Blair Williamson At Work

We believe the note we received from our friend, Gail Williamson, whose son Blair is a very fine actor with Down Syndrome is worth sharing. The special needs community deserves our respect and support, as this “day in the life” story of a protective mother on a working set will reveal.

My son Blair worked on the feature film "Unknown" about two years ago and it is coming out in limited release this week. There is a scene with a ransom drop. Blair is the janitor in the train station where the drop happens. He is given $20 to stand by the locker for the kidnappers. The police mistake him for one of the bad guys and rough him up before realizing that he is probably not one of the kidnappers. The train station scene opens with Bridget Moynahan walking through the back lit station in a pair of heals (if you are male you might want to see the film just for this); Blair is in the back ground pulling his trash can across the station. This scene is in the trailer you can view online at http://stage.ifilm.com/video/2777669/collection/2283.

On the day the scene was shot, Blair arrived and spent most of the day walking around with the trash can to establish his character while they shot Moynahan’s scene. Later in the day they filmed Blair’s scene. I think the other back ground performers spent the day thinking how nice it was of the production company to hire “the disabled.” After he began working with the stunt coordinator and having private consultations with the director they realized he had a more substantial role. The short scene was filmed many times so he was roughed up many times. At one point Blair asked if he could go and cry. He did. I felt like the worst mom on the planet at that time and started questioning what I was allowing the producers to ask him to do. He finished his cry and said he was ready to start again but wanted to just do the second part where they interrogate him and not the first part where he was roughed up. I told the director that Blair felt out of control and if there was anything he could do to help him feel in control again it would be easier for him to continue. The director, Simon Brand in a brilliant move, asked Blair if they could rehearse the first part and do the second part. Blair agreed. So Brand told the crew “Okay, we are going to rehearse the first part and do the second part and I want you to film the rehearsal.”

Blair went on like a trooper. When the scene was completed the hugs abounded for his performance. On the way back to Blair's trailer, while I was still questioning myself for letting Blair do such a scene he said “I am so proud of what I did today.” At that time I realized I was just helping Blair to do what he wanted to do and was capable of doing.

The role is small, but I am very proud of his professional work on this film. The home video I took while they were setting up for the scene and filming made my husband Tommie tear up to see his son working so hard and being so professional.

I have seen on line that the film is scheduled for a DVD release on January 30, 2007, so if you can’t make it to the theatre or don’t want to spend the cash to see this kind of film, you can still catch it in the future.

Roper did give it a "tumbs up" this weekend on his show, and I loved the script. But you never know what a film will be until you see it and I have not seen it yet. You can bet I'm going to this weekend!

Thank you for your love and support of Blair and me!

Gail Williamson, Proud Mom