Bonnie took this picture of Bruce "dancing" between takes on the set of Gemini from her office building. She provides a close-up to the right.

In my early computer days, during the 70's, we used to have the computer do a full core-dump of all the code in the program. It released its data onto reams of paper for us to plod through and try to make sense of. The following is what seems to be a full dump of my memory-core: this narration consists of my observations during some of the filming of the last episodes of Nowhere Man in downtown Portland. You may find it much too long but since I love to tell a story, especially if it's true, that's what I've done here. Hope you enjoy it.

Marathon, Gemini - observations from behind some scenes The morning of April 2nd, 1996, I was sitting at my desk at work when a friend stopped by and mentioned that one of our maintenance men was going to be a "gofer" for Nowhere Man. Someone from the production called my company and made arrangements to use our bridge (an archway linking the second floor to 6th street, spanning the lovely plaza beneath it) for four hours that day. They were to pay my company $400 for 4 hours and as I understood it, had already made payment. I was ecstatic, thinking that I'd finally see Bruce Greenwood in person. I happily basked in my expectations until an hour later, I was told that NWMan had called and canceled for the day. They had said they'd come another time instead but since the film wrapped the next day, they must have cancelled it altogether. I was disappointed but took it in stride and went about my work . I figured this sort of luck was unbelievable anyway (I didn't know what was to come). That afternoon, around 2:30, I took a break and walked up the park blocks to see if any filming was going on, not really expecting to see anything.

As I walked up the park blocks, I was excited to see two trucks in front of the Oregon History Center Plaza with Nowhere Man placards in their front windows. I wandered around a bit, noticing one trailer had "Director" and I think another had something like "Second Director" on it. In fact there were several trailers up and down side streets, close to 6th street.

[As an aside, I've noticed that they always set up for lunch around 3:00, which is one reason I chose this time to walk about. Each time the tables, awnings and accompanying food trucks, were set up outside one of the park block churches. The church side door would always be open with people going in and out. I think these were convenient places to feed large groups of people with shelter and comfort from the rain, though the weather wasn't too bad by then. A friend and I once had to walk through the setting up of one of the awnings for the food tables. As they were blocking the sidewalk, the cheerful crew joked with us as they helped us to dodge under and around their poles and ropes to get through.]

Back to my story: I was disappointed to find that there didn't appear to be any actual filming going on there that day. The day before, April 1st, my friend and I had walked through the alley beside the History Center (our usual route back to work) and saw a small group of people, men and women, nicely dressed (suits, coats, etc.) waiting on the steps in front of the plaza. A slender man with Bruce-like hair, but it looked lighter, and wearing a plaid shirt and jeans sat on the steps behind them, chatting with someone. (I wondered if that was Bruce but couldn't see his face). We walked through the alley, following a massive cable which traversed its length and connected to a large van parked on the 7th street side of the Museum. Its door was open and it was mostly empty with remnants of equipment in it. I think they were filming inside the building and the people on the plaza must have been waiting for their cue to enter. That was the entrance thru which the Senator came in.

[In the days before, and this day, we'd seen as we walked down the park blocks remnants of equipment set up along the central walkway, including a reflector and miscellaneous other items. No one was near them. Another time I noticed two police horses tethered in the park blocks (were these in the chess scene?). Earlier, we had stopped and watched while a couple of policemen, one who was very tall, stood beside a car in front of an alley opening surrounded by film crew. As we walked away, I looked back and saw that they had spread papers out on top of the car hood. This must have been the scene just after Tom had escaped up the fire escape. Returning from our walk that same day, we noticed a lot of activity on the corner of 9th & Clay. Most noticeable were 3 or four tallish men in dark coats standing there, with an empty sidewalk between them and Columbia. I think this was the scene where Tom starts up the sidewalk but sees these men who chase him toward the alley shortly after he has obtained the safety deposit box contents. Being short on time, we couldn't stay and watch. After all, we weren't even aware that this WAS Nowhere Man until I actually watched the episode and recognized what I had seen.]

Back to my story: after noticing the Nowhere Man trucks, I reluctantly headed back to work. As I approached the entrance to my building, I saw across the street a mass of people and equipment. They were clustered on the corner of 6th and Main, and I walked down to the opposite corner to stand and watch for a minute or two. I saw that a camera had been set up on tracks going from the street part of the corner diagonally in toward the corner stone wall surrounding the Federal Building which occupies the entire block. Orange warning cones had been placed strategically and a couple of people were directing traffic. I noticed a little old lady in bright yellow talking to someone out in the street. I thought at the time she was an extra but it appears she was just a confused little person who ended up walking up the entire block in line with the camera, despite, evidently, the crew's efforts to divert her path. They held up filming until she'd disappeared.

As I stood there, I watched a slender man, again with Bruce-like hair and wearing the same plaid shirt and jeans, talking with someone. Then he walked to one of the fake telephones set up against the wall and picked up the receiver while another man talked to him. This MAY have been Bruce, but I didn't recognize him then, or maybe it was his double?? It was time to get back to work, however, and I regretfully entered the building. As soon as I could, maybe 5 or 10 minutes later, I grabbed my camera and dashed to the windows overlooking 6th street. A couple of other people were watching the events going on down there but they didn't stay long. I took several of quick shots and then, walking back to my desk along the length of the building, I was surprised to see Bruce suddenly appear from under one of the trees (luckily they hadn't leafed out yet) and walk in long strides up the block with his hair blowing in the breeze. He moved quickly up the hill to his starting position then turned toward the camera on the corner and waited. The various groups of people standing about also moved to their assigned places - the whole block was occupied by extras. It was here I saw the little lady in yellow finally exiting the block behind Bruce. By the way, my view was from 9 floors up, so my pictures, in addition to being taken with a wide angled lens, are from a distance. I was getting a bit nervous to be found standing here when I should have been at my desk working, so I didn't stay very long. As I watched, Bruce was given a signal and started down the sidewalk while the extras all moved along their appointed paths. Evidently that wasn't exactly how the director wanted it and Bruce walked back up the hill while the extras moved back to where they came from (it looked like how it would appear running a video backwards and forwards). I saw Bruce turn to a couple of people sitting on the wall and walk over to them. As he walked, he put his hands in his pockets (he was wearing his corduroy coat) and raised and hunched his shoulders as he spoke with them. If you've seen him in the interviews recorded by Portland's UPN affiliate news, this is a typical Bruce gesture. I saw him reach his hand out and shake one of their hands while they chatted. A few seconds later he was back at his position, waiting for his cue. Finally he received a signal and started walking down the hill while the extras started out on their routes. Halfway down the block, Bruce suddenly stopped dead, then started dancing side to side across the width of the sidewalk waving his arms. (He did this just long enough for me to get a picture of it.) It appeared that someone by the camera had indicated that this still wasn't right and this was his reaction to it. Soon after he continued on down but soon strayed off to the entrance to the building where several people were standing and chatted with them.

[I talked to a coworker who had worked one day on the set during filming of Hidden Agenda. It was during the coldest day and they were there until midnight out in the freezing woods. I asked him what his opinion of Bruce was and he replied that Bruce was very nice and everyone liked him. He also described Bruce as being "a real showboat". He said Bruce mingled freely with the cast and crew and was always up to something.]

I waited while Bruce and the extras moved back to their spots ( I got one more picture) and then I had to get back to work. A short time later when I walked past the windows I saw that everyone was gone and the sidewalk was empty. This was about 3:30 that afternoon. I resigned myself to having at least seen Bruce from a distance and considered myself lucky. At quitting time, I wasn't in any hurry to leave so waited another 10 minutes before I finally took the elevator to the second floor where I exited on the 6th Street bridge to my bus stop on the corner of 6th & Main. Was I ever surprised to see the film crew across the street on the same corner. The camera on the tracks was gone but a new camera was set up surrounded by crew pointing toward my side of the street. As I approached my bus-stop I saw "strange" people moving in and taking positions. Seeing several regulars standing there as well, I walked over to stand against the low wall near the corner and wait to see what was happening. Soon Bruce appeared in his brown coat (I could certainly recognize him then) across the street surrounded by film crew. This was really getting interesting! A lady I work with walked by and I noticed her watching Bruce fixedly. We could only exchange brief greetings so as not to disrupt our observations of what was happening.

Suddenly, a group of people, Bruce among them, crossed the intersection over to our side of the street. I heard voices mentioning "security" and that "everything was set". No one asked us bystanders to move, happily, and the buses continued to stop at the corner, unloading and loading passengers as usual. This was during the beginning of rush hour between 4:40 and 5:00 and traffic is getting heavy at that time, especially coming down 6th toward town. Several of the people from across the street stationed themselves at strategic locations. One of these was a slender, dark-haired young woman with a head phone on. I recognized her from one of the news interviews (I think she was a director). She stood in the middle of the sidewalk about 8 feet from me and faced the corner of the block. At the corner were several extras and right beside us bus stop regulars stood the girl with long blonde hair which you see in the episode walking by Bruce as he puts his envelopes in the mailbox. She explained what was going on to several of the curious bus riders.

Bruce, in the meantime, was talking with several other people as he stood on the corner, a serious, attentive look on his face. I watched him glance up hill where we stood and scan the crowd. Then he was given a couple of large, blank manila envelopes and he walked down the curving ramp to the plaza below where he turned and stood waiting. He chatted with a man (probably security) who stood beside him and they laughed briefly at something they were discussing. Soon a signal was given and he started up the ramp and I was amused to see a little lady who rides my bus with me walking beside him for a short way, totally oblivious to his presence. He soon out paced her and walked to the fake mailbox set up on the corner and put his envelope in. So much was going on immediately around me and acquaintances were stopping to chat and ask what was going on that I wasn't able to keep track of everything that Bruce was doing. Each time I looked for him, he was somewhere else. Whenever I saw him walking, he strode smoothly and really covered ground. Eventually I saw him walk to a position on Main St. a quarter block from 6th beside the granite wall that surrounds the Plaza and wait for his signal. It was from there that the part of the episode where he walks toward the mailbox was filmed. I watched as he stood there, head and shoulders above the wall, shaking his hair back and holding his chin up while he waited for his cue. Receiving his signal, he walked to the mailbox and put a manila envelope in, doing his Tom sniff and looking around. Then he moved to cross the street directly toward the camera. I held my breath as I watched, since the timing evidently was off and the traffic light changed to green just as he approached the edge of the sidewalk. This didn't phase him, however, and he dodged first a bus, then disappeared behind an AT Armored truck, then reappeared dodging around another large vehicle, as he crossed the three lanes against traffic. The traffic was coming down hill and fast and it seemed miraculous he made it across alive. I don't think this was intended. Anyway, he ended up in the midst of the crew on the other side and they took a break then (must have scared them) and they didn't do any more filming for the rest of the time I was there.

Over on our side, I noticed that a lady was attempting to put her mail in the fake mailbox where Tom had just inserted his envelope. A crew member with a big grin on his face walked over to her and I saw him explaining what was going on. She looked kind of sheepish while he retrieved her envelopes. In the process the mailbox was knocked off its leveling wood blocks so they had to fix that as well. While I was chuckling at this with a lady who stood beside me, Bruce crossed the street again and walked to the bridge in the center of my block at the entrance to my office building. Here he was surrounded by autograph seekers and, when I finally located him (I had missed all this) I saw him standing like an island in a small sea of heads (he was a head taller than everyone there). He soon had to leave them and I watched as he turned away, his face immediately turning serious as he moved down the sidewalk near where we were standing. He stopped by the young woman with the head phones and talked with her for a minute or two, then turned and started down the sidewalk toward to where we stood. I think, since I was taller than the others around me and was watching him in round-eyed interest, I caught his attention and he met my eyes for what seemed to me to be a long time (probably only seconds). I finally tried to smile but I'm sure I only grimaced and right after, he turned back to the young woman and they talked a few more seconds before he turned back and, moving along the street edge of the sidewalk, walked to the corner not looking at anybody. His face remained very serious, much like he looked in Gemini. I was HAPPY - I'd actually seen Bruce Greenwood in person, right in front of me. Since bus riding gets hectic after 5pm, and I'd already skipped one bus, I decided I'd better get on the one that arrived just after that since Bruce had by now crossed back across the street and was again surrounded by heads of rapt admirers. As my bus left, I turned and watched him 'til we were out of sight.

Epilog:

As for the scene which finally made it into the episode, I think they must have re-filmed the one from the granite wall after I left, since the traffic didn't impair the camera view of Bruce in any way. This time the timing was right.

I think the scene of Bruce walking at night in a suit was filmed along one of the nearby cross streets also, with the park blocks in the background. A coworker of mine said he was downtown that evening and stopped by our office building really late. The cast and crew were still there working. And maybe they really did get to use our bridge for something, or at least get their money's worth out of the $400 they paid my company.

Finally, you may wonder why I didn't avidly approach Bruce for an autograph or search him out in the multitude of previous opportunities I had had. The reason was that while I had been an avid fan of Nowhere Man since the previous November (I started late), I wasn't a BG fan at that time. We just speculated that this might be Nowhere Man filming in the Park Blocks during the previous two weeks but we didn't find out for sure until the episodes aired a month later. I was just curious and even somewhat hesitant (didn't want my illusions destroyed) to see what he looked like up close, whether he really looked like Tom Veil or was it all makeup, but he was still a complete unknown to me as a person or a personality. I was pleasantly surprised to see he was a lot taller than I was, he looked JUST like Tom Veil, his hair was nicely cut and was more ash blonde than the reddish we see in the film, and how serious and observant he was, his eyes always traveling around surveying his surroundings. He also kept his face tilted downwards much of the time with his forehead and shadowed eyes the most apparent. (He looked just like that in The Absolute Truth when he interviewed that woman on the street.)

Bonnie Sells
dragnfl1@ix.netcom.com

Nowhere Man

BG Encounters