Director Bryan Singer is on his very last day of shooting for "X-Men 2," due out May 2, the sequel to his wildly successful "X-Men," based on the Marvel Comic characters.
In a soundstage on the 20th Century Fox lot in Los Angeles, Famke Janssen, who plays telepathic mutant Dr. Jean Grey, is standing on a platform before a green screen, extending her hands toward an invisible maelstrom, as a giant wind machine blows in her face.
Just off-camera, though, stands a man wearing a tatty, cheesy turtle suit and a giant, lopsided Afro wig -- and all he wants to do is to steal Janssen's place in the limelight.
Despite the presence of this oddly garbed intruder (along with a camera man, sound man, director, producer and reporter), Singer is unconcerned -- because he's in on the joke.
The scene being filmed with the turtle-suited man (supposedly playing a mutant called Turt Repner) represents one in a series of stunts being filmed for a new AMC "faux-reality" series called "Welcome to Hollywood," premiering this fall.
Based on the film of the same name, the farcical series follows writer/director/actor Adam Rifkin as he tries to break a protégé, dubbed "Norby," into Hollywood by dragging him to TV tapings, film sets and events.
Rifkin co-directed the original film with Tony Markes (who's directing on the fly for the series), who shares screenplay credit with Shawn Ryan, creator of FX's cop drama"The Shield." All three men contributed to the original film's story, which cast Markes as the wannabe actor.
Today, it's Singer's turn to participate in the spoof, arranged through his friendships with Rifkin and Tim Sullivan, the creative executive for the TV version of "Welcome to Hollywood."
"Anything Adam wants to do," Singer says, "I'm up for, anything."
Singer makes a cameo appearance in the film -- as do Janssen and her feisty Boston terrier, Licorice, which apparently dislikes men in turtle suits -- but it's not his acting debut.
"No," he says, "I once played myself in another film, another circumstance very similar to this, about a screenwriter making his way through the Cannes film festival, called 'Cannes Man.' I played myself with Benicio del Toro and Kevin Pollak."
"We were shooting at a table in the middle of the Majestic bar, which was filled with all kinds of entertainment people. We had lights, cameras, but everybody kind of assumes that's just Cannes, so nobody paid much attention. We went about our business, and it kind of worked out."
Singer also says he doesn't mind people dropping by when he's working, which apparently happened during filming for "X-Men 2" in Vancouver.
"Being a filmmaker involved with 'X-Men' as I am, there's a rabid fan base, and you very often get some unusual suitors," Singer says. "Sometimes they get stopped really far away at the gate, and sometimes not. I remember one time, I'm standing right next to a young couple who had somehow just found their way right to me."
"The two of them are standing next to me, and they're like, 'How's it going?' I'm like, 'It's going great, not bad.' I personally will let anybody on the set, it's usually everybody else who stops me. Once they get to me, I'm like, 'Oh, yeah, come, grab a seat, grab a café mocha, grab a headset and listen.' I'm very accommodating that way. It's other folks around me that tend to get worried and protective."