Memories of U.S. Marshals

Back in 1997, I had the opportunity to work on U.S. Marshals as a Second Unit Staff Assistant. I was living in Murfreesboro, TN at the time, and a guy I knew was working on set while they were filming in Paducah. They needed another staff assistant, and he recommended me. A week later, I was driving up to Paducah to work on the second unit for an $80 million movie.

I had never worked on a major motion picture before. The only real experience working on a set (aside from being in front of the camera) was as the Second Assistant Director on my father's movie, Lycanthrope. I learned by following my dad, not by going through any training program. And my dad's movie was really low-budget.

I worked on U.S. Marshals for a little over two weeks, and it was an absolutely incredible experience. I was on the second unit, which was the stunt unit on the film. I got my own script, hung out with the cast and crew, even made friends with a lot of people. I worked in the parts of the film where the plane crashed and Sheridan (Wesley Snipes) was on the run in the swamp. It was insane.

We crashed a real plane. Okay, I didn't crash it, but I was one of the people working the fuel lines. It was SO dangerous.There was so much fire, which meant that there were tons of emergency workers. The hours were extremely long. I remember being told that i had to go nap in one of the buses that shuttled the crew to the crash site from the hotels. A few of us boarded the bus and closed our eyes for about 30 minutes before heading back to set. I realize now that I should have been a lot more involved and helpful, and not complaining about the elements. After all, how many people get to participate in deliberately crashing a jet plane? The smell and the sound of the fire and fuel, the heat, the night sky peppered with stars, sleeping in the bus, running with the radios... These are feelings and memories that have forever been etched in my mind.

I was very fortunate to meet a lot of great people, including some pretty awesome celebrities. I had never really been star-struck by celebrities, but I was pleasantly surprised by how approachable and friendly the people working on this film were. Wesley was always smiling. Dan Roebuck was always cracking jokes. Tom Wood was one of the nicest men I had ever met. LaTanya Richardson gave me tons of advice on life, love and my future in general.

My favorite memory, however, is of Robert Downey, Jr. While shooting in the swamp, one of the Production Assistants came flying down the road on a gator with another man. The crew was shooting, and I had to stop all traffic. So, I stopped the gator. The PA started an argument with me, asking me, "Do you know who this is?" I didn't even pay attention to his passenger, and told him that it didn't matter who it was-- They had to wait until "cut" was called. After this guy berated me, the man in the blue outfit, baseball cap and sunglasses got out of the gator and approached me. He pulled off his glasses and, low and behold, it was Robert Downey, Jr. "Hi, I'm Rob," he said. I introduced myself and we shook hands. We chatted for a little while - ignoring the PA the whole time - then "cut" was finally called. Rob went off to set.

Later that day, I ran into him again. He remembered my name and invited me to join him for lunch. We ate together with his friend, Eddie Bo, who happened to be on set. We ended up talking every day, and really hit it off. He was a really great guy. My job was done at the end of the week, as production was moving elsewhere and I was not signed on for the rest of the shoot. We snapped a picture together on our final day right after lunch, he wrote a really sweet message on my script, and we said goodbye. I haven't seen or worked with him since.

These are memories that I will never be able to replace, and am so thankful that I was given the opportunities to create them in the first place. I know that my kids will love to hear my stories when they grow up.