Making a Movie at Mount Vernon in May 2006

On Friday, May 5th, I responded to a post on craigslist, Washington, DC for Male background actors for an 18-minute film being made for Mount Vernon that depicts the defining moments of George Washington's life. Since I am always on the lookout for opportunities to be in a movie, I responded and was cast as a British soldier in their movie. I spent all day Saturday and Sunday at Mount Vernon filming the movie. On Sunday, I pulled out my old Kodak DX3900 and took a few quick pictures.

After filming, I did some research about the movie. The film is part of a $100 million renovation at Mount Vernon designed to make George Washington more exciting. The title of the movie is We Fight to Be Free. We were filming a battle scene from the Battle of Monongahela during the French and Indian war in 1755. The British soldiers were led by Gen. Edward Braddock. The British forces were caught in an ambush and lost the battle. George Washington distinguished himself as being calm and courageous under fire.

Mike Becvar, the British Soldier. I wish I had a better picture of myself in costume.

Actors line up outside the wardrobe trailer on Sunday morning to get their costumes.

After everyone finished getting their costumes, hair and makeup, and props, we waited in a field.

Although I spent two days at Mount Vernon, I never got closer than half a mile to the actual house.

Close-up of one of the re-enactors

It seemed like half of the scenes had us lining up to march into battle.

We spent more time waiting around than actually filming. When it was going to take a long time for them to set up the new camera angles, they let us rest a bit.

All of the camera equipment on the set.

Three re-enactors

Maybe the British would have won if they drank Coke instead.