Miami Movie Shoot - Take 1

Photo swiped from a Hollywood Website

The Rock, Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Mackie

On Monday, May 7th, my sister and I headed for Miami for Seven's second trip to the "Pain and Gain" movie set.  My husband, Stephen, was sweet enough to bring the van and the hounds down to my office at lunch time.  He works entirely in the opposite direction so this was a big 2 - 3 hour interruption in his day.  Thank you, Snookums!  Denise met us there and off we went.

The drive was smooth and easy, but the last two hours seemed to take forever!  We arrived at our hotel, Residence Inn Marriott, around 11 PM.  After the last hotel fiasco, I had already called ahead to confirm that they had us down for four days and with two dogs.  They did, so check-in went smoothly.

The hotel was a much better fit this time.  It had a kitchen which made our lives easier.  Denise and I shared the bed and then we pulled the mattress off the pull-out bed and put it on the floor for the hounds.

Earlier in the evening, I was emailed a "Call Sheet".  The Call Sheet tells everyone when the crew and actors have to arrive and which scenes are being filmed and in what order (only a suggestion on a Michael Bay set).  We were thrilled to see that The Rock and Mark Wahlberg were on the schedule.

Yummy!

Seven's call time was 10:30 AM.  I woke up early and took Riley and Seven for a long walk around Coconut Grove.  The movie set was just around the corner so we headed in that direction to check things out.

Isn't this an awesome sunrise picture?

I assumed that the movie set for the staged indoor scenes would be at an actual movie studio, but this was not the case.  They had created the sets inside of a convention center (pictured below).

We arrived a little before 10:30 AM and spoke with one of the Assistant Directors for parking instructions.  They actually thought about us ahead of time and parked us at the front doors right under the awning for shade.  We met up with Phil from Trademark Animal Talent again and our American Humane Association rep, Tonya.

The crew was ultra uptight like last time.  We initially wanted to bring the dogs into the building, but they insisted we keep them outside in the van.  It really did not matter to me since I had five different fans for the dogs and the building was being cooled with giant, portable air conditioning units meaning the building was not always that cool anyway.  Plus Seven is not always quiet like wonderful Riley is so it was actually easier to keep them in the van for the bulk of the day.

Denise and I went into the building to find food and search nonchalantly for stars.  We walked right by Mark Wahlberg and she did not even see him.  No matter, we saw him plenty of other times.

We eventually secured a copy of the script for the day's scenes and it mentions "the dog snuggles on the weight bench" in one of the scenes. In my mind, I picture a weight bench from L.A. Fitness and cannot imagine how Seven is going to pull off "snugly" on such an uncomfortable piece of furniture.

After a few more hours, one of the Assistant Directors takes us into the room so we can practice.  The goal is for us to figure out ahead of time what Seven can do with the furniture in the room so we are ready to make suggestions when it comes time to film the scene.

Well, the weight bench is laughable.  It is much smaller than a bench from L.A. Fitness.  It is narrow and streamlined.  Seven is only able to stand on it... in fact, it is too small for her to even jump up on it.  We have to place her on it.  We also notice a chair in the corner of the room.  With the decorative pillow removed, Seven is able to lie down in this chair.  We hope that Michael Bay will opt for the chair....