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By Louise Jefferson
I applied to be an Olympics Opening Ceremony volunteer in November 2011 and after several auditions, I was selected – by Danny Boyle - to be in the ‘Inner Family’. 12 of us were selected, for two days filming in April with Danny directing, to be the family in the Opening Ceremony’s ‘Our House’ scene. Danny was incredible. What a great guy, so down to earth and so easy to work with.
What was more incredible was that we were selected out of 10,000 Opening Ceremony volunteers to be the select and special dozen encapsulated in Danny’s incredible ‘Our House’ scene. Remember the house in the middle of the stadium – with the family inside? Seen watching television, sitting at the dinner table, ect. That was us! And I was one of those lucky people! We were the ‘family’ seen by millions around the world (possibly a billion) head banging with our 3D glasses, eating at the dinner table, acting out family scenes.
Because we – the ‘Inner Family’ – were filmed in advance (and therefore wouldn’t be acting out our scenes live during the Ceremony), Danny wanted to be sure we would actually be in the Opening Ceremony. So he arranged for us to be one of the picnic groups in the ‘Green & Pleasant Land’ scene. That’s how caring and thoughtful Danny Boyle is. What a legend.
We attended 20 rehearsals - eight hours at a time – for this honour, outside in all kinds of weather, but it showed us the spirit of the Games, each group clapping and cheering the others as we came on and off the arena at Stratford.
As for Opening Ceremony night… Well that was something else altogether. It was the most amazing experience. I received lots of emails from Australia saying “WE SAW YOU!” and it was just incredible.
Even my daughter Paris, who is an accomplished actress and currently filming in a Ridley Scott movie with Brad Pitt & Michael Fassbender, was boasting “that’s my mum” to all around her!
The whole journey has been an amazing experience. I’ve made so many friends, and experienced London at its multicultural best, and made history. How lucky am I?
[ Source: Australian Times ]