooky. It’s new in that everything is real and not at all worn or smelly, nor even “gently used” like an object from the 80’s would be at a typical thrift store, today. But, it’s entirely not new in the contemporary sense, either. The colors of these storefronts are more charming from what I would normally see at my local mall in Johnson City, Tennessee; the graphics are simplistic in a prettier way; more stylized. The giant numeral-based mall clock features a minimal but genre-defining blue minute-hand and neon yellow hour-hand, to the effect of a literal other time.
I walk past a poster advertising a “new “release of book from 1985; The Cider House Rules . A Sam Goody music store is in close proximity, and they have posters showing obscure promotional images I’ve never seen before of some of my favorite pop musicians, including Cyndi Lauper and Oingo Boingo. Plastic red and blue balloonss flank an odd looking vintage car on display in the foodcourt, with a close by sign that says “GRAND OPENING” and a group of us walk towards an escalator. I am taken to an area close to the food court, but down a small hallway featuring a small but vibrant merry-go-round, towards a table in front of signage that says “Wyatt’s Cafeteria.” I think about my late friend, Wyatt, and how much he loved David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. The table has rows of accessories; mostly different types of sunglasses and hair bands, next to loads of shopping bags emblazoned with the names of the mall’s storefronts. Some are made from brown paper, stamped and containing plastic-wrapped records, and others are more flimsy typical plastic bags, holding shoe boxes or just wads of tissue paper. I am given a white-zippered, large, floral duffel bag — inside, it has a real towel. I’ll need it for jazzercise class later. I briefly go back to the extras holding, getting acquainted with 3 other jazzercisers and watching a girl in giant aviator sunglasses absolutely FLIP OUT at the excitement she has for being a background actor here, today. One of the P.A.’s notices her enthusism and brings her onto set with the first group, that i am also a part of. She is SO happy and it makes me feel so happy too!
Giant industrial fans are blowing through the blocked-from-the-public entrances, yet there are hundreds of people inside. Cameras and mics are being operated throughout this two-tiered building, and dozens of production assistants dressed in black and wearing headsets, are directing individual cues to EVERY SINGLE BACKGROUND ACTOR (and there are hundreds, remember!) and motioning the camera-rolling. Ice-cream is being scooped at Scoop’s Ahoy, by Uma Thurman’s and Ethan Hawke’s actress daughter, Maya, downstairs, and Priah Ferguson is walking with her mom and assistants, to her cue adjacent from the escalator, peppered with pastel-colored clothing worn by braces-worn teenagers and an old couple holding a JC Penney bag. A young guy with still-70’s hair and blonde mustache is repeatedly high-fiving his convincingly “real” best friend, over and over again, in the esoteric vein of transporting me to another cult-like (but lesser known) television show. We are experiencing (take by repeated take) the first indoor shopping mall of Hawkins, Indiana, in the summer of 1985.
My First Scene
I was a creep the night before, looking up the names of the three other girls I was placed with on the call sheet for today, out of curiosity. There are just over a dozen jazzerciser extras in total, this small group of four of us had a separate and much earlier call time, and we end up being part of the very first shots of the day, happening simultaneously with scenes being filmed below us with the principal actors. One of the 3 jazzercisers I am filming primarily with (at first) had a slew of shared Facebook friends with me, all related to the art school I attended. After hearing her make a large amount of snide remarks and unconvincingly boast about how close she is with the kid actors of Stranger Things, except “Millie (Eleven) is a total bitch,” she says, I instantly feel disturbed and distrustful of her. Later, while in extras holding, I text one of my art school mutual friends of hers and just say, “hey, do you know (insert a generic first name and cool last name here)?” Immediately, my friend texts back “OH God, yeah, I remember her. She was a jerk.” And I immediately feel vindicated. This especially becomes handy later, when this lady (upon realizing I am a mother) tells me how much she pities me. Luckily, I happen to be placed with another jazzerciser to walk the mall with, later in the day, and I avoid further contact with the new age-obsessed meanie!
For now, I am standing at my mark in front of a glittering fuchsia-tinsel-covered New Wave photoshoot parlour next to Claire’s, and I repeatedly skip towards these three friends I am assigned, pulling my floral duffel bag against my right-shoulder, and walking my white Nike’s and neon leg-warmers toward the upper-level Jazzercise class. One of the other main jazzercisers is the only one of the larger group (and really, of the whole lot of mall patrons, come to think of it) that is not wearing secondary colors of pinks and purples or greens and oranges. Instead, her costume is black and red, and her jazzerciser shorts have a prominent ladybug-like polka dot pattern. She is South American and looks eerily like the actress that played Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years. She has had a substantial amount of acting classes, and while the other two jazzercisers are tearing down the other women they see throughout the mall I just put all of my focus onto the professional and nice Winnie-look-alike, when the film rolls. We repeatedly make simple small talk about how excited we are for exercise class, are we inch closer to the studio, practically skipping.
At the Food Court with David Harbour & Tracking the “The Evil Russian”
Amongst the many exchanges I see between production assistants and wardrobe stylists asking each other how they have been, and where they went on their break, I finally gather that this is the first major production day they are having after a brief hiatus from shooting. The bewildering and ecstatic expressions I see on fellow extras, being introduced to the interior of Starcourt for the first time is similarly matched with that of the principal actors on set. Many of them are seeing Starcourt for the first time, too! One of the actors, extremely tall and hidden under his real-life clothing of a neutral dark ensemble, beard, and a dark baseball cap, is taking pictures of the displays at the storefront of Walden Books, and though trying to conceal his face, is uncontrollably showing a giant smile while he nods subtly at the colorful and sparkly surroundings. My set-friend I quickly make, is a sort of twinsie (a school teacher, like me, also playing a jazzerciser, too, like me…!) nudges me and says “Look up! It’s Hopper!” and I see David Harbour, walking his way throughout the second floor of the mall, down through the food court, to languidly walking amongst us, while a set of three extras who are super young kids (I am guessing ages 8-11) are giggling and loud-whispering the character name “Hopper!” over and over. He realizes his baseball cap isn’t doing anything, and bemusedly smiles through the crowd as he leaves the set.
Steve & Dustin: The Scoops Troop Spies!
A hairstylist is re-Aquanetting my hair, after shifting giant hair clips. A clothing stylist is bent down at my feet, trying to find a way to keep my leg warmers from slipping asymmetrically, and my cool makeup artist from the morning is begrudgingly muttering to herself about the “other” makeup artist who keeps changing my lip color to a more neutral pink, while changing my lip paint to her original intention for the day – a shocking neon. I am being primped while standing next to the food court table where Joe Keery (“Steve”) and Gaten Matarazzo (“Dustin”) are seated, in proximity to the Orange Julius. They had already been shooting for hours, and taking a break from reciting their dialogue for a two-person scene within the lengthy shot list being completed for their own 16+ hour film day. I have had makeup touch-ups before, but never experienced anyone readjusting a costume of mine, let alone three people, at the same time! For someone who did not end up in the final cut of the scenes, I felt sooo excited, and, special! While warm lights are being shined in our direction, I see Keery and Matarazzo relaxing and watching, making jokes with each other. Looking out onto the massive food court floor, I am people-watching the many extras that are mostly seated by plants or tables, some leaning against posts, waiting for our next cues.
The next few hours, I am sent pacing the food court in circles and later instructed to ride an escalator up through the second level, to walk past a Sega store, the Cinema, and an Arcade, repeatedly walking throughout the mall, for a variety of scene cues. The character of Steve Harrington, wearing his Scoops Ahoy ice cream parlor uniform, is looking through binoculars as the younger character, Dustin, sits next to him, breaking jokes, many of which seem unscripted/improvised, or causing the actors at one point to break out in short-lived, slap-happy, and uncontrollable giggles. At this point, the director is verbally exhausted and kind of uncomfortably says some rather negative things — though the principal actors seem unphased and keep going. Their scene at this food court table has taken hours, and it’s when I’m instructed to repeatedly walk past Steve & Dustin, casually mentioning “Hey, guys” in response to Steve staring at me, that I notice the character is wearing his cartoonish sailor boy uniform. The director has his character looking at me, before nodding up while nervously saying “hey,” before, holding his binoculars back up as I walk away. They recalibrate the scene and have the Steve character repeat the same actions, but in multiple angles and then looking at other girls, some near and others far. Each time, the Dustin character realizes what he’s doing, swatting Steve’s shoulder, and then taking over the binoculars. They are supposed to be spying on “The Evil Russian.”
Walking in a pair, I learn that my set friend teacher, who is a super tall lady, is a high school history teacher and I think also a coach for volleyball or something, somewhere in Georgia. She’s super nice, and as we are both school teachers and avid fans of a variety of the same shows, it was fun and easy to walk the perimeter of the food court, while casually making real small talk as the cameras rolled. The extras working behind the food court counters, and mall patrons eating and drinking food (some of it was real) while hearing real cash registers chiming, began feeling so real and normal. That is, until the part we would walk past where the camera monitors were filming Steve & Dustin — as spectacular as the mall already looked, there was no question that the techniques they are utilizing for filming, made everything translate as exceptionally sleek and cinematic on the monitors. I was really blown away by the color and even just the composition of the lighting they created just in the present production of the filming — I was seeing scenes of Episode 3 unfold in front of me!
We are directed to pace an area between Sears and JCPenney, walking back and forth past stores like The Gap and a super frilly lingerie shop, when Keery and Matarazzo are finally given a break, sitting in director-type chairs and watching the scenes unfold, when Matarazzo/Dustin mentions to me while I stand next to their chairs before my cues are given, “Woah, your costume is COOL!” It is obvious that he & Joe Keery are close friends in real-life, and earlier, when David Harbour was exploring the set, he & Keery give each other a huge hug on a frozen escalator, asking each other how their recent break had been. It’s undeniably the closest knit set of actors I have been around, which was impressive knowing what a fairly large cast and an especially impressive crew they have. At this point, I see P.A.’s with headsets, each black exclusively, planted throughout the set. Some are strategically concealed around things like store front displays, large pillars, and plants. They are blocking a suspenseful scene and every single background actor has very specific cue. The orchestration is seamless.
As my friend and I pace, “the Evil Russian”, a white dude with shouler length blonde hair, is the only person in the entire mall (character wise!) wearing head-to-toe black, in addition to dark shades, and is bolting through the crowd. He is carrying a large and mysterious duffel bag. One of my favorite extra costumes I see, is part of this same crowd. It is a young guy dressed TO THE NINES as a Boy George fan and his outfit from the wide-brimmed bolero hat to teeny braids and big boots, is easily the most glam and unique look I see within the impressive variety of jocks and goths and 80’s high schoolers (and some varieties of kids and grandparents here and there, too.) His makeup is stark and geometric.
When the Evil Russian character weaves amongst us and up an escalator quite a few times, it is now our moment to switch upstairs. I am given a small break, and watch in suspense from outside of the jazzerciser studio, as music is now cued. A musical score created by the synth duo that composes all of the original music for Stranger Things, Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon, is playing sinisterly and the entire mall is silent. We watch Steve and Dustin, binoculars in hand, taking gigantic leaps up the escalator as they continue to spy on The Evil Russian. The E.R. is high-tailing it around the top tier of the mall, past Walden’s Books. None of us extras know what is scripted to happen next, and the music cue makes it sound like something startling is impending. Dustin hides in a plant while Steve runs into a glass wall, and they each fumble their way closer to the direction of the Evil Russian’s destination.
While this scene is being filmed repeatedly, I suddenly HAVE to peel off my spandex and pee. Like, right now. I start to walk down to the escalator, where two snotty dudes presumably in 80’s teen-character, are wearing hats in the shapes of pizza and block me with their arms, saying “uh, what’s the past word?” For some reason I said “GATEN MATARAZZO!” and it worked because they super confused and immediately let me through. An assistant sees me moving and bolts to hide me. I am probably ruining the continuity of a scene and am hidden behind a pillar. When the coast is clear, he tells me I can run for the bathroom. By the time I make it upstairs to the Jazzercise room again, it is close to time for filming the exercise scene.
The jazzercisers are wearing trench coats and many of them are complaining about freezing. I am the only one that doesn’t desire to wear one — probably from my recent jaunt amongst the mall, but also, because I never ever get cold easily. The same meanie jazzerciser from earlier makes fun of me for being the only one not to request a trench coat. I don’t make any reply though, because an assistant sees me and says “She looks ready. Come follow me,” and takes me to where the director is filming. Hehehehehe.
The Jazzercise Class
Though I end up not being utilized for anything, after being singled out from the jazzerciser whole-group, I do get to watch a short scene filming two extras that are leaning on a rail, looking like they are on a first date. After this, I continue to stay where the cameras are rolling, and that’s when I get to see the exchange between Steve & Dustin when they finally realize where The Evil Russian is going. He’s about to conduct Jazzercise class.
The look of shock Dustin’s face and the confusion on Steve’s is incredibly unexpected, as the music quickly shifts from being ambient and suspenseful, to mega-poppy early Madonna and Wham! tunes. Each of the jazzercisers are in places throughout the mirrored and boldly colored studio. Earlier in the day, I got to explore the studio and see the many floor-length mirrors and exercise balls, among other matching purple, yellow, and fuchsia accessories. There is a platform for the instructor to teach from, and we each have a spot to stretch and exercise from, on matching cushioned mats.
After a few more costume and make-up touches and someone readjusting my leg-warmers that keep falling on one side, lights are moved and The Evil Russian-turned-instructor recites his dialogue. Two additional jazzercisers are brought in, that none of us had worked with or seen earlier that day. They are both in their mid-40’s, and are wearing thong-unitards. They are the only additional actors in the scene that have dialogue, besides themuscle-man instructor. He plays the jazzerciser-teacher role as a super glossy beef-cake dude of a cheesewad, confidently spouting “Hellooooo ladies!” He unzips his black windbreaker to reveal his own spandex beneath.
We’re instructed to “Wooooo!” in response to him, as he opens his black duffel bag, to reveal a boombox he sets down next to him. He improvises a little, as he instructs us to “move our buns! Left, right, left, left, right, right!” and director Shawn Levy starts to laugh at the ridiculous shock-jock-DJ-type voice this actor is exuding ( looked up this actor’s IMDB credits, and found an unintentionally funny scene he’s done in the past, in a brief appearance on The Vampire Diaries.) Something that impresses me in this scene, is realizing how diverse the women are in this room. The jazzercisers span a variety of ages, and though the majority of the mall patrons were white, in this room there are women of all different backgrounds. One of the ladies in-between takes (the whitest of us, surprisingly is not me) talks about her experience being a stand-in for Christina Aguilera, in a music video.
After doing some improvised stretches and then being asked to say “Woooooooo!” repeatedly into a microphone again (after the actual filming concluded) the scene is wrapped and it is time to change out of costume and check out. This was the last shot of the day not just for us, but for the whole crew and principal actors at Starcourt Mall, that day. I was surprised that I was only instructed to change out of my costume, but was still allowed to retain my hair and make-up, after the shoot. At Marvel Studios, we had extensive unraveling of my hairstyle (though I did have a sculpture sewn into my hair) as well as the requirement to have my make-up completely wiped and washedaway .
With my poofy hair somewhat in tact and 80’s music video makeup aesthetic still on, I sign my timesheet, and walk out of the mall to catch an uber to my hotel. I still have those banana clips.
Back to the Future
Being decorated and costumed for 1985, to walk onto a giant realistic mall filled with authentic props, posters, and like-new vintage clothing & accessories, was such an ultimate, new-wave dream for me. I kept thinking about my mom — her favorite records, artists, and movies plastered on posters around storefronts, from her most care-free decade of life. In 1985, she was just 25 years old, and 3 years away from becoming a mother and giving birth to me. She was spending her evenings seeing concerts at the L.A. Forum, dancing at clubs with her friends to Blondie, and viewing Back to the Future in the theater for the first time. She was often holding costume parties themed to her favorite shows, like M*A*S*H and Saturday Night Live, and watching her then-fiance Bruce play Pac-Man in the mall arcade. With her love for mystery, suspense, Winona Ryder, and the supernatural, she would have undeniably loved Stranger Things. For my one day on this set, I was so, so close to seeing her again.
SpellSwords 