10/28/2009 11:07:00 AM Mayer, Arcosanti become movie set for a day
Extras for the docudrama After Armageddon guard the town's food supply during filming of a scene this past Wednesday in Mayer. The docudrama will air on the History Channel in January.
TribPhoto/Cheryl Hartz
By Cheryl Hartz Reporter
Bright sun with a temperature around 80 degrees meant filmmakers didn't need auxiliary lighting in Mayer this past Thursday to shoot "After Armegeddon," a docudrama by Phoenix-based Randy Murray Productions.
Dozens of area folks turned up for the chance to act as extras in the movie for the History Channel. The film's premise is a worst case look at what life might be like after a pandemic.
Playing the main roles of the Johnson family escaping from Los Angeles to the fictitious small town of Huntsville (Mayer) are Kathleen Cameron and Rob Hartz (no relation to reporter), professional actors from Phoenix. The day in Mayer was just one of a 10-day shoot for them, they said. The production moved to Arcosanti the following day.
Matthew Kolopanis skipped his ASU physics and math classes to earn some cash from his first-ever acting job.
"I thought it would be fun," he said, although he was less than enamored of the sticky fake blood dripping down his face.
His role was a thief whom townspeople execute for looting.
The other doomed and bloodied looter was Ryan Dougherty, a Phoenix resident who sometimes does commercials, said his grandmother, Kathy Kennedy, who accompanied him.
Her grandson told her he didn't like the feel of the fake blood on his hair and face, either, she said.
The local extras toted real guns as they formed a roadblock, but the sheriff's weapon shot blanks.
Randy Murray himself had to step in to play the sheriff, and the day's production required only six paid actors, so most of the players were extras.
Locals Pamalee and Luke Bowden drove their buckboard, with Tumbleweed and Huesos in harness.
Recently retired teacher Pam Hanover and husband, Bill Vogler, came over from Cleator for the new experience because they thought it would be "cool."
Mayer resident Tuenis Rozeboom, a retired truck driver, said a guy at the post office asked him if he wanted to participate. He and his wife, Adriana, were supposed to "just walk along the road" for their part.
When time arrived to shoot the scene, director Stephen Kemp called out in his British accent, "We've got too many people. Horses in the middle of the road, and everybody else get to the side. Nobody walks down the road."
Roselynn and Don Fernwalt, also Mayer residents, rode their horses Traveler and Tony through town in that scene, and Don drove their buckboard for another. At Arcosanti Don guided a horse-drawn plow. But their experience started much earlier than the other extras, who arrived at 10 a.m.
"They filmed in our kitchen at 7 a.m.," Roselynn said. "We had to take out anything modern, because there isn't supposed to be any electricity."
Kemp, along with the director of photography and the producer, represent a company from the UK working with Murray on the project. Others doing camera work and various jobs came up from Phoenix.
Production assistant Hector Primero, a freelancer from the Valley, helped extras, such as the Swartz family, get into position.
"It's a little crazy," Primero said. "Sometimes you skip over a scene and go on to the next. But we didn't have to set up lighting for this and that saves us a lot of time."
Desiree Swartz brought nine home-schooled children from her family and one other to the shoot. One family has homes in Payson and Scottsdale, the other - Poland Junction and Phoenix. They saw information on the film in the Big Bug News while in the area studying geology, and opted to return and participate.
"Kids, you know what to do, right?" Primero asked them, then shouted, "Background action. Rolling, quiet all around."
The group of children walked into the street.
Also at that signal, Mayer High School student Caitlin Sheahan used her white cane to navigate down the street, flanked by Gloria Croisant - her sign language interpreter - and Mayer native Andi Worrell.
Cordes Lakes resident Violet Adams walked ahead of them.
"I'm 75 years old and I want my 15 minutes of fame," Adams said, eyes twinkling.
She said she talked her grandson, Uriah Jones, into coming with her. His part involved riding with the main actors and other extras in a pickup truck bed.
