“The Blind Side” premiered last night, a touching story about something or other, but that’s not really important. What is important is that I was cast as “maintenance guy #3” in the opening sequence of the film. In the scene I clip a hedge outside a prestigious private school set in Memphis, TN. Since its debut on November 20, 2009, I’ve often been asked what it was like to play the part of “maintenance guy #3.” The first thing I tell those people, other than that I prefer not to be photographed from the left side in the top half of the hour, is that I did not play the part; I lived the part of “maintenance guy #3.” My overalls were Dickies, my shears Fiskars, and the hedge….Indian Hawthorne. It was not difficult to get inside the head of “maintenance guy #3” because I have planted (with my own bloodied and Miracle Gro Garden Soil-stained hands) 14 Indian Hawthorne in my own yard. I know the shrub. And as Henry Ibsen once said, “to know the shrub is to know the man.”
I will not be signing autographs at the next Dobbs meeting, as I need to keep my hand conditioned for my next labor-oriented role, perhaps as “arborist” or “man reading newspaper.” I will very much appreciate your restraint.
¡Inglés fatal! 
Wow, and we can say we knew you when. Next time, can we visit the set?
I’m commenting on an earlier post, about the question of how 21st century approaches play out for Spanish I students, who need to learn basics before the metacognitive skills. I skimmed a section of a book about formative assessments and critical thinking (which title I can’t recall at the moment, but it is from Eye On Education Press– a useful outfit) which addressed precisely this question. Their answer was that all education maintains a balance between various levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, and the balance depends on the course and the kids. We may need to work on the elementary levels first, but work toward reaching the more sophisticated levels. I appreciated the “permission” to work where I need to, without thinking I was failing the cause.
Ted:
I haven’t seen the movie and was not going to see it; however, now that I learned that you have such a prominent role, I will go out and see it immediately. I have always wanted to have the role of the hedge clipper in a film. I am so jealous. What % of the royalities will you be claiming?
Bob Ryshke