Sean Mannion on the set of Aloha. Dec., 2013. Picture courtesy of Andy Fischer. © 2015 The Uncool.
Sean Mannion has been working in the film industry for twenty-five years. His career began in the late eighties and includes all types of genres. His resume includes working extensively with filmmakers such as Judd Apatow and recent Marvel hits like Thor 2: Dark World and Guardians of the Galaxy. Aloha is his first film with Cameron.
Tell us your breaking in story…
I was a Production Assistant (PA) and my very first job was to sit on a generator beneath an overpass. I was directed to jump up and down, yell and wave at cars coming around a blind bend to get them to avoid hitting the generator. I spent twelve hours on the generator. Twelve hours of jumping up and down and waving. The shooting crew was shooting above, on top of the overpass. When lunch was called, they made me stay down there to keep protecting the generator. They sent my lunch down to me in a bucket dropped by a rope. I continued to wave with sandwich in hand. As I ate my cold sandwich, I thought, “Well, no place to go but up.”
You’ve worked on quite a few of Apatow’s productions (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Funny People, Bridesmaids, etc.). What was that experience like?
Working on an Apatow film is like working with family. A family that talks about vulgar things all the time. Judd does have an incredible loyalty to his people so the great thing is we get to work with the same people from film to film. It really is like a family. And we laugh a lot all day. The stuff on those sets are very funny. Tough to keep it together sometimes during takes.
This is your first Cameron Crowe film, right?
Yes. This is my first Cameron Crowe film where I’m not seated in a dark theater eating popcorn and milk duds.
