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Xochi
Blymyer:
My Life as an A.D.
Next I worked on a Disney movie of the week "Balloon Farm"
with Mara Wilson and Rip Torn. We spent some time out in the
farmlands of the area. After "George of the Jungle" it was my
only family show!
Once again I got called back to "Melrose Place" by the Unit
Production Manager, Harry Bring. He needed an Assistant Unit
Production Manager for a few months and thought I was the one
for the job. He's a great teacher. He took the time to show me
parts of the job that you don't get to learn while you're on
the set. The preparation the UPM and Producers and 1st A.D.s
do while we're usually shooting the previous episode.
Upon finishing that show up, I got called from Tom Archuleta
to work on the 2nd Unit of Lethal Weapon 4. As I exited
Melrose Place on my last day, I sprained my ankle so I spent
my time on Lethal Weapon 4, limping up and down the freeways
and climbing rooftops with my cane. Lots of great action! We
had cars coming out of buildings, others jumping through the
air over other cars and guys leaping from building to building
in Chinatown.
"The X-Files" television show
moved to Los Angeles and was going to have a 2nd Unit. Harry
Bring began as the 1st AD/UPM on the job and asked me to come
be his 2nd A.D. As the show got bigger and the 2nd Unit got
huge, Harry became only the UPM and I filled in as 1st A.D. as
needed. The 2nd and 3rd season we
continued in Los Angeles with as many bizarre stories as you
could think of in a season.
I finished with The X-Files on
the 4th season as the 1st A.D. on the 2nd
Unit. At the show got bigger and more complicated the 2nd
Unit had more responsibility. Every show has been different
with a new kind of alien or extraterrestrial experience! We've
blown up buildings, had great car chases and have morphed
people into aliens. We've watched bugs crawl out of bodies and
filmed zombies awaken and dance. You never knew what would
come next. After 4 seasons of The X-Files in Los Angeles,
the show was cancelled and it was time to move on to a new
adventure.
As The X-Files was ending I got hired on a
small movie called Time Cop 2. The director was Steve
Boyum who had directed the 2nd unit of Crazy Horse
years ago in South Dakota. The 1st A.D. was
Rick Johnson. Time Cop 2 had us going from 1895
to 2025 back to 1944 to 2002 and more in just 6 short weeks.
I started the show as the 2nd A.D. but when the
1st A.D. left the show I became 1st
A.D. for the final third of the show. It was fun and
challenging to work on a lower budget movie. The cast
made the movie even more enjoyable. Jason Scott Lee
and Thomas Ian Griffith were the good and bad guys. Oh, and
I had a small part! They need somebody to dress up as
a Female Nazi Intelligence Officer. Luckily I
didn’t
have to speak. It’s
the first scene of the movie too!
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