Atlantica - 01.12.2004, Page 22

20 AT L A N T I C A
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Entering the Jack’s Diner set piece, Forest Whitaker
stops us.
“Hey. How are you? How was your trip?” he asks. We
ran into him at the Akureyri airport weeks ago. He pulls
us aside and tells us about the walks he’s taken on
Hekla, and the overall tranquillity of Iceland. He is so at
ease, so calm, that it is hard to believe he is on set, that
he is at work. The genuine amiability the actor turned
on at will in The Color of Money and in Ghost Dog is
undeniable in person. Surprisingly close to a quality we
used to call the Minnesota Nice.
Mr. Whitaker is called for a camera check, and we duck
into the diner to find a place to hide away as the next
scene is shot.
This is when the experience gets extremely creepy. As
I stare at a Miller High Life mirror just over a juke box
with a hand written “Out of Order” sign taped to it, I
realize that the diner even smells like something in the
heart of America. Thick with maple syrup and a hint a
burning dust from electric heaters.
I catch the eyes of the unusually charismatic middle-
aged waitress standing behind the counter.
Her smile is so effusive that the whole crew looks over.
“This is a wonderful diner,” she says, and
everyone nods and goes back to work.
Mr. Kormákur seems particularly pleased.
He thanks her in English and then tells us
in Icelandic that this is British actress of
the year Anne Reid, here for only one day
to do this scene.
The lighting and cameras set up, we sud-
denly find ourselves in a closet watching
Mr. Whitaker on the monitor during a par-
ticularly tense phone conversation.
An hour later, we sneak out. We bump into
Mr. Whitaker’s assistant, bleary eyed, star-
ing at a container of sandwiches.
“You just wait and eat a lot. I gained many
many pounds,” he tells me when I ask if
the job gets tedious.
Filming ends Sunday morning. Wrap party
is on Sunday night. I ask him what he’ll do
on Monday.
“I’ll be sleeping. Just sleeping. And the
day after that. And the day after that.”
NEED A JUMP? THE CREW
HUSTLES TO READY
THE AMC PACER.
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