Xochi Blymyer:
My Life as an A.D.

"Primal Fear" I worked again with Richard Gere, a pleasure. I had the opportunity to work with a 1st A.D. named Steve Buck. We worked for the most part on Stage at Paramount Studios with a few local locations like the Queen Mary and then took a quick trip to West Virginia to finish up the show. I spent most of my time with Bucky on the set keeping things going there.

Tom Archuleta called me one day and said "Are you eligible to be a 1st A.D. yet?". I hadn't turned in my paperwork but suddenly rushed to do it. He was inviting me to work on a TNT movie in South Dakota as the 1st A.D. on 2nd unit/2nd 2nd A.D. on 1st Unit. I became eligible and off I went to "Crazy Horse". Our 2nd unit went from fishing for bloody hats down the river to shooting huge battles with Soldiers and Indians on horseback to burning Indian villages and buffalo hunts. We climbed many hills and walked through the wilds while it was 100 degrees or snow was falling. We slept in tents and showered in modified flatbeds for the 1st ten days of the show.

I went to visit the set of Walter Hill's next movie "Last Man Standing". I bumped into Ralph Singleton who was Producer and by coincidence they needed a 2nd A.D. to help for a few weeks starting a few days later. My visit turned into a job and I worked on both the 1st and 2nd unit as needed. Tom Archuleta was brought in as the 2nd Unit increased in size.

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