This is just a blatant plug...but please go see "Prairie Home Companion" on June 9th (US, not sure when it opens in the UK.) It is directed by Robert Altman and was shot entirely in the state of Minnesota (St Paul to be exact.) I was lucky enough to work on the movie and was hoping that if it does well at the box office, more movies would be shot in Minnesota. I have already seen it and it is a good movie too.....

That was one of a few movies on my "to see" list -- I listen to PHC on the radio every now and then. What sort of work did you do for it?

That's cool, I've already mentioned my fondness for Garrison's show in a previous thread so of course I'm looking forward to seeing it. Although I doubt it will get a general release over here.

So what did you do on it?

I worked with extras casting for the movie, but then ended up being a stand-in for a couple of days for Kevin Kline and John C. Reilly. I also was a stagehand and an usher as well....I could see myself three times, but it was very briefly. It was cool...you got to see two directors for the price of one since Paul Thomas Anderson was the 'pinch hitter' director (since Altman is so old, for insurance purposes they had to have a back up director.)

That's pretty exciting. I remember when parts of 'Ironweed' (also featuring Meryl Streep as it turns out) were filmed in my town when I was 16. I remember watching filming. Some of it was shot at a friend's house, and I knew a few extras (in the riot scene).

The NY Times seemed to like 'Companion' a good deal.

-Zeke

yeah....on one of the days when I was a stand-in for Kevin Kline, I was sitting at Guy Noir's desk and they were setting up the lighting. PT Anderson was sitting right across from discussin the camera angles and he told me to 'move to the right' or something like that and i thought 'cool...i got to be directed by Altman and Paul Thomas Anderson'. That was the only thing PT said to me, but it was cool nonetheless.... On the set, Kevin Kline didn't say much, he pretty much stayed in character most of the time. On a day I was a stagehand, we were sitting in that same room (Guy Noir's office) and me & the other stagehand noticed Kevin drawing something..... we managed to sneek a look at what he was drawing, and it turned out to be a portait of Abraham Lincoln with a big top hat.... it was very strange.... there are a couple of pics from the premiere on my Flickr site www.flickr.com/photos/ToddJ