The Truth...? Baby you can't handle the Truth.

One for the books is the infamous truth.com anti-smoking campaign ads that you see from time to time on television or in viral where usually a mob of people suddenly show up somehow and do something wild or frenzied.

In the four commercials that were filmed almost guerilla style over the course of several days, I found myself as an upscale snobby restaurant patron, where I just merely sat at the bar and was served pretend pinot g, and had to gasp in pretend snobby indignation. The lead guy who had the megaphone remarked about my reaction to him, apparently my look of pretend disgust looked pretty convincing and threw him off a bit.

When it was time for lunch, we had to walk over to holding which was a couple of blocks away, and when we got there, the Production Assistants or PA's walkies went off and we heard that everyone had to come back to set. We each grabbed a sandwich, water, some chips, and quickly headed back, biting and chewing into our lunch as we headed back to set. We sat in a temporary place next door, as they were still setting up, and barely sat down to take a bite of food when the PA's order us to head back into the set. I said, "oh no!" and a PA took pity on me and said to take a minute but hurry. So I tore into three mini-chicken drumsticks/wings, swallowed some water and left the rest of my nice plate behind to go next door to set.

The idea of it was: someone, a diner at this fancy restaurant and bar, suddenly gasps and yells, "It's PEPPER!" and we hear screaming and yelling and a bunch of people come tearing through the restaurant in bright orange shirts along with several people in 'hasmat' suits squeaking as they stormed out of the place holding up carefully the pepper grinders. Then the megaphone guy appears along with another holding up a sign declaring a quote about some cigarette executive talking down the dangers of second hand smoke and compared it to black pepper.

So it was very dramatic and over the top and made its point. We consider black pepper to be harmless, sneezing aside. No one's ever gotten cancer or died from using it.

The second commercial was more interesting and much more physically demanding. In this one, I got to be one of the orange mob and wear this orange tshirt that screamed prison inmate or construction worker. We had been asked prior to taking the gig whether we were lactose intolerant or diabetic. If any of us were, we were advised that we could not take the gig. We were told we might be eating candy and drinking milk for the commercial. Interesting. We were told to bring a change of clothes and a towel, wear comfortable shoes, and to wear clothes we didn't mind getting 'a bit dirty'. So I guess I'll just keep the Gucci and other bling at home.

The production company had us meet in a supermarket they rented for an overnight shoot. There is something spooky yet weirdly fun and space-agey about being in a supermarket and seeing all the different colored packages all lined up so nicely, row by row. And besides you, the fellow background and the production crew, there are no customers with shopping carts moseying down the aisles and then rushing all at once to the registers to form lines. The place is as quiet as a church except for the faint whoosh of water that comes out of the sprinklers that line the fresh veggies and salads to keep them pert and crisp.

Some background individuals, giddy from god knows what, took it upon themselves to suddenly view the fruit in the veggie aisle as props for juggling -- and badly. Dropping apples, oranges, and laughing as if they were being very clever for coming up with the idea. Bad idea. They would drop the fruit, bruise it, put it back, pick up another one. I asked them to stop as people buy and eat that food and it would be all bruised and that wasn't right. Ignored, I signaled to a PA who seemed to be looking at these juggling dorks and advised that dropping the fruit was bruising it and could the PA do something? Like furtive five year olds, they put the fruit back, shrugging sheepishly that they were 'only juggling' and would put the food back -- but that was not the point. One bright extra juggled apples right in front of another PA and promptly dropped them, and actually blushed for being 'singled out'. In every case, it was someone attempting to impress a member of the opposite sex or simply get attention. I wondered if their parents ever told them how it was not nice to play with your food. Maybe they thought it wasn't technically their food, so they could do what they liked and let the next person who bought it be the sucker.

The first commercial assignment for that night was to run like mad through a pre-mapped course through the front of the supermarket right before you reach the registers, grab a bunch of bagged or assorted candies, and act like crackheads for candy, shoving some in your mouth, semi-fighting over some candy then rushing through certain aisles towards the back of the supermarket and out of sight of the numerous cameras placed throughout the pre-mapped area that captured all the action. We ran several times, grabbing candy like a lunatic and running like mad, yelling and hollering like maniacs to the back of the supermarket. It was chaos but that is what the director was looking for. We went out with a roar and grabbed candy, and on one of the first runs, my legs were kicked out from under me and I literally fell on my ass, my legs up in the air. Lucky I was wearing jeans. The problem was there was a huge crowd of people pushing and running, and all I could do was tuck myself up in a ball and watch this sea of legs jump over me and the subsequent knocked over shopping cart that another actor had to conveniently throw on its side as part of the 'enthusiasm' to reach for the candy that was stacked within it. Within seconds, three sets of hands grabbed me and lifted me up and we all ran like lunatics screaming down the canned food aisle towards the back. We hear "CUT!" and "Back to one!"

One of the AD's came over to me and singled me out, "YOU were the one who fell," and I was thinking, "Oh shit, I fucked up," but instead I nodded and said, "Yeah, got my legs kicked out from under me by someone," and he just practically high fived me, gave me a thumbs up and said, "That was TERRIFIC! It looked great on camera!" And I was like, "Really?" And he said it looked really good and showed the chaos and it was just right. Realizing he wasn't kidding but was truly delighted with how it looked on his side, I relaxed and smiled and said, "Ohhhh. Good!" He asked if I was OK and I said yes, and I was, I landed nice on my ass and not on my tailbone or thighbone which was perfect and not painful. He trotted back to his crew and I thanked the ones who helped pull me up.

The second time, my foot got stepped on, hard, on the outer part of the arch, which was a bit painful but nothing was broken and, best part, I didn't fall once after that first time. Each time got better and more fun. One guy grabbed for the candy bin like on the third or fourth take and found he had a head of lettuce in his hand, had to make the most of it and just run with it. Another guy ended up with a huge eggplant, no one knows how THAT got in the candy bin but he just took off with it. The image of seeing him run with the eggplant was a sight to behold. The head of lettuce was thrown up in the air and leaves from the lettuce came showering down. One guy grabbed a container of candy, opened it, and just poured it into his mouth as if he was a thirsty man in the desert about to drink lush delicious clean water and I went to grab it but he was too tall and kept it out of my reach and I just ran, howling with the rest of my orange shirted brothers and sisters, as the night went on.

We took a break for 'lunch' in the middle of the night and the production company had rented out some time at a nearby diner where we ate some fresh hot prepared food served buffet style. It was ethnic, lots of potatoes and sausage, there was salad, some pasta, and dessert looked so yummy but I stayed away from it. I grabbed a ginger ale from the tub that was there full of sodas and water, and the food line moved quickly, everyone found a seat and we all paired up and laughed, joked, and talked about what we had just done and about how some of our fellow background people were a bit too method. In a couple of instances, some were picking up loose candy that had fallen on the floor and were cramming them into their mouths, as if in hopes that someone famous might see them being so dedicated to the role of a frantic candy junkie.

When we got back, it was when the challenges really began. The second commercial part involved milk. Yes, milk. And lots of it. We were no longer candy junkies but MILK junkies, and we again had a new pre-mapped way of getting to the 'milk' section. It involved grabbing dedicated gallons and half gallons of milk, opening them and taking big swigs and passing them around, except no one really did and milk started spilling in the aisle. People had big spills (no pun intended) running into the milk and a couple of people swerved into the jelly aisle and got some minor cuts.

People got treated while the rest of us moved on. After several takes, we were all shivering and people were not as energized -- we did take after take. Finally, the director advised if they could get six people to 'take one for the team' and instead of involving everyone, for these six to sit and lie down in pools of milk by the freezer section. After a short silence, I was one of the six picked and we had to lie down as if we just 'died' of an overdose and landed in the milk. The girl next to me was shivering and stuttering "fuckfuckfuckffffuckfuck" and she was cold. I tried not to laugh through my own shivering teeth and thought about Bermuda, some place warm and hot, and these liquid lapping at me was really warm clear blue ocean water.

After several takes, it was one more shot -- and I decided I would pass on this last piece. A PA came over and shook my hand, saying thank you, and something along the lines of my being hardcore and a professional. I was dripping but grateful it was over. As I grabbed some papertowels to start sopping up the milk from my clothes and hair, I watched for a few seconds some brave souls who decided to stick around for the final shot which was to guzzle as quick as they could from half gallon containers of milk. One or two had a gallon. One woman managed to ingest half a gallon of milk before they yelled cut and we were wrapped.

We all whooped in appreciation and headed back to holding, which was a couple of blocks over. The early morning was windy and cold and being soaked in milk only made it more urgent to get back to holding and get toweled off and into dry clothing. I had the presence of mind to bring a plastic bag to hold my wet clothes in and boy did it feel soooo good to get dry and change clothes. During the chaos, my favorite shirt, which I had brought with me to change into, had disappeared. I went back to where we were filming to see where it could be and asked every PA there. No one knew. I was disappointed only because it was a favorite shirt. I was disappointed and a bit annoyed, and headed back to holding to see if it would magically reappear there, asking everyone who passed by me about my shirt and giving a description. Then good news. It was found by a PA who had witnessed it being tossed into the brush nearby the holding area.

When I told my aunt about it, she mused that someone may've taken a liking to me and probably was going to walk off with the shirt as a kind of 'prize', then heard people talking about it and tossed it out of fear. Then I told my cousin and a fellow actor and they thought it was creepy and possible too. That creeped me out even more.

Interestingly, I love milk, love to drink it, and this experience will not keep me from drinking it further. Milk does a body good!