Sisters residents land movie roles

Two Sisters residents, Dawsen Conway and Michael Cooper, landed roles in "The Wait," the feature film currently shooting in the Sisters area - one in front of the camera and one behind it.

Dawsen Conway, a senior at Sisters High School, read the article in The Nugget about the casting call for extras and crew.

"I got online and sent a short résumé to the producers," he said. "They e-mailed me back and I met the production staff at the first extras session at the high school. They offered me an unpaid internship as a production assistant, which was pretty cool."

The duties of a production intern on a movie set, micro-budget to blockbuster, range from the mundane to the sublime. Interns are shuffled around to various tasks in an effort to expose them to many different aspects of the production, sometimes filling in for jobs no one else has time for or interest in.

"My first few days I was doing mostly clerical work, like printing out copies of the script for the production crew and running errands. Anything from getting coffee to driving cars to handing out paperwork," said Conway.

"I was mainly helping out George Adams, the production coordinator, before the shoot began, finding vehicles and transportation to get the whole crew around. Then I helped out Matt Karchesky, the location manager, setting up signs, driving vehicles. I'd take garbage out of Black Butte, get things sorted for recycling and help coordinate with the fire service when filming at locations out in Suttle Lake.

"Once the shoot began, I'd do occasional walk-ups, where I wrangle the crowd to ensure the crew was not disturbed. We had multiple people on walkie-talkie channels so I helped make sure people didn't accidentally walk into the shot while rolling," he said.

Conway would get there on set at 6 a.m. and sometimes leave at 6 p.m., but that could vary.

"I met Jena Malone and talked to her a little bit. She was really nice. I never talked to Chloe Sevigny, she kept to herself but I did hang out with Luke Grimes, and he was very cool," he said. "He got taken out to one of the house locations and I drove him back to his place at Black Butte. One neat thing was when Meryl Streep's son, Henry Gummer, came up and did a scene for a day."

Michael Cooper, a music publisher in Sisters, landed a speaking role as the "Dad in Candy Store."

Cooper had been out of town during the first casting call at Sisters Art Works but auditioned on June 9 at the second session.

"I'd e-mailed them a head shot and when they called me back they suggested I read for the candy store dad part," he said. "They had me read the lines a few different ways, more humor then more intense. Twenty days went by and I finally got an e-mail that they wanted to book me for the day. The gist of the role is my 9-year-old son has wandering off downtown. I'm in a panic and run into the candy store and voice my displeasure to him."

The scene was shot on July 7 at Powell's Sweet Shoppe, the kaleidoscopic confection emporium on Wall Street in Bend.

"I got there at 9:45 a.m. for hair, makeup and wardrobe," Cooper said. "We were hanging out in a 50-foot coach trailer with makeup people, the assistant director and costumers. They had us rehearse the scene with the principals, Jena Malone and Luke Grimes, from TV's 'Brothers and Sisters.' Then they called the boy, Dylan, in for a final rehearsal. He was a natural and I enjoyed working with him. We ran it through a few times and concentrated on camera and body angles."

The work was challenging.

"Director M. Blash gave me instructions on how to walk and detailed where I would deliver the lines. He asked me to internalize the worry more instead of externalizing it. There's a lot to keep track of and integrate all these things into the performance, not to mention trying not to trip on all the cables for the equipment."

Cooper was on the set for about three-and-a-half hours total and when he finished, the wardrobe coordinator took some continuity photos of his wardrobe in case they needed any call-back shots.

"Then we all went out to lunch, I filled out the time card and drove home pinching myself and thinking 'was I just on a movie set with Jena Malone and Luke Grimes?' I'd never done any acting in my adult life but thought I'd give it a shot," said Cooper.

"It was a very odd and wonderful thing that came together. If you told me a month ago I'd be playing a speaking role in a movie I'd have asked what planet you were on. M. Blash was very focused and professional. He complimented me on the last take and I got the feeling he was happy with my performance. For all I know, my part could end up on the cutting room floor, but I hope not."