my (faux) baby girl

Knock on wood.  Things have been going pretty well professionally speaking recently.  Can't complain, can't complain.  Thought this might be interesting to share...I got hired this week to work on a Chase bank job where I got to play a dad once again.  That's been happening a little too often recently and trust me when I say that I have stopped in my tracks and realized that people are perceiving me to be of that age now.    Well, if I get to work with kids like the baby girl I had this week, I won't mind one bit.  Jessica was simply adorable.  Yea, everyone says kids are such and yea every kid probably is, but rare is the time when I walk away from a kid actually wishing that he/she were my own kid.  I think I saw my future in this girl and it just struck a cord in me or something.  Maybe my hormones are going haywire.  Men have those things too, right?  Anyway, just thought I'd share the process that was with Daddy and his little girl.

A couple weeks back, I went to the initial casting.  It was a madhouse with potential daddies and even more cute little girls.  By the next day, I was at a callback with just three little girls and before I knew who they picked, when I saw Jessica, I knew she had to be the one.  The other girls were cute, but Jessica...just stood out.  She was obviously a cutie, but her voice, her playfulness, her nature, her...her....being.  She just had it, whatever it is.  Despite her mother, who had brought here there, thinking I was Korean and acting surprised when I spoke Chinese to her, I wanted Jessica to get it.  And, obviously, I hoped I'd get it too.  Anything to work with Jessica.

The casting director had all the candidates team up together to see who had a natural feel and look together.  This is what it looked like:

That was Jessica and I.  This was another girl and I:

Yes, I felt like a cheatin' father as I had different girls in my arms.  As fate would have it though..a week later, when I arrived to the shoot, there Jessica was waiting!  We'd found each other.  Only, there was another girl there, the one in the 2nd photo who tested with me.  What?  Turns out - and this I didn't know - often with children at a young age, they like to have their main choice and a back-up on set just in case that day the first choice isn't having a good day.  Kids, you know how they can be.  So, in case Jessica might have been upset or fussy or something, they were covered.  (Hey, what if Iwas feeling fussy?)  Turned out too that a friend of mine was one of the creative directors on this shoot.  He'd just started at the agency the week before and whether or not I got any help from "above" with this job is something that maybe will be answered over beers and shots one day - when the truth comes out.

Jessica and I get to working and while she was a little camera shy at first (she's still only 5 after all and not savvy quite yet), she eventually warmed up and our photographer got many many many shots from which the agency/client would have to work with.

Example: They squeezed off some photos of the other girl while she was there too just as a precaution I think.  I felt bad, but at least am comforted by the fact that she doesn't know any better about the whole thing.  To the little girls - even Jessica - I think the whole thing is just playtime for them.  The innocence of youth - it's tremendous.

My friend sent me the shot that the photographer liked best.  I'm guessing this might be the one that hits the scene.  Whenever that is: I was sad to part ways with Jessica as we wrapped, but perhaps, if it's meant to be, one day, we will get together again. 

All in a day's work.

Hope to see you again, my love..