August 28, 1998

7:00 call time. Today began as usual--little did we know that it would be a very long day! Today was the first appearance of both Will Smith and Salma Hayek on the set. As much fun as it is to be around the actors, it also adds many hours to the shooting process, as we go through numerous retakes of each scene. Kenneth Branagh is nowhere to be found. Kevin Kline is his usual stand-offish self, interacting with no one except the director, other principal actors, and a select few technical people. Salma Hayek is really beautiful, and causes a huge commotion amongst the extras when she arrives on the set. She continually practices her lines between takes, and unfortunately, requires many retakes to get things just right. She also does not interact with anyone except the other principals and the directors. Will Smith arrives by horseback from his trailer. In contrast to the other stars, he is warm and giving of his time. He mingles with the background actors when he has time, and shakes innumerable hands and jokes with the children. He also attempts to keep the mood light by joking with the actors/directors between takes.

The extras spend all morning working on one scene because of the retakes, rush back to holding for a quick lunch, and spend all afternoon shooting one other scene. Some of us are wrapped early, but others stay to continue shooting a different angle with the actors. The early extras wrapped at 7:00 and the late extras wrapped at 8:30.