Firefly

Danny Nero has been a stand-in since 1985, responsible for standing where an actor will be during a scene, so that lighting and camera moves can be planned without the actor having to be there in person during the often lengthy set-ups.

We had the opportunity to speak to Nero about his time on the Firefly set...

Being a stand-in

"My first stand-in job was in 1985 on "Poltergeist 2" for Craig T. Nelson. It involved being in a harness with cables hanging in front of a blue screen for 2 weeks while they shot "The Other Side" portion of the film in a warehouse. Not at all glamorous and really rather uncomfortable but a good paying job that led to still standing-in today. When I left Firefly I was matched up with the talented and delightful Victor Garber for the last 4 seasons of Alias. I did 2 other series with Victor, Justice for Fox and Eli Stone for ABC. It worked out well that I was able to work on Serenity as well"

Working on Firefly

"The Message was really the only episode I worked background in a temple firefight as I recall. I was back to camera all the time. In Shindig I actually photo-doubled Larry Drake as he was unavailable for some shots of the big dance sequence. You would be very hard pressed to pick me out with that whirling camera. One of my favorite episodes along with Objects in Space. I loved doing the ship exteriors in space but we the 2nd team didn’t have to don space suits. They were tough on the actors and not at all comfortable. The series being television worked at a pretty fast pace because you only had 8 or 9 days to shoot all of it. Serenity had the luxury of a nearly 3 month shooting schedule if I recall correctly."

The appeal of Firefly

"I have met so many people who loved Firefly! Of course anyone who enjoys Sci-fi was there but it also seem to cross over to people who just plain loved the characters and I can’t forget the fans of Joss who will gladly go wherever he’ll take them. It was such a great place to work because it had a crew that really enjoyed working together (and that’s not always the case) as well as a spirit of adventure for doing a series that was not really like anything else out there."

The end of Firefly

"I remember that last day of Firefly. There was a lot of joking around that we’d all be doing a feature version of the show and sure enough we did! There was also a feeling that we would still be seeing each other as friends too. The only 2 actors from the series I haven’t seen since are Sean and Jewel. I’ve worked on Chuck a few times and always have fun with Adam. I’ve been working on the series Grey’s Anatomy the last 2 seasons and ran into Nathan at Raliegh Studios last year on Castle. He is just one of the finest guys you’ll ever meet!"

Click on the link :

http://titanbooks.com/blog/set-firefly/