MY 1.32 SECONDS OF FAME [SO FAR...]

the following is a true story:

i was once in a movie. sure, it was only about 1.32 seconds, but hey, i'll take it. who wouldn't right? the movie? 1986's disaster movie, 'ACCEPTABLE RISKS.'

how did this all come to be? well, before we moved to utah back in january of 1986, we did some work as 'extras.' i only did this one movie, but the twins, if i remember correctly, had a brief appearance in the rob lowe/demi moore classic, 'about last night.' i think they might have done some print work, too. i'm not quite sure [remember, this was 1984-85. the old memory ain't workin' as well as it used to].

easily the best part of being an extra was getting out of school for the day. i think we might have even gotten out of school two days. i even got a free t-shirt. and yeah, there was free food. tinsel town definitely has some awesome perks! especially when you are eleven years old.

believe it or not, i vividly remember this day of filming. what's funny is that not only am i running up the stairs to safety, but i'm also in the bus that rushes away right before i hustle up the stairs. oh, the magic of television. what's also cool is that three of my four sisters are also in the same shot [see photos below]. unfortunately, megan was only three years old at the time, so no movie for her. sorry, megs!

the movie itself is pretty darn awful. a mustachioed brian dennehy plays a boss-guy of a nuclear power plant, cicely tyson plays a city council member, and christine ebersol plays a mom who works at the power plant. as you can tell by the movie's tagline ['the government says yes....one man says no!'], it's one melodramatic feast. the basic plot: the government doesn't heed warnings of a nuclear meltdown! oh, that nasty bureaucracy. no one ever heeds a warning, do they? being a 'movie of the week' [do they even do made-for-tv movies anymore??], of course the nuclear meltdown eventually happens and people start dying left and right. looking back at it now, it's borderline laughable. actually, there's no borderline about it. it's down right hysterical. people fall down stairs, fall of bikes, get in car accidents, they cough and hack, and they all die. check out the paper boy trying to hack up a lung! good times! but they person in the car with his/her head on the steering wheel is a high point.

anyway, here a couple of screen shots so you can see where all are [the actual video is right after the photos]. my sister morgan absolutely kills me. this is nuclear meltdown morgs! look terrified! let's see some panic! she's just chillaxin' like it's no big deal. she's laid back like that. you also get a quick shot of twins right before the scene changes. being twins, they are, of course, dressed identically. way to go, mom!