The Locker Room #10: Danny, People's Sexiest CSI

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Hey, boom... :lol: That's my new nickname for you, said in Danny fashion, no less. :lol:

Manila's 14 hours ahead of CA. So when everyone was saying the shoot was going to happen on the 12th, I had to rewind my mental clock back over half a day so as not to preempt the excitement.
 
Whatever. It's amazing I still respond to my own real name anymore. Everyone I know has some type of nickname for me.

I have a birthday party to go to this afternoon and when I get home tonight, I'm gonna be majorly disappointed if there's not a story waiting for me. :(
 
i have idead where i am in the uk time thing but at the mo its 2pm here so where would la be right now and the ny?
 
ok, is that in scotland cos i'm really bad at geography...sometimes i can even find my own ass!
 
Hey guys, if you wish to chat please take it to a messenger system, like Yahoo, AIM, or MSN, to name a few. The boards are not the place for that, thank you.
 
Okay, girls, here’s the full report you’ve all been waiting for. I apologize for the delay. I really tried to post from my hotel room in LA, but the internet connection sucked. To answer the first question on all of your minds, yes, I did indeed hit the fangirl lottery and actually got to meet Carmine in person. *swoons* Gave him the Little Black Book too. *laughs* And then I ate crickets and lamb brain. But I’m actually gonna go chronologically and make you endure the details in order.

The first thing that struck me about this experience is how fluid the details are, in that they are ever changing through the shooting process. The call time (when I had to be there) was changed, some details of the premise were changed, and the shooting location was changed between the time originally communicated to me and the actual shooting.

The shoot was done at the CBS studio in Studio City. The storyline involves a $10,000 a plate dinner at the Waldorf. The menu consists of a whole host of nasty, nasty stuff. But it’s not nasty for the sake of being nasty. Apparently, all items are actually enjoyed by some cultures and this dinner is based on a real life annual event in NYC.

I had to be on set at 4:30pm. Unfortunately, for all the regulars, their call time was 10:00am. They work some crazy hours. After I checked in, I was sent to the wardrobe trailer for costuming. Man, did I score hard by hitting it off with the wardrobe girl the week before because she hooked me up big time. My dress rocked! It was a long, black, slinky, body hugging dress with little circular cut-outs between my boobies and thin rhinestone straps that form a V at the center of my chest. Totally loved it. In fact, I found out where it came from and went and bought it on my way of town. Yes, I am a freak, but that’ll be a great story the next time I wear the dress. Plus, it was definitely an okay outfit to meet Carmine in. :lol:

After wardrobe, I went to hair and then make-up. Chatted up both the girls who worked on me to see if I could gain any inside dirt. Was surprised to learn neither of them even watch the show because they work so many hours they really don’t have time for TV. The make-up girl did tell me she thinks Carmine is “nice looking”. What an understatement, girl! Though neither of these people do the hair or make-up for the cast members. They deal only with the extras. While in the hair and make-up trailer, I soaked up every bit of my surroundings possible. It was interesting to see the scenes broken down from a different perspective – descriptions of the people in the scenes, how they look, how the dead bodies are supposed to look, descriptions of the wounds and their locations on the body. Interesting. What I found really amusing though was the flyer on the wall about how cast and crew go about getting their 20% discount on merchandise. Read it and laughed. So, if Carmine or even Gary want the season 1 DVD set, they only get 20% off? That made me laugh. I thought they’d be able to score that stuff for free. Hell, fans who buy their DVDs on sale at Target or Walmart can probably get a better deal than the cast and crew.

After wardrobe, hair and make-up, all the extras went to a holding area next to the stage we’d be shooting on. There were about 40 or so general extras and 8 bug eaters. Now I won’t try to glamourize this in the slightest, the wait was long and boring. It was probably 7:30pm or so when we got to the holding area and we stayed there until probably 9:00pm or so. Can’t be sure about the times because I had to ditch my watch after the visit to wardrobe. An assistant kept coming in and giving us a “ten minute” warning. Eventually, we just stopped believing him. It was kind of fun to find out about the other extras though. Mostly wanna be actors and actresses who were sent over by an agency. The bug eaters were kept together at our own separate table and people kept coming over to laugh at us. It was interesting though because none of the bug eaters came from an agency or had any interest in acting. The guy I was paired off with as my “date” for a scene is actually a Grammy nominated composer for film and TV and his best friend, a former producer of the Judge Judy show, was also a bug eater. They apparently got drunk at a New Year’s Eve party and got wrangled into eating bugs by someone they knew from CSI:NY. Funny stuff. Oddly, I didn’t encounter a single damn CSI:NY fan in the entire group. Heck, not even the hair and make-up people watch the show.

Finally, we were taken into the sound stage where the three scenes we were doing were shot. It was like an enormous warehouse with a little replica of a Waldorf ballroom set up in the middle. One of the first things I saw when I walked in was a line of director’s chairs with cast names on them. I saw the chairs belonging to Kelly Hu, Hill and Carmine set out. I’d heard I hit the lottery, but this confirmed it. I was happy to see Kelly’s name too. Woo hoo for the Maka fans. She’s in this episode. They were shooting a scene when we walked in, but as soon as they finished, they filed out of the ballroom and walked to their chairs. Carmine was on the phone, so I didn’t have any chance to talk to him at this point. But I noticed something the instant I saw him. He either doesn’t break character between scenes or doesn’t stray very far from Danny. This wasn’t the laid back Carmine we think we get a glimpse of during a chat or an interview or by some of his e-mail responses. He looked totally intense and focused. Totally radiated a Danny vibe.

Then we got called in to do our first scene. It’s a cocktail party setting. The extras mingle and chat, then the chef who prepared all this “yummy” food for us comes in and we applaud him. Then Carmine, Hill, and Kelly come in and take him out of the room. This scene was shot three times and in the first, I was in a prime spot right next to where the chef comes in and literally inches from where Carmine comes up to him. However, I sloshed my red wine down my arm when I clapped and made a face, so in the next two takes, I’m nowhere near the camera. Duh, I’m a crappy extra. So, it’s safe to see you won’t see me in that scene.

After they cleared us out of the room to set-up the lights and cameras for the next scene, I went for it. Carmine appears all business on the set and didn’t look super-approachable, as he was reviewing his script, but I wasn’t sure how many opportunities I’d have to talk to him. I walked over to him and introduced myself. It was a pretty short, generic conversation. He thanked my for my support and said he appreciated it. I told him I brought him a little something (fortunately, the Little Black Book fit perfectly into the evening bag I was carrying). Explained that I tried to think of the perfect gift for the single guy and I thought I got it – names and #s of girls from literally all over the world who want him. He smiled, took the book and looked down at it. He thanked me and said that was really sweet. He actually did not laugh in the way that I thought he might. However, it’s key to bear in mind that I didn’t meet the fun Carmine we all make him out to be. I met a serious, intensely focused actor who doesn’t break character and was reviewing a script at the time. He was professional and nice, but obviously there to work hard, get his job done and go home. So, if any of you fangirls are prone to jealous tendencies, let me set your hearts at peace by telling you that I didn’t turn this guys head for even a fraction of a second.

Wow, this is getting ridiculously long so I’ll speed it up from here. Did two more scenes. The eating comes into play in the third one. Carmine wasn’t there, which I was kinda grateful for in case I puked. Kidding. I knew that wasn’t gonna happen. I ate a bunch of appetizers that had crickets on top of them. You’ll never believer this, but crickets actually don’t have any taste whatsoever. They were just crunchy. Not nasty in the slightest. I was amazed. Next came lamb brain on toast. Yeah, I wish I was kidding about that, but I’m not. I was a little uncomfortable when I saw it, but honestly it tasted like tofu. I was surprised again. They assured us that brain is actually a delicacy and quite yummy if prepared properly and, sure enough, it really was just fine. Any one of you could have eaten this stuff. It wasn’t Fear Factor in the slightest and they were very nice about rushing water to us every time they cut and making sure we were all doing fine. Can’t tell ya how much of this stuff I ate, but it was a lot. You kinda lose track in the moment and it didn’t really matter because it tasted fine. They did a cute shot of my “date” and I that I doubt will make into the show because I screwed it up. Duh, again, I’m a horrible extra. My first taste of this stuff came in a shot when my date and I had to feed each other. I thought I opened my mouth far enough, but in fact did not. The cricket got stuck on my lip and I had to brush it in with my finger. Uh, yeah, not exactly the dining manners one would expect at a $10,000 a plate dinner, so I’m guessing that will be cut. My date opened his mouth big and wide though, so maybe you’ll see me feed him. There was plenty of “just eat until we say ‘cut’” time though, so perhaps you will see me down some bugs afterall.

Whatever else can I tell you? Um, Kelly Hu is the world’s sweetest person. Completely down to earth and friendly. Very chatty and obviously adored by the cast and crew. Hill seems exactly like his character. He’s a very smiley guy.

I think I may have the secret as to why Danny is dressed in so many layers. Carmine isn’t a very big guy. Sure, we’ve seen him with his shirt and even his pants off and he’s very well built and muscular, but his overall body frame isn’t very big. He’s supposed to be 5’9” and I can only say that is definitely with his shoes on. In fact, and don’t get sad here girls, if any of you have built him up to be larger than life, I’m not a very big girl. I’m 5’5”, 125 lbs., size 4 and he really doesn’t seem big to me. When standing next to some guys, I can feel all dainty and small. Not so here. He is obviously bigger than I am, but truly not by a whole lot. Overall though, he’s just as hot off camera as he is on. That is one tasty boy and it was really need to see how serious and focused he is when it comes to his work. I was impressed. This guy isn’t on set to screw around. He works hard.
I was surprised to see how hard every single person worked all day to make this show. You really can’t imagine how much goes into it until you see it first-hand. Also, after seeing Carmine’s life for a few hours, he really isn’t being a whiny bitch when he complains about the hours he works. It’s a damn hard job and one I could never do. That is a totally consuming life. We didn’t wrap until 11:30pm.

He may send those 2am e-mails because by the time he gets home, washes off his make-up and gets comfy, it could very well be 2am.

The episode is called “Fair Game” and it airs March 1st. Be sure to look for me. I’ll post a pic so you can see who to look for. This is me:

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I’ll answer all questions any of you may have, but be forewarned that I’ll only be online very sporadically until Tuesday. It’s a three-day weekend in the US (Martin Luther King Day) and I have other obligations this weekend that will interfere with any significant internet time. But post any questions you may have and I really will answer everything, it just might take me a couple days.
 
MrsGiovinazzo thank you so much for sharing that wonderful story with us. I've enjoyed reading every minute of it and I'm glad you had fun. You're probably the envy of every single girl here....well except for eating the bugs and lamb brain part heh. I wish I could experience that. I was just wondering if you met Melina Kanakaredes. Anyhoo, back OT...I wonder how Danny maintains his tan. Does he hit those faking and baking salons or is he naturally that dark?
 
Thanks MrsG for that report. It's very interesting and I like the fact that Carmine is so focused on his work while being on set. And it's nice that you had so much fun. I also look forward to see that wonderful dress of yours. :)
 
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