The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

A couple of years ago, back in New Orleans, I was searching through Craiglsist. I always look through Craigslist when in a new city for various things like odd jobs, acting gigs, free stuff etc. and I had known that the acting scene was pretty big in New Orleans so I was searching for acting gigs. I didn't have an agency that I worked out of in New Orleans like I did in California and New York, so when I saw an ad for open auditions for a LIONS GATE FILM, I was excited. I picked up the phone, dialed the number and set an appointment for the following day.

The following day I walked into the building off of Magazine St. with my head shots and resume in hand and went in. As I walked down the halls of the agency, I was excited to see that this company handled rather big productions and when I met the gentleman I was supposed to read for, I was excited to learn that this film was starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchette.

After reading my little 5 line script the gentleman let me know that they would give me a call. A few afternoons later, I was sitting in the living room of my good buddies shotgun home Uptown when I received a call telling me that they could use me for some background work and that the pay would be $18.97 per hour. I was pumped. A few days later, I was scheduled to go to get fit for my costume so a buncha buddies of mine got totally inebriated and me and my friend Todd drove out to the warehouse where I would get fit for my costume. As I walked into the building I was greeted by this quite friendly and flamboyant young man with a tape measure who directed me to a giant section the size of most K-Marts full of 1930s gangster looking suits and hats.

After trying on a few hats the guy settled on a grey suit for me. It was one of those oldschool suits not unlike what would have been worn in Dick Tracy or a 1930's gangster film. I was fitted for the outfit, all the while laughing and joking with my friend Todd and talking like I was Al Capone. Todd snapped a photograph with his cellphone and we were out. 3 months later I would show up at the set. The set was at a restaurant called THE RAMOULADE on Bourbon St.

It was really fun being on the set of this film. I had been on the sets of many other films and TV shows in New York, but this one was different, everyone was in vintage clothing and the building was very preserved from the past so it was almost like walking through a time warp in to a pretend land of fun and imagination. No sooner did I enter the background actors waiting area did a casting person come running out. "We need, you, you and you" she said quickly, "me?" I had no time to be nervous so I abruptly followed. We arrived into a room that was set up like a restaurant with beautiful chandeliers and cameras all over the place. The woman set my right in front of the Director of "Seven" Dave Ficher.

They handed me a mug of beer and told me to look directly into the camera and pretend that there was a girl on the other side and I was hitting on her. AS I did so, lights came on and right next to me Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt met in an embrace. After a couple of takes the Director told me "good job" and I was able to say hello to Brad and then we moved on to another scene where they set us down at a table, me and another you guy and we smoked on cigarettes and drank beer and ate while we talked about nonsense and Brad and Cate ate at a table across the way. What fun this was, this was the first movie set that I had worked on in New Orleans and it hooked me up with an agency which in turn hooked me up with other jobs in New Orleans and even California in the future.

Time went on and we did Mardi Gras, I did the TV show K-VILLE and a lot of other stuff and recently, I was sitting with my roommate and good friend from New Orleans and him and his girlfriend were watching "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". I hadn't watched the movie (I never go looking for myself, I've done a lot of cheesy stuff and it has lost its thrill) and they called me in the room "Tilly,Tilly its you". Apparently they had cut me out of the big scene when Brad and Cate meet up, but while they are eating, the camera sure did pan to me 4-5 times. Right in between them while they are eating in the background, there I am sitting smoking cigs in my suit with a big grin on my face. Ha! How fun it was to watch that and be brought back to those really fun moments in my life!

Now I am home and living simply again, but I cant help but look back and be thankful for the adventures that I have had the last few years. I am sure that again I will have adventures, but for now I will just sit back and listen to the music that I helped create with my friends and music that I found in my travels and look out for the films and shows that I worked on. Since I have been back I have already seen myself on TV 3 times as well. Ha Ha. Life is funny, while I didn't do anything SUPER in the Entertainment world, I was still living in the moment and wouldn't trade it for the world!

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tilly

Thanksgivings Past, Thanksgiving NOW

Looking back at Thanksgivings past I have fond memories of my childhood. I remember we used to get up early and go over to my Pepere' and Memere's(french for grandpa/grandpa) house and we would watch the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. Pep would be in the kitchen cooking his fall off the bone turkey in wine while I would sit in his big green leather chair in a room that smelled of cigars and watch the parade. Eventually my family would begin to arrive, my uncle Ron was always the last one to show, he was a football coach for one of the top football schools in the state and then we would sit down to dinner. Tim was always the first one at the bowl of black olives and there are pictures of him with a face full of 50 of 'em. Pep always made the food and it was always top notch, my Grandmother would make the pies.

We did that every year during my childhood, for some reason Thanksgiving was a Dutilly holiday and we always spent it at my Fathers parents and then dropped in to visit my mothers side of the family.

Later in life we would have moved to Florida and Thanksgiving was spent with my Stepfathers family. Thanksgiving was one of the only holidays where my Uncle Ray might make it over from California and all of his brothers would be together. AL's family has accepted my family as there own and Grandma and my mother would take the time to make most of the dinner while my Stepfather, a chef would usually make the turkey. We would all gather together and the guys would shoot pool together while the ladies set everything up. It was a great event spent with many, many laughs as we told stories of our childhoods and everyone laughed. It seemed like every year we told the same stories, but every yeart they got funnier. I always am brought to a smile when I think of my Mother and my Uncle Paul doing impressions of "Baba" (Russian) the mother of my Grandmother. Good times we would have playing boardgames and being truly grateful that we had each other, as a lot of us are not related by blood, but we all remain tight-knit. My mother and my Grandma always made sure everything was perfect, they were like two peas in a pod, yin and yang, I miss Grandma.

Now things have changed, people have passed on and life is much different. My Brother and Sister and I are all grown up and have our own places. We are the only family within a hundred miles or so, so this year we are beginning new traditions. This year we are meeting at my Sisters house and each bringing a dish, just us kids and we plan to spend the day laughing and watching the parade and some football. I am really thankful to have my Sister and Brother here in the town that we grew up. I can't help but notice right now that we are all grown up. While we will spend some of the day on SKYPE visiting our family in other States' Thanksgiving table, tyhis one is our own. I can't help but be attentive to the fact that one day it is just going to be us and our children having Thankgsiving and bringing dishes and soon it will be our children sitting in the big chair watching the parade. Grateful we are to have a wonderful family and it is apparent to me that the torch is being passed and there will be a time when we are the parents and Grandparents and our parents might not be around. I hope that we take the time this Thanksgiving to be grateful for the lives and families that were given to us and to appreciate who we have become and the people who took us here.

I hope that you all have had or have a wonderful Thanksgiving. If there is something that is very difficult in your lives right now or you are alone, please try and get out and share somehow and pay attention to the things that you have. While we all have our struggles in life and the economy has peoples pockets empty, there are a lot of people who have it a lot worse. Poor people in this country have cable TV, air conditioners and food stamps where they can choose the foods that we want and still live a lot better than people in 3rd world countries where there may just be one choice, like rice.

Remember that family may not always be there and take the time to drop a call and say something nice, tell your Grandmother that she is the most beautiful woman in the world and buy someone a flower. Live this day the best that you can with tue thanks in your heart and I promise you, you will feel great and you will be making memories!

“My life has crept so long on a broken wing
Thro’ cells of madness, haunts of horror and fear,
That I come to be grateful at last for a little thing.”
–Alfred Lord Tennyson


~1 Love

Tilly

Time Of My Life

What beautilful day..gettin' ready to see the sun rise in the town in which I grew up in a long, long time. It's funny, I have appreciated the sunrise and set all over Americe, but I haven't done so here in a long while. I have a long day, I work in gthe morning through nitetime and I have never been happier. I made some friends last night from Australia and had a really great time. I busted my ass yesterday, coulda got gouchy , but I just pushed. Now it's today and I am supremely graqteful that I am here. Nothing like sitting on a brick wall and feeling it shake like rubber. That's the kind of thing that happened 2 me in L.A. that made me realise how elastic life can be. It's the little things, the simple things that keep me moving. Just like the cigars from NOLA..."KEEP MOVING". I feel lucky....I cant type...I have work....
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tillorilly