It's a funny job, but somebody has to do it

A few years ago one of my sisters and I sent our pictures to a local production company that was looking for extras. I got called to act in a true-crimes story about a prison escapee who had stolen a car, crashed it in a ditch and flagged down a woman who was actually an off-duty cop. The woman felt bad for the man and offered him a ride -- little did she know it would be at gun point. She drove until her car needed gas and he directed her to pull into a service station. He took her keys from her and went to pay for the gas. But she, very conveniently, had another key in her purse. She locked her car and drove off to call for help.

What a cool woman. Of course I said yes when they asked me to play her character. But when I was stitting in a freezing car with a gun pointed at my chest (it was supposed to be pointed at my head, but the barrel was too long for the car and the shot had to be adjusted accordingly) and my window rolled down so the camera man could shoot inside the car, I hated it. Making movies is suppossed to be glamourous (ourous?), not miserable.

But today I got an offer too funny to resist sharing. Here are a few excepts from the e-mail the casting director sent looking for extras for another true-crime story :

"[W]hat we are looking for is a bit harder for me to find...well that is a lie...it is a bit harder for me to ask!!! We will be needing a lot of women, who are in their 20's and well ...here is where it gets hard...we need them to be strippers, well to portray strippers."

"Of course it goes with out saying that everyone will be clothed while we are filming but the clothing at times will not be church clothing if you get what I mean!"

"So I don't want to call up a young lady and say "Hey you look like you could be a stripper?!?!?!?", so I am putting out a call to anyone who would be comfortable portraying a stripper on set."

Initially I thought this was dumb and immediately dismissed the idea. But it's so funny. Almost too funny to pass up. And I love funny.

Here's an example of what I'm willing to do for funny:

Last summer, I volunteered to be a mascot for a big sporting event, just for laughs. I dressed up as a huge deer and danced around giving out hugs and high fives and stealing hats. I played basketball with some kids and, when I got hit in the head because they thought I saw out of the deer's plastic eyes, not out of its mesh mouth, I pretended to be in great pain, writhing on the ground. I didn't know there were photographers there, but the next day my big white-tailed bum was in the newspaper.

So I'm having a real dilemma about this "acting" opportunity. It's a potential story that I'd still be telling in the nursing home. If anyone has a problem with my wavering moral compass or my willingness to be filmed scantily clad for a whopping $7.00 an hour, please share your thoughts before it's too late!