Max to the Max Set Visit

This is an account of three fans who were on the sets for the shooting of 'Max to the Max'. Sorry but no date is given.

It was originally posted on the long-closed website Roswellian.org. I was unable to contact anyone to ask permission to repost, but I didn't want to lose this great information. If anyone involved with this set visit wants it removed, just contact me.

I don't know the exact circumstances leading to the set visit. From some of the language in the account, it seems that the girls might have been invited because of their work in saving the show. If anyone knows anything different, please let me know.

It is unclear who wrote this account. There are quotes in it from all three women.







It was 6:15 p.m. when we pulled onto the Paramount lot.

We all had butterflies in our stomach in anticipation. It was a beautiful night: clear, cool with excitement in the air. As soon as we passed the gate we could see the lights and rides from the Roswell Carnival. We parked the car and headed to the production office, where Roswell's writing department works. We passed "New York Street" and Stage 19, where Roswell is shot. We got to the building and headed in to find Karen, Jason Katims' assistant. She was bustling around the office when we got there. She took us in to meet the writing team who was working hard in Jason Katims' office surrounded by promo posters, articles, cast photos, magazine cut-outs. This is a man who believes in the people who work for him -- for sure! We were introduced to Jonathan Frakes, Thania St. John, Carol Dunn Trussell, and King Katims himself. He thanked us profusely and asked us if he could get us anything and we swooned. Karen told him she was going to take us down to the set. She handed us the script for the episode they were shooting tonight and off we went.

On the way down, we passed the cast and make-up trailers where we saw Emilie (Tess) snacking, and caught a glimpse of the back of Jason's head, getting his make-up on. The carnival set was amazingly real with a giant ferris wheel, carousel, and game booths. We stood in awe and excitement as Karen introduced us to Bede, the grip and some of the lighting guys and assistant directors.

Brendan was already on the set chatting with everyone looking very Michael-like. His hair is shorter and back to the spiked look we all love! He was all over the place and I couldn't keep my eyes from tracking where he was. Playing with the clown/model - eating cotton candy - laughing with fellow cast members! - London2LA

As I turned around looking for familiar faces, my heart dropped. Jason Behr came walking right toward us, black leather jacket and jeans in all his glory. It was just like something out of a movie. It was like all of a sudden my television opened up and Max Evans came strolling out and it wasn't a big deal (yeah right -- the butterflies were doing triple time in my stomach and I looked at the ground so he couldn't see the stupid grin that would not leave my face). - Lyoness

Jason came over and introduced himself. He thanked us for all the work we've been doing for the show. He shook everyone's hand and looked straight into your eyes. That's a keeper, and a true sign of an honest person. He hung out with us for about half an hour and our conversation covered a lot of topics. He said he thought the Tabasco campaign was really great! He's a Dave Matthews fan and the CD in his stereo right now is Moby. He talked about what he was going to do this summer in terms of films. He had a pile of scripts at home, but nothing really moved him. He would do an indie film with some substance rather than a main frame big budget that had no meat. We talked about Margaritas and Girl Scout Cookies (drinks, not snacks). He mentioned how cool the set was. We agreed. We talked about the real Roswell and how interesting it is. He asked if they had anything in the UFO Museum about the show. Kelly told him they had every episode in the research Library there and you could check them out. He was impressed and said he wanted to visit but that he was really busy. At one point, Lena pointed out that her husband has worked with Jason twice. First on Alien Nation, almost 5 years ago. Then on "Buffy" when he guest starred as Billy "Ford" Fordham. Jason remembered him when she described him, and laughed saying it's a small world. He chatted some more and then they called him for the shoot. He excused himself and asked if we were staying. We nodded in unison and he said he would catch up with us later.

Fine. Good. I needed to fan myself with the script because I'm pretty sure my body temperature was at like 120 degrees. He was the most amazing person, funny, attentive, and down to earth. I'm still recovering. - Lyoness

Karen took us onto the set to meet Patrick Norris, the director. During the takes, he sits behind two monitors and watches the action. He sees exactly what will show up in the frame. It was really cool. He was really nice and ready to work, so we got out of his way. Then Shiri came over to say hi! She was really sweet. She was very excited because a lot of the crew members had brought their kids to the set to be part of the carnival. Thania St. John's twin daughters were riding the merry-go-round. Shiri thanked us for all our work and said she was going over to persuade the prop guys to give her some film so she could take pictures for her photo album. We realized this was like a normal day for her. She was just taking pictures at work. She thought the carnival set was cool and would make a good backdrop for pictures. She was right. We told her we had plenty of film if she wanted it. She said that if the prop guys didn't have it she would take us up on it. And off she went, Liz Parker.

Again I couldn't figure if I got into my television somehow or my TV just exploded and here I was standing in the middle of Roswell. The walls of fantasy and the stone of reality were battling all around me creating a surreal experience like nothing I've ever felt. -Lyoness

Karen introduced us to the second assistant director who was setting the carnival scene and wanted to know if he needed any extras and he said yes! So there we were, right in the middle of the carnival set. Lena threw balls in the game booth and we walked across to another booth, right in front of the camera. The extra in the booth told her to miss on purpose, as the bottles she was throwing at would make too much noise! We only had to do it three times. It was so much fun! The second AD said that our performance brought a tear to his eyes and that he was going to nominate us for an Oscar.

Then we met Katherine (Katie) who was also really nice and also thanked us for our support. She thought the Tabasco campaign was really funny and she was also looking forward to next season so she hopes it will work! She headed for her chair to watch the shoot.

It was time for lunch around 9pm. It was really past dinner time, but the second meal, after about 6 hours (sometimes more, but then technicalities such as meal penalties come into play) is generally considered lunch no matter what time it is! We headed back to Stage 15, where the caterer had set up. We saw Katie walk by with a plate she was bringing to her trailer. Other cast members ate with the crew. We headed back to the writer's office and put our feet up for a while. We talked about what we had experienced so far, and reflected on the first three hours of the evening. At one point Kim asked Lena if she was changing her posting name from Fehrocious to Behrocious, since she couldn't stop talking about how friendly and chatty Jason was! We almost fell out of our chairs laughing! After half an hour of food and rest, we headed back to the set.

After having seen Brendan walk around, talk with the crew, and joke with his fellow cast members, he was suddenly standing right by Kim and I. I decided to thank him for coming to our party a few weeks ago. "Hey Brendan". He said "Hey" back and looked at me. "Thanks for coming to our party, it really made our night." Brendan shrugged as if it was no big deal and said "No problem, I had fun." - Fehrocious

I told him that we really appreciated it and it had made it a great night! I told Brendan we went to see Final Destination earlier that day. Brendan made a funny sound and said he looked like a geek. Lena and I both assured him that he didn't! Coming from two Fehrians, he really had to believe us. - London2LA

Emilie (Tess) is the nicest person in the world. She is tiny and blond and originally from Australia, which we didn't find out until later in the evening when she sprang her accent on us. Lena immediately mentioned that Kim had lived in Australia, and they started talking about their old home cities. After talking about where we were all from, and what all our different nationalities were, we just all burst out laughing!

Emilie came up to us several times and just started chatting. She wanted to know what the fans were thinking. How was the show doing? What were some of the best episodes? She wanted to take pictures with us: one funny, one serious. Kelly teased her for drinking 8 cups of coffee and eating cotton candy, and wanted to know how she wasn't spinning around like the Tasmanian Devil. She thought that was really funny as she laughed and rested her head on Kelly's, as if she had known her forever. She was a great, great person, a young actress working for about 18 months. She said she had only been in LA for 3 months. We'd say she is doing well! Though many Dreamgirls will hate her, remember that Tess may be the villain, but Emilie is a sweetie!

I couldn't take my eyes off of Brendan, sitting quietly in his "Michael" chair, reading a script while all the commotion was going on around him! - London2LA

Jason had a break from shooting and he was sitting right behind Kelly so she went over to chat. She told him she had just moved to LA about two months ago. They talked about the decision to move. Kelly said she woke up one morning and said: "I'm moving to LA." He said he did the same thing. He made his decision, saved his money and here he is. He asked Kelly about her trip across country and she filled him in on some details. She went to the Grand Canyon. He said, "That's big." She said, "Yes, it is. Have you been there?" He said he had been there twice. She told him she really liked what he as doing with this character, and that she hated him in Buffy and Dawson's Creek because he was such a jerk. He said, "that was the characters, not me!" Kelly said, "I know. I hated the characters. You were every high school girl's nightmare. You did a great job there too. I was supposed to hate you." She told him he has now won her over. He said "Good thing" with an adorable smirk. His friends came over to talk basketball NCAA tournament and they had just called him to shoot so Kelly told him it was really nice meeting him. He said, "You aren't leaving, are you?" Kelly said, "No, I'll be around for a while. I'll catch up with you later." He smiled. She smiled. It's so weird when your TV explodes.

While Brendan was standing by the monitors, he started touching the back of his head. He went over to the hair dresser, who started to fix something. Don't I wish I could have run my fingers through that hair of his. I would have had to fight for the job with Kim though... - Fehrocious

Karen, who had been in the office with her boss, Jason Katims, came back to see how we were doing. Guess who walked up right then, if not Bill Sadler! Here is another funny, funny guy. He thanked us. He talked about upcoming events on the show. He asked us about his web site, and wanted our opinion on it. He told us he saw the posted pictures from the set tour at the Roswellian Gathering where people were sitting in Valenti's chair. He thought that was a riot. He said he thought the posting board crew was really great and he was happy he had a chance to put the faces with the names. He asked us what our posting names were. He also talked about summer projects and the Levi's ad. We told him we thought he'd be perfect for it and promised we would do what we could to help.

This also led to discussion about WB demographics and advertisers. He chatted on and on and came up to us several times. He was on set for around 6 hours but actually only shot for 20 minutes, so he had a lot of down time to talk. We took pictures and laughed. He said he was really close with Nick Wechsler. He said Nick is unbelievably funny. He said he's teaching him to play the guitar right now. Karen told us she was there to make sure we were OK: "I was coming to check up on you and I see Bill go up and talk to you guys. You don't need me here!" Bill told Karen the whole silk boxer story. We told him he might be in for more boxers, since his birthday is coming up on April 13th!

Bill stood with us while we watched Shiri shoot a very emotional scene where she is running from a bus, hysterical and crying. After four shots she was exhausted and crying and they wanted her to do it again. Jason watched from the sidelines until she was done. He then walked over, whispered something in her ear and kissed the top of her head. She threw her arms around him. We weren't sure if they were Max and Liz or Jason and Shiri at that point, but it was magic to watch.

Throughout the evening, we kept having to look twice when we saw Jason's stand in. He was of course dressed in the same outfit as Jason and it was amazing how much he looked like him. At a distance, it was almost impossible to tell. Even the ears looked just like Jason's!

Jason Katims came to the set to watch. Katie went up and hugged him and they talked for a while. Later, Kelly went up to Jason to tell him how much she loved Relativity. While Kelly was talking to Jason, Bill asked us what our real names were. When Jason was standing by himself, watching, Lena waved at him and he smiled and waved back.

I was laughing watching Katie run over to Patrick Norris' chair and pick up a bull horn, make funny loud noises out of it and then put it down and rush back to her chair. "It was Brendan," she said - the A.D.s had been yelling at all of us to keep quiet while they were shooting! - London2LA

The cast gets along really well. They seem to genuinely have fun together. They were taking pictures of each other with Shiri's camera. Bede also took pictures of the whole gang posing dramatically. It was fun to watch!

It was so cute to watch Shiri hand her camera to Katie and then sit on Brendan's lap while they both posed and Katie snapped the picture. - London2LA Carol Dunn Trussell came up and talked to us. She also thanked us for supporting the show and told us how much she loved the show herself.

Brendan, who wanted to discuss the show with Carol, interrupted us. He was eating sunflower seeds and talking intensely. I was also eating sunflower seeds and at one point Lena looked upset that I was throwing the shells on the ground. I pointed to where Brendan was standing and all the shells on the ground around him and we both laughed! - London2LA

Bill finally went to work. They used him for about 20 minutes and then he came off the set, went right to where we were sitting, and bid us farewell as he headed for home. He said he would see us on the posting board. And that he did, as he posted something later that night. We hung around for a few hours after that. We watched them shoot a stunt scene with Shiri's stunt double and then we got ready to go. As we were leaving, Jason was done with his scene, which consisted of standing on the moving merry-go-round while Liz jumped off. Lena went up to him and told him we were getting ready to leave. She asked if we could take a picture first and he said "oh of course" without even doubting. We grabbed someone in the crew to take the photo, and Jason stopped and suggested that we move more into the set to get a better background. Was he ever right! Lena told him "Thanks for being so gracious and for hanging out with us so much" and Jason made a cute face that said "oh please!" and said that it was a pleasure meeting us!

I just couldn't get over how friendly and chatty Jason was. The way he listened to you talk and looked you straight in the eye. The constant smiling and laughing. - Fehrocious

Shiri was engrossed in a magazine when we passed her so Kelly reached down and tugged on her boot. They were shooting so we had to be quiet. Kelly gave her the thumbs up and mouthed "Good job!" and waved good-bye. She gave us the most genuine smile and whispered "Thanks, guys. - Thanks so much for coming. Bye!" and she waved.

Before we left, we had to say goodbye to Bede the grip. We spent a lot of time talking to him that evening. He was standing outside the carnival set, by Max's jeep. He hugged us all and said we had to come back and visit again soon. Henry the grip was nowhere in sight.

It was 2:35 p.m. when we left the Paramount lot, never to forget the night we spent trying to figure out how our TV exploded.







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