Xochi Blymyer:
My Life as an A.D.

The next movie was another Walter Hill movie, "Johnny Handsome", once again with Jim Dyer as my 1st A.D and Barry Thomas as the 2nd A.D. Jim made a deal for me that I would be taken on location even as a Production Assistant. We were off to Louisiana for the first part of the show. We spent time in New Orleans and a few days in the Louisiana State Prison. My job was still working on the schedule and taking care of the cast at base camp. The film starred Mickey Rourke, Morgan Freeman, Ellen Barkin and Forest Whitaker.

Right after we finished "Johnny Handsome", Jim got a movie going to Brazil, "Wild Orchid" directed by Zalman King. He asked me to come along as his 2nd Assistant Director. I was thrilled of course. We were to have Brazilian Assistant Directors as well, that would share in the responsibilities there. We spent 4 months in Brazil going to Salvador, Bahia and Rio de Janeiro. We had crewmembers from England, U.S. and the majority from Brazil. What a great opportunity and experience! I learned quite a bit of Portuguese and got to know the country.

Just a few months after "Wild Orchid" finished shooting I returned to Brazil for a visit and ended up working for a month on a Finnish movie called "Amazonas". There were just seven crewmembers from Finland, the rest Brazilian. I was the only American and was working as a dialog coach for the Finnish and Brazilian actors to speak better American English! This time I worked in the less glamorous parts of Rio such as the favellas. My Portuguese greatly improved with less English-speaking people to talk to there! The movie continued up to the Amazon jungle but I had to return to begin my next show.
 

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