On the set of LOST

Need to catch up? Read about my Jealousy LOST, Final Casting Call, and Getting LOST.

I jumped up the stairs into the hair trailer with my hijab in hand. I was led to the seat right next to NA. I sat down, still mortified by the little convo outside, and tried to completely pretend it hadn't happened, firing off tons of questions for the hair stylist. But NA was making some great political jokes, and had everyone giggling about historical figures trying to affect change. Obviously I was ineffectively ignoring him. I self consciously stifled a giggle. He looked up at me, and I don't know what got in to me, but I looked away!! Awkward! The hair stylist pulled my hair back in a loose pony tail at the nape of my neck. She bandaged my hair down with some ace bandage material nearly across the middle of my head. Absolutely no hair could show from under my hijab. Next she pinned the hijab back in place with some discreet bobby pins. I was done. I glanced to my left. NA was gone. Alone, I bounded the down stairs of the trailer, found a production assistant, and walked onto the set.

You can read a short blog post from a fan about our scene here, and see some pictures from the set here. The ones with the cast were taken the day we were filming. I am not in any of the pictures, that I can tell.

Once on the set, it was a chore not trip over my abaya, or trip someone else with it! Incense was burning everywhere. Totaled cars were smoldering with more incense and more smoke. It was pretty stinky. The first scene was in Tikrit. Well, anyway, the taxis said Tikrit Taksi. It was a funeral procession for Sayid's wife. That is what I got from an extra that had filmed the day before. We were never exactly told that on the set. There were many takes of the scene. I doubt I made it in the scene. I was standing on the edge of the procession. The directors kept coming in for narrower and narrower shots of the procession. Still, I was chased down by many hair folks, constantly tucking back my hair that polked out with a comb, pulling my hijab forward, safety pinning the hijab to my abaya, all in between takes. The abaya and the hijab were surprisingly cool. Since they were rather large on me, air flowed through the costume with ease. The material was so sheer and breathable the 80 degree weather did not bother me. Still, I hadn't gotten over the embarrassment of the morning. Was NA trying to make eye contact with me on set or was I imagining it? He came up to me several minutes later and said, "Sorry, my love." Ok. Now I could quit doing the whole ineffective avoid eye contact thing, and look him in the eye. I smiled, knowing it was over.

Nearly an hour and a half later, we finished filming less than a 20 second scene. The production assistants met with the extras off to the side. They announced a private ten minute rehearsal was in the works for the cast. Meanwhile, they needed eight people to change costumes, and the costume director picked. Well, I stretched my little 61 inches to the moon, attempting to make me be noticed. PICK ME PICK ME. Change me into something SHORTER. I was the last one of just eight extras picked to change clothes. Hooray! We started toward the costume trailer. I thanked the costume director for picking me. I couldn't wait to get out of the long abaya! The costume director looked me up and down and assured me I wasn't getting into anything different. I joked in total shock. "You mean I won't be wearing a miniskirt?" He chucked and said, "Oh honey, this ain't no miniskirt." It was similar to what I was wearing already. The costume resembled an Indian sari. My costume was orange. The pants were devoid of any elastic. They were so large they could have fit three or four of me in them. The costume director folded material from both ends of the pants toward the middle and pinned them, kind of like an old fashioned cloth diaper . Next he took one look at my feet. Black shoes were not going to work. He handed me a pair of bejeweled shoes that looked like a cross between Aladdin slippers and ballet slippers. I slid off the black athletic socks and black lace ups off and exchanged them for Aladdin geenie shoes that totally matched my outfit. Next, I headed off to hair. to have my new orange hijab placed correctly. I sat in the same set where I was before, only now Michael Emerson (plays Ben) was sitting where Sayid had sat. He was there just briefly. Finally my hair was done, and I headed back toward the set. Filming for the scene started already. Anxiously, I headed toward a production assistant. I asked where I could join the scene. I was told to hang out for the time being. Well, that sounded indefinite, and I really wanted to be in the scene. I was directed to stand under the director's easy up tent. I started to inch my way closer and closer into the scene. But the assistant director was wise to me, and moved me right back to where I should have been standing! Well, it wasn't all bad not being in the scene. I interacted a teensy bit with Jack Bender who is an Executive Producer for LOST. I watched the filming on the directors' camera, and observed camera lens changing. Honestly, it was getting very HOT, and I was standing directly in the sun. It was clear to me I wasn't going to be in the scene. I rounded the corner behind the set searching for my camping chair. I located it, pulled out my chair, and turned to find a good number of extras waiting to be useful. Ah ha! I wasn't the only one....

Come back to hear the end....