Quand les fans rencontrent les acteurs [en anglais]

My Rookie blue set visit par Calypso

I apologize in advance because this is freakishly long, but for those who want to read it, here it is!

Two days ago I found out the location that Rookie Blue would be filming at, and yesterday was my last day in Toronto before I move away for university, so I just knew I had to go for it and go see Rookie Blue! I begged my mom to let me take the train and subway by myself into Toronto and finally she caved, so I headed into Toronto! I brought a RB cast photo with me and a marker, hoping that maybe I could get some autographs.

When I got to the location at about 12:30pm, I saw cop cars, and big white screens, and then Travis. He was the first person I saw, and my stomach did a somersault. He looks different in person…good different...I don’t even know how to explain it, but he’s tall and lean and…perfect. lol He’s very handsome. Then I saw Matt sort of off behind the tent near the trees, and then I saw Missy, and the first thing that I thought was “OMG THERE’S MISSY!” and then I thought “wow her hair is so much darker in real life!” It’s almost black. They were in the middle of rehearsing/filming a scene where Travis had to get out of a cop car and run over to Greg at the corner store. I was just standing on the sidewalk opposite from the corner store and I took a few pictures (hoping to just make it seem like I was a passerby, and not a crazed fan on a mission to be there. lol) They did a few takes of that scene. At one point, Travis walked by me to go to his cop car, and he looked at me, and I had the urge to wave at him, but then I realized that he had no idea who I am, so I just smiled. When he got to the cop car he turned back to look at me again, and my only thought was “asdfsalflskjafkjlasf!!!”

At 1pm that scene was wrapped, and it was lunch break. They had one hour for lunch and I watched as the cast left the set and went down the street towards the trailers. Ben and Missy playfully linked arms as they left set (no picture of that, sorry!). Then the real cops were left there to watch over the equipment and direct traffic, so I decided to walk around and see what was down the nearby streets. I walked up one street and saw a Rookie Blue sign pointing in the direction of crew lunch, then I went down another street to buy a snack and then I headed toward their trailers..I thought maybe, just maybe one of the actors would be eating lunch outside of the trailer or something. Up ahead, I see a lady walking a big fluffy white dog coming down in my direction. Then I realized that that was Missy’s dog and that was Missy walking the dog!! My legs turned to jelly (yes, I get very very star struck!! lol) and I considered turning around, or crossing the street, or something, because I didn’t think I could handle myself properly when I would eventually have to pass by Missy I sucked it up and when we got closer, I said “hi Missy, I’m a really really big fan and I wondered if you could please sign my photo?” and she was all cool and casual and said “oh my gosh, of course!” I started telling her how this was my last day before leaving for university and RB is my favourite show and I came all the way on the train to see them filming, and she said she was really flattered that someone would do that! She signed my picture, then we took a photo together and then she asked my name, shook my hand and we just started talking. She’s very very sweet and down to earth. She asked about my university and then I told her that the guitar videos she posted were funny. She said that was the first time she heard Ben play so she had to post it. Ben was helping Missy find a guitar for her boyfriend. So cute!!!! Then she said after lunch I should get the other actors to sign my photo and I was like “Ya I’d like to, but I don’t want to interfere and stuff” and she said “it’s ok, I’ll find you and take you to them” My brain exploded just thinking about that and I thanked her a lot and I said I’ll be waiting at the corner store! She laughed and then took Charlie for the rest of her walk.

Back at the corner store, I sat on the curb eating my snack and then about 10 mins later Ben Bass sits down on the curb like, 2 spaces over from me!! OMGOMGOMG! I was thinking “shouldn’t you be in a secure location over by the tents or something??” haha but nope, he was just casually sitting on the sidewalk in the open where anybody could walk right by him! He had a gym bag with him and a cup of something..it was frothy and white. I thought it was a latte maybe (but later, I heard someone say “Can you hold Ben’s cup of milk” which I’m not sure was a joke, or if he actually drinks warm frothy milk, but either way, it’s cute. He’s cute!) Anyways, I was sitting there, Ben was sitting there and then the 2 real cops come over and start talking to him. I cant even remember the conversation because fireworks were exploding inside my brain by that point. When there was a lull in the conversation, I asked Ben if he would mind taking a picture with me. He was pleased to do it. But his pants were loosened/undone so he joked that he should probably do them up before the photo! Haha I don’t know why they were undone..maybe he ate a big lunch? I told him similar things that I told Missy and he congratulated me on going to university. He even seemed genuinely interested about it so we talked a bit about that and about what the general plan was for filming that day. I gave him my photo to sign and he said there wasn’t enough room to write my whole name, so he said he’ll just call me K, and he wrote, “Hi K! Thanks for watching! Ben Bass.”

By then Travis and Greg were back at set and Ben asked if I had met them, I said no, so he said, “wait here, I’ll get them to come over to you.” He took his milk and went to get them. Then he came back and said they had to get make up touch ups and mics hooked up, so it’d be better if I went to them! He took me to the back near the tents where Travis and Greg were! Ben said “you can talk to them” and I said “but I don’t know what to say!” (lol another star struck moment!) he laughed and then introduced me to them. Greg was quiet..kept to himself, but still polite and signed my picture, and Travis was like my best friend.. we talked as if we had known each other for years! He said he has very “guy” hand writing before signing his name, which looks like a flattened squiggle. lol. Then I took pics with both of them. Missy had come over to make sure I was being introduced and stuff and then the sound guy and make up girl came over to fix up the actors. I just stood there and watched, and kept talking to Travis. The make up girl said that she just shaved Travis like 3 hours ago and he’s already growing stubble! Haha He said it’s crazy but he needs to shave again already. Ok, and looking into Travis’s face/eyes…he’s so genuine, sincere. Everything about him is completely humble and genuine and friendly. Then Ben started undoing his pants so the sound guy could put the mic wire down his leg and attach the mic pack to his ankle. I was accidentally (yes, accidentally!) just looking down towards his waist as he did this. Then I see him look up at me and smile, and I think “Shoot! Why am I looking down!? Look up at Ben’s face and smile” haha! He either thought I was crazy, or he appreciated my devotion to the show..I’m hoping it’s the latter =)

After they were all ready to go, they asked if I was going to stick around for a bit and I said of course, so they went to get into place to rehearse the next scene. I stood by the director’s tent (they let me sit in the director’s chair for a picture) and I watched as they went thru the scene. They really make sure no detail is left behind..its amazing how far they’ll go to make sure the final take is perfect! But that’s why this show is so awesome! A crew guy gave me his copy of the sides which shows the section of script being covered that day, and other notes and info about locations and stuff. He said I could keep it! Later on in the day while I was trying to figure out the first few pages of it before getting to the script, unfortunately someone said I shouldn’t have this because it’s got secret info in there, so it was taken away :sad: I honestly didn’t even consider to post the script..it truly didn’t even cross my mind, but I understand why they took it away. They also told me not to tweet to Perez Hilton. Hahaha so random, I never would. But since they took away the sides from me, I feel bad about telling anything spoilery from yesterday (cuz maybe they have ways of finding out) so I’ll just say that this episode involves licorice;)

Then there was a long period of standing around to watch them work. It took quite awhile just for one scene because they had to move the equipment around to film from all the angles, but it was fascinating to watch! I really enjoyed it! The crew use the character names when giving directions.. “Now lets get a close up on Dov before moving over to Sam” stuff like that. Thought that was interesting

Between takes, or scenes, Missy would run over to see her dog who was sitting on the grass with a crew guy. She loves her dog! They had a cute moment together on the grass while her makeup got touched up.

She stopped to talk to me more and told me it was episode 303 and that she doesn’t know why it’s out of order. I said that’s how it was last season too, and she was like “Oh ya! When Jo came in for the first time..and I don’t even remember what happened” and I said “Luke got shot” and Missy laughed and said “wow you really ARE a big fan! You know your stuff!” haha We talked about where she likes it better - LA, Vancouver or Toronto, and she gave me some advice about living on my own for the first time ever at university. Before going back to set, she asked if I was still going to be staying longer. It was sweet that they kept asking me that, it’s as if they wanted to make sure I was having a good time there! There were other people watching, but just in passing…. I think I was the only fan who was standing at the tents basically right beside the action. And no one else had been there for as long as I had been. I sort of felt bad for hanging around for so long because crew guys started recognizing me and were saying “you’re still here?!” But it was ok I guess. I just made sure not to get in the way, so it was fine

Later, when the cast had a break while the crew moved equipment, Missy and Greg were hanging out under the tent, and Missy got really excited about something for TIFF (I think that’s what it was about) so she ran to bring Travis over, and then she said to Greg, “watch this, when I tell him, his reaction is going to be, ‘That’s Awwwesome!’” And she said it in a deeper voice, trying to imitate Travis. Sure enough, Travis’s reaction was exactly that!! Missy jumped up and laughed saying that she knows him way too well! Haha that was really cute. It was fun to watch their camaraderie behind the scenes

Then Matt came back to set (he hadn’t come back after lunch. And apparently Charlotte was there in the early morning, so I missed her too. Enuka wasn’t around either, and neither was Eric or Mel or Lyriq) Just when I thought it was a perfect moment to go over to Matt, he lit up a cigarette, so then I decided it might not be a good time But a little bit later, he came up to me on his own and introduced himself, asked my name and then we started chatting! He’s sooooo easy going! We talked about lots of stuff, some technical stuff about filming, I asked if he watches the show to see which takes make it into the final edit and he says that sometimes after filming, he’ll go on twitter and tell everyone how awesome the episode is going to be because he remembers doing something cool in one take, and then when he sees it on tv, he realizes that his cool thing didn’t even make it in. haha. When twitter came up in the conversation, I told him that I made it (http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lpq2wgub671qbhu78o1_500.gif) and he got SO EXCITED! He even sore out of excitement!!!! He said that was one the funniest things he’s seen. Haha! He gave me his phone so I could find that animation because he wanted to show other people. We took it over to Ben who was looking over his lines, and Ben watched it over and over and kept laughing! Then we went to Missy who basically exploded after watching it because she thought it was so priceless. She loved the blue tear on Andy’s face the most! She made Matt email it to her…no I didn’t see her email address Then we showed Travis who just kept saying “omigod omigod omigod omigod” and couldn’t stop laughing. He loved the Swarek dance part the most. Their reactions were really funny!

I asked Travis who’s on which team, and he said pretty much everyone’s on Team Swarek, until Eric gets to set. Haha. But no, he said they are just like the closest family ever. Right now, the second day, he said there’s some new crew, so they are still getting into the swing of things, but by 2 months, they will all be super close like brother’s and sisters. And I said how amazing it is that fans like myself can just come up and casually talk with them, and he says that that’s how it should be. He said if there’s ever a guest star coming in from America or something where they are more popular and they come to RookieBlue with attitude, Travis said that they are put into place very quickly, because attitude isn’t welcome on the RB set. I think that alone, is incredible. This whole cast (and crew) have great values and they really are a genuine bunch of people! They all have such beautiful hearts! I also asked what they thought about maybe being a fall show, and Matt didn’t know how that would work out, but he said it would be cool to do 22 episodes instead of 13. Also, Travis and I talked about his height. Haha random, but I thought I’d throw that in here.. He say’s he’s 6’2” and Eric is also about that too. He said the camera guys have to raise the cameras up so high to film his face, that they cant actually look into the eye piece. haha

I should also mention that Ben was constantly eating! The guy is so lean, but he was always eating! Someone gave him a plate of food covered in foil, so he started eating that while they rehearsed a scene, then when he was off to the side going over lines, he was munching on something else, then later during rehearsal for another scene, he was eating some BBQ street meat. lol. He also seems to take acting very seriously. He came over to the script supervisor between takes and asked her to make sure he doesn’t garble up his lines by saying them too fast. He said Dov speaks so fast, so he wants to make sure his lines are audible. Then later, he was sitting in the back of the ambulance and it looked like he was saying his lines into a recorder and then playing it back to himself. It was interesting, but really great to see how serious he is about perfecting his craft.

I met with another fan from twitter who showed up and we watched the action together for a bit from across the sidewalk, then we went up to the tents again to talk to Matt and Travis and take more pictures. They were nearing the end of filming soon, and I had to get going, but I wanted to make sure I could say bye to Missy. During the final scene, Ben and Missy would do these staring contests with eachother..Ben would look directly into her face and she’d look back. Haha I took pictures, but I’m not totally sure what they were doing. They were playful together. Hugging a few times, he pulled on her arm as he walked passed her. Looks like a really great friendship I waited until her scene was done, but then she started talking to Noelle Carbone and the female cop who trained the cast, so I didn’t want to interfere. Finally I was able to talk to Missy and told her how wonderful and exciting this whole day had been and she was really glad that I enjoyed it. You could tell she was happy to be back at work. She just… shines with happiness I asked for one more picture with her and then she started chatting with me and the other fan. She joked about those acting books that she tweeted about. She said that she doesn’t want to use Twitter to post random stuff like, “I’m eating my sandwich” so that’s why she doesn’t post very often, and she said that because she’s really sarcastic it doesn’t translate well online because some people interpret it the wrong way and get mad at her, so she just wants to be careful. But I told her my twitter name and she said she knew it! I actually was shocked because I didnt expecting her to know it!! And she said for me to tweet her the pictures from today, which was nice!

Then we did a group photo with the actors who were standing around in the immediate area. Other people hoped in for group photos too. Everyone was so happy!

Then I really had to get going because I had a good hour of travel to get home, so I thanked Missy, and she wished me well with university and hoped that I could come to set again. I thanked Matt and he also wished me well and told me to keep in touch on twitter. Then I crossed the street towards the subway station and I had to pass by Travis so I told him I was leaving and that it was wonderful to meet him and he just gave me the biggest hug..the kind that you don’t want to end. He wished me well at university and said to tweet him I love how twitter links the RB cast with the fans. (Matt even said that it makes it feel like we’re all part of the show together..there isn’t a clear cut line between the actors and fans. That’s awesome)

So that was my day!! I never ever could have expected any of this to happen! I would have been happy to just stand and watch from a distance, but this experience was a million times more than what I could have imagined! I've always been a fan of film/tv/theatre productions - especially the crew/tech aspect of it, so this was a major dream come true to get all these little extras from behind the scenes on the set of my favourite show! And it came at the perfect time because the past year was pretty rough for me, so this was just wonderful! I said thank you over and over to so many of the crew - I was truly blessed by everyone's kindness! It was also really fun that I was able to tweet along during the day to those following! It was honestly the best way I could have ever imagined to end my summer. Now I’ve got to move away for university, but I’m hoping maybe somehow I’ll get this chance to see them filming next year! (so FYI, my tweets wont be nearly as exciting for the next year. lol..I wont be hurt if you unfollow )

Thanks for reading! And I’m sorry that it was sooooo long!
All my pictures are here: [url=https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150274489032161.329189.513152160 ]https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150274489032161.329189.513152160 [/url]

Mon dieu je viens de faire une crise cardiaque à la vue de ce pâté anglophone Inutile de préciser que je ne tente même pas d'essayer de le lire bien que je conçois que ça doit très intéressant