The plan was to get out around 17: 30 hours from the hotel where we were staying, but due to the fact that we had been going all day, we decided to stay a little longer. It was already around 18: 00 hours when we left our room and two young men were talking to us right outside the hotel door. We did not pay much attention to them. Their words went through one ear and out through the other, and we just knew, or at least I did, whether we wanted to watch a movie at 04: 30 in the morning with Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem and pay 90 000 pesos. We flatly refused! We were walking and walking away when Plamena told me:
"These were cut off very quickly!"
- Of course! How can anyone expect to be wound up on such an absurd proposal !? I replied.
- They offered us to make a movie with these actors and pay us! Plamen explained.
- Are you serious? Are you sure?
- Yes! If you don't believe us, we'll come back to ask them again! “Plamen offered, and at that moment I realized that what Plamen was saying made sense.
- All right! Let's find them until they are gone!
Biases are bad and often interfere with our judgment. We returned and, to our luck, saw the same couple hiding around the corner of the street, accelerated the stride, and shortly after we shouted behind them: - Perdon! Señora, señor! Olya! Ehhhh! Amigos! Money! Money! - and what not. Here, after these efforts, they finally turned.
"Can you repeat this with the movie again because we didn't understand everything because of our bad Spanish?"
We repeated my version, to which they replied with laughter, as we did. Then we heard the following:
"A movie is currently being made with Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. The movie is called Escobar and tomorrow we need 30 foreigners. We will provide you with breakfast, lunch and dinner and will pay you 90 000 pesos if you choose to participate. Usually everything lasts for 6-8 hours, depending on the scene and how things go. If you decide to participate, you will need to shave and stay at most just a mustache. "
Of course, this was only for me, and Plamena was very pleased with this news, as she always wanted to see me by her own mustache. We looked at each other, all this seemed super doubtful and unanimously asked in Spanish, but with a strong Bulgarian doubt:
"How can we be sure this is not a hoax?"
- You can ask at all the hotels around. They know me and I work with them regularly.
We went to the hotel and asked, and the receptionist boy, with a big smile and almost laughing, said what we wanted to hear. Apparently more relaxed we exchanged data and agreed to wait at the time specified by her 04: 30 h.
- "Hasta manana entonces!" - we thought with Plamena and continued, running for our meeting, realizing that we would not arrive in time, but with a wonderful alibi.
After meeting our friend, we shared an interesting story and she confirmed that such things are happening in Bogota. It calmed us down a bit, but didn't completely wash away the dark thoughts. Bogota is the 9 million city and not all people think you are good. The early hour frightened us even more, because we would be leaving, with strangers somewhere, and in the dark. Good combination for some suspicion!
Vanessa, hearing these concerns, decided to call the lady in question and ask her a little more detail.
- Ask about the production house! We whispered to Vanessa.
After the interesting conversation ended, as "frantic" newcomers, we went to Google to search for a production company "Dynamo" and wouldn't you - the same company really made a movie in Colombia with Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. All our doubts disappeared with each passing minute. After Lady called Vanessa that she had a change of hours and would pick us up from the hotel at 05: 30 hours, only then did Plamen and I manage to relax and enjoy the luck and the cold Poker (Colombian beer) ).
After we slept like "baths", as they say in our end, finally the alarm "rang out" in 4 and something and from the heart we prayed that someone would come to the door.
Lady Jimenez's accuracy could be compared to Tisot's accuracy. The sun was preparing to "go out" like us, and this gave us peace of mind, which could be explained by the lack of a car waiting outside. Lady Jimenez led us through the streets of the old city of Bogota, where as we walked, we "gathered" all the "gringos" to which she had made the same promise. They came out with puffy eyes and reassured that there were other people. We realized that we were not the only ones who thought it doubtful. As we "crossed" the congested roads, the thoughts that had only bothered us until a few hours ago had completely evaporated. We even wondered: - How could we have doubted? Not long after, we were in the parking lot where we came in as "mochileros" (backpack travelers), and we came out as movie stars from the 80s. We were immediately drawn to the dressing rooms for makeup and hairstyle and later to the dressing rooms. We went through a "complete change" and headed for the set.
We arrived at the hotel where the scene was to be filmed. Plamena had the "hard" task of getting out of the cab and heading to the lobby. The other Gringos just had to walk in and out of the hotel. I had the "naughty" task of pushing the basket with Penelope Cruz's gifts, personally donated to her by Pablo Escobar (Javier Bardem) - that was a piccolo. The big star, Penelope Cruz, appeared on the set after playing the scene about 15 a few times with another extras like us instead of Penelope. This is to ensure that the big stars do not waste some of their valuable time relaxing in hotel rooms. She, in her turn, moved like a gazelle and impressed with her acting. Every movement of the facial muscles perfectly coincided with what she said, and so the body language was in full accordance with the spoken phrases spoken. It is a very interesting fact that during the shooting everyone avoids staring the actors in the eyes, because in this way they are concentrated and they do not like it. I understood this the hard way after studying it with my eyes for a while.
With the passing of time and the repetition of seemingly intricate scenes, all extras began to bore them. Not all of the time there was a role for everyone. There were periods in which many people simply watched and waited for assignments. I was one of them and the last 4-5 hours, I did nothing. Plamena, who looked like a successful Hollywood star, was "involved" in multiple scenes. On one of the scenes, she was right behind Penelope Cruz while she was talking to an undercover agent (Peter Sargaard) in a sort of underground bar. Fortunately or not, this scene was split into 2 parts and the new "rising Hollywood star" - Plamen, had to be present by the end of the photos. The interesting thing was that while Penelope and Peter were talking at the bar, filming the scene, all the other extras just pretended to be talking. In this way, the actors were able to concentrate fully without being distracted. Upon successful completion of the recording, the big stars left the set, and everyone else was asked to take their seats again and start saying anything so that this sound recording could be inserted into the movie. To our great surprise, this day we met some 13-born Bulgarians who proudly represented our homeland in Colombia. The team of professionals was entirely responsible for the camera, sound, effects and many other things related to the movie that we don't understand. People have enjoyed the respect of their Colombian and Spanish counterparts, who have repeatedly mentioned while talking to themselves that Bulgarians are some of the best in the industry.
The extraordinary day ended around 20: 15 hours, so in total we spent more than 13 hours on the set. We were given the promised money, we exchanged it and weary of that long day and not sleeping since last night, we headed to the hotel to get our luggage and spend the night at the airport. We slept in our bedrooms as real movie stars.
