-And here’s the recap for my role in the short film “The Ferryman” by Golden City Films. I originally was contacted by my friend Cassandra Hayes in regards to this role back in February 2014 via Craigslist. I sent in my request and by early March had gained the role of “Buddy” (AKA The Ferryman). We then had some rehearsals- the nucleus for this was Josef Abramov & Eliana Lustig. Both were very hands on in regards to how they wanted the roles to be portrayed. Most of the time it was them, me and actor Michael Hill (who plays “Charlie”) and his father Mark at these rehearsals. The initial ones were held at Syracuse University and the ones a week from principle photography were at a warehouse in Syracuse, where all the larger props were being made. It was there that actor Ari Z. Barkan (who has been featured in films like “The Angriest Man in Brooklyn & The Wolf of Wall Street) joined us for rehearsals. Ari played the role of “Wayne” in this (and yes, between 2 “Wayne’s” and people saying to each other “Thanks Buddy” and me replying, there were numerous rim shots on set) 🙂
-Filming was set for five days. The first day scheduled for filming received a major set back when the location unfortunately fell thru at the last minute. Luckily, a new location was found later the same day and plans continued to start the next day.
-4/19/2014-First day of filming. I arrived between 11-Noon and quickly settled into “Hurry Up & Wait” mode. 🙂 I didn’t start filming till after lunch. Note that when the pizzas arrived, none of the pies were sliced…I got thru one of my main scenes this day with Ari and had a great time. Lots of jokes and stories flying around. Two of the coins used for this scene were lost in the field, but Josef had some extra ones. One thing that was cool as well was while the crew were setting for the shot, Josef would have us go over the scene a few times just to make sure everything was set now that we were actually on location and blocking was totally locked. This day for me was basically an 7-8 hour day.
-4/20/2014-This was a bright sunny day and also the day which had the most people at. Call time was very early and , believe it or not, I was one of the first to arrive! (Yes folks, that is a sign of the Apocalypse… 🙂 ) Unfortunately, there was an electronic gate down which prevented us from being able to move the equipment truck in so we had to wait awhile till more people showed up and we got in. I filmed two more of my major scenes this day. Ari and Michael also got a number of big scenes done as well. Plus, since this was the day that a lot of people showed up to be extras, a good chunk of those scenes were shot as well. This day was a littl warmer and I did get some sunburn on my face-to the point where I had to cover it with foundation-and on top of my head. Sliced pizza was for lunch this day plus ample bottle water / soda.One thing to note, in one scene I had to fake hitting Ari with a PVC pole and accidentally whacked him in the head with it. Not really hard, but still… This was a long day-about 12-13 hours.
-4/21/2014-Another long 11-12 hour day. It was even warmer today than yesterday and my outfit was doing a very good job of trapping heat 🙂 Actually had to go back to my car at one point and re-apply foundation cause my face was turning red again-even with sunscreen. We started out with some pick up shots and then cranked out the remaining shots. There wasn’t even 1/4 of the people from Sunday initially but after classes late afternoon some more people started to show up and they got some of the remaining background footage needed. At one point me and Ari were in a car to escape the heat while waiting and we both nodded off. We all got subs this day. Things went smoother on this day than with the other two and filming actually got done earlier than expected.
-It’s always bittersweet at the end of a shoot. The filming is done, but now we all go back to “the real world.” It was great filming this and I must say hats off to all of the great cast and crew involved. It was great to meet and work with you all. Hopefully we will all work together again on future projects singularly and / or collectively.
-Over 300 pics from this can now be seen on my acting page on Facebook.
WAYNE W. JOHNSON 