Lost In Translation

No, I didn't wet my blanket.
It was just a ruined evening, I guess, last night. Okay, let's not dramatise the situation and make it sound worse than it actually was. The night was actually good. Just disappointing, maybe.

Good in a way that a good friend, Tien Ern from back home in Kluang arrived yesterday morning. He'll be sticking around Melbourne till coming Monday as he's here just for a short holiday. Disappointing, on the other hand, because something interesting happened.

Okay, okay. So I'm contradicting myself now. Let me explain from the beginning then. As some of you may know by now, since early February, Melbourne has had a certain group of visitors from Hollywood here to film an upcoming movie, Ghost Rider, starring Nicholas Cage.

They'll be here till late June, so till then, they have been and will be around and about filming the movie. As news and speculation spread across the city that a huge celebrity like Mr. Cage himself is in town, I've been a busy boy in a way, constantly looking out and around for a trace of them filming, perhaps. Twice already I've been let down when I found the street outside of my apartment blocked for filming but only to find out later that one was for a commercial and another a local independent film.
Mr. Cage and the hellcycle were nowhere to be seen.

Until last night, that is...

It was after dinner at Corretto's when I decided to drive past Melbourne Uni on Grattan Street just to show Tien Ern around a bit more on that side of the city. It was then when suddenly a bright light in a small street in a corner caught our attention like God did with Paul on the road to Damascus. And lo and behold, a filming in progress! Excited by the possibility that it was Ghost Rider, I briefed Tien Ern on the current affairs of Melbourne and it didn't take much to convince him to join my holy crusade as well. And the best part of it all? He had a camera with him.

So we parked somewhere along Royal Pde., hoping to be able to catch a close glimpse of what's going on from a side alley that intersects with the street they were filming on when a security guard suddenly appear from behind some bushes and told us (very kindly, I must say) that we couldn't go any closer. When asked what were they filming,
"Ghost Rider. That Nic Cage thing."

:O

"It's no good here, I can't let you in. I think your best bet be along the other side (points towards the Law building). You can take photos from there, but you can't use flash, otherwise the cops will take ya camera away," he continued with a smile.

It was too good to be true.
Unfortunately though, it really was too good to be true.

We found out not long after that Mr. Cage himself would not be making an appearance that night and even if he did, we probably weren't gonna be able to see him anyway because the best spot where we could see it all was at least 200m away from where they were filming. The props were there. We saw a coupla bikes. Some dude releasing some smoke screen by the side of the street. And some fella dressed up in a police uniform running across the street followed by the camera and then punching another dude. Twice.

the distance from the set


the set on zoom

It was a disappointment, I tell you.
We waited there for almost an hour, anticipating some awesome stunts that would leave us at awe of something even if less significant than meeting an international superstar at least, but it just didn't happen. The setting was so deceiving because they even blocked the roads from where we were standing, making a bunch of us who were waiting there think that they'd be performing a stunt all the way up the street till where we were at. But no. We were wrong...

Or maybe we left too early. Maybe we were too impatient to wait. Maybe they started filming the real deal only after we left. Oh what a cruel joke it would be if that were the case. But until we find out what really happened after we left, which we may never will, that would have to be the closest the two of us jakuns have ever come to anything of Hollywood.

:(

p/s: for more pics and another story like mine, visit fish8me.com