TUESDAY, November 19

Here, my diary entries become necessarily a bit sketchy, as shoot days are so long and exhausting that I frankly can’t stay on top of it all.

We spend all day shooting a scene of being knocked off the boat, then pulling one another back aboard the capsized craft, which is quite physically demanding. Then riding the runaway boat hull as it gets rammed by the angry beast and jammed into submerged trees. A lot of action.

The weather is cloudy and doesn’t stay sunny for very long. I have on a wet suit on, as well as knee pads which the stunt team provides me. It helps a lot. The factor of timing one’s bathroom breaks goes into play, since just going “10-1” (code for pee break) necessitates taking off most of my wardrobe to get at the wet suit zipper that runs down my back.

Amazingly, I’m still wearing the same temporary tattoo that I put on for the photo shoot last week. The estimate was they would last two or three days, but it’s still in great condition. My mustache however, is another story. With all the swimming and shouting and action in the water, the adhesive holding on my mustache starts to give.

The makeup team brings out the heavy stuff, Pros-aid, which I recall from my days wearing the Officer WhoLihan prosthetics on The Grinch.  They also apply small pieces of toupee tape which my makeup girl, the Maltese who looks like a GOT character, Zoe, uses to hold down the ends of the ‘stache. This handles things for now, but all day long she has to make trips into the swamp in her waders to attend to me and my “Sam Elliot special.”

The actor playing Rodrigo, Michel Curiel, has to be pulled aboard the capsized boat after the attack, a task that falls to me and the young lead, Madison Davenport, who is rather petite.  Michel is probably 220 pounds sopping wet, which of course he is.

Pulling Michel’s limp body up out of the water all afternoon is Madison’s and my action, which we have to do about a dozen times this afternoon. It’s exhausting!

Later in the scene, our boat is pulled by underwater cables by the dive team to simulate being pushed across the lagoon. We six actors cling to the upturned aluminum boat, which has sharp ridges from bow to stern. I’m very grateful for the knee pads.

The motion of being pulled across the surface rocks the boat from side to side and reminds me of how easily the whole thing can tip over, so the panic is genuine; there’s not a lot of acting involved.

We shoot this part from a variety of angles about fifteen times.  Every now and then I have to dip myself into the water to get my costume wet so it matches yesterday’s action.

At lunch, I peel down the top of my wet suit and stand in the sunshine. Lunch is very good and features a local Maltese delicacy: rabbit, which I am starting to really enjoy.

I’m also starting to enjoy getting to know this mostly Maltese crew and learn their names. They smile easily and get a lot done.  Most of the dive team have an array of visible tattoos, even with wet suits on, on necks, the backs of hands, and even, on one gentleman the inside of the ears. They all speak English with us, but Maltese to one another. The Maltese language is a mix of Italian, French and Arabic, so it’s an interesting blend of sounds.

James the director is always positive, but when he’s very satisfied, he says the shot was “AMAZING.” He’s quite methodical, and most of his conferences with the D of P and camera crew are too far away for me to overhear.

HUNGRY is a real ensemble piece. Each scene involves, in one way or another, every character in the movie, since at this stage we are all alive, and in the same pickle.

Tracey, who plays Dionne, still clutching her purse and Louis Vuitton shoes, has to sit most of the day in a fiberglass tree, shouting her lines to us marooned on the boat.  She is often seen in the background, and then when the shots are reversed, our group is seen in the background of her close ups.  The result is that no one gets a chance to leave set to chill (or thaw) in their “dressing rooms.”

At wrap, I am knackered. It’s been a day of falling into water, swimming, yelling, climbing, pulling self and others onto an overturned boat and riding it into trees over and over again until the sun sets and the light is gone.

My body feels warm enough at my core, but my extremities are getting cold, and I am visibly shivering as the day wears on. I get anxious looks and sympathetic comments by the crew, who think I’m suffering, but I’m actually having fun despite all the violent trembling. I think about the dry clothes and a cup of hot coffee waiting for me back on land.

All the shaking and physlcal strain on my face is going to really sell the drama, I figure.

The game I began with myself to not complain really comes into play at this stage; I flatter myself I am setting a good, Stoic example for the others.  No one is shaking quite as much as I am, however.  Damn youngsters!

After we wrap, I dress, walk back to the hotel and right into the sauna, where I’m soon joined by several other cast members. It’s a welcome luxury.

My sleep tonight is full of moments from the day just passed, as if it never really ended.