We keep getting messages from people who would like to eat our baked beans. (Photo at top of page). Not so many people are interested in the eggs though. Interesting. I wonder if that’s because, subconsciously, everybody realises that eggs aren’t usually that white and that in fact those eggs are cold tofu.

That cold tofu was brought to you by Robin Gerardts-Gill. The man is clearly a special effects genius. Robin was technically the second AD and standby props, but there wasn’t much he didn’t do. Nick Jaffe was the same. Like most people, I never knew what all the jobs on a film set consisted of. Then when I’d been on a few sets I realised it was different wherever you went. It’s like in theatre when I finally worked out what stage left and stage right were, only to then discover that a whole heap of other people call it “Prompt” and “Off-prompt”, which hardly seems fair. To this day I have no idea what anybody’s talking about. I find “walk that way” is an easier way to get everyone on the same page.

Anyway, the point is, the tofu isn’t real and the baked beans are cold. And that is the magic of filmmaking. Just ask Tim Stitz, who accidentally ate some in the middle of a scene. He’s a consummate performer, Tim is, but if you freeze on the moment he swallows, you can see the very real struggle between a man’s taste buds and his years of experience as an actor. It’s a short but tightly fought battle and the actor wins. Just. A weaker man would have gone down fighting.