“Muddy” Waters ’93 Makes His Mark in Hollywood

That’sa BY JULIE CHAPMAN David “Muddy” Waters ’93 makes his mark in Hollywood TOm Cruise, Sandra BullOCk, JaCk NiChOlsOn and Matthew MCCOnaugheY. David “MuddY” Breaking into the business Waters ’93 has wOrked with all thOse stars Waters was born in Greensboro, N.C., and raised in Mansfield, withOut getting star-struCk. Mass. After graduating from Elon with a degree in communications, he moved to Wilmington, N.C., one of the region’s filmmaking After working in the movie business for more than a decade, hotspots. After a year of unsuccessfully trying to break into the Waters is used to mingling with Hollywood’s elite. As an assistant movie industry, he left Wilmington and moved to Greensboro, director, he has worked behind the scenes on films such as “Miss where he worked as a videographer, filming homes for sale for a Congeniality,” “About Schmidt,” “Mission: Impossible III” and last cable television show. year’s hit, “We Are Marshall.” He’s known as “Muddy” on the set, Unfulfilled by that work, Waters returned to Wilmington to a nickname he acquired in middle school after famed jazz guitarist give movies a second shot. In 1996, he began his career in feature Muddy Waters. films, working as a non-union prop assistant and set dresser. Next, Yet Waters never dreamed of making it big in Hollywood. In he worked as a set production assistant on “The Jackal,” “Species II,” fact, it wasn’t until he discovered video editing in Elon’s commu- “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer,” “Virus” and “The Insider.” nications program that he considered a career in films. Shooting, In 1998, he headed to Los Angeles, where he has been ever since. editing and producing his own projects provided the perfect outlet Waters logged the required 600 days working as an on-set for his creativity. production assistant before joining the Directors Guild of America in “David was probably one of the most talented people, if not 2000. Today, he is a second assistant director and recently qualified the most talented person, to come through our program at that as a first assistant director, which is one step below director. time,” says Gerald Gibson, assistant professor of communications. Waters produces a daily call sheet that is handed out at the end “He could do it all. He had a great eye for shooting, he knew how of each day’s shooting, detailing the next day’s work for the cast and to edit, he had a strong on-camera presence and could write and crew. He also helps the director and first assistant director run the set perform music for his productions.” and is the liaison between actors and their agents and managers. Friends say Waters is successful because he is naturally friendly “In prepping for a movie, when actors are hired, like Matthew and at ease with people. Fox, I would call him directly and introduce myself, tell him we’re “He can walk up to an actor or a guy selling papers on the street, shooting, when it starts, bring him in for a fitting, and hair and and if it’s his job, convince them what they need to do and when makeup tests,” says Waters. “Basically, every day I deal directly with they need to do it, and make sure they do it,” says Jeff Horn ’98, who the actors, agents and managers.” worked as production assistant on a few films with Waters and now For Waters, it’s the industry’s lack of convention that he finds owns a telecommunications company near Fort Lauderdale, Fla. appealing. 14 MAGAZINE OF ELON “It’s 15-hour days, and that can be grueling,” he says. “It’s not Honing his skills at Elon glamorous at all, and you deal with a lot of tough people. But it’s Horn, who was a fellow Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity member with also fun and rewarding at the end, after all that work, to sit in Waters, says the film industry is a perfect fit for Waters. the theater and look up and see it all put together. That makes it “It’s a lot of people who are just like him,” Horn says. “They’re worthwhile.” creative, motivated and do not like the normal work grind. They One of his most memorable experiences occurred on the set couldn’t do a nine-to-five job if they were forced at gunpoint.” of “Hidalgo” starring Viggo Mortensen. Working on such a vast, On campus, Waters was a founding member of Lambda Chi complex epic was excellent training for Waters. Alpha and was in charge of the organization’s philanthropic events. “We had to shoot in South Dakota when it was below zero One of the most memorable events was “Rent A Brother,” in which with snowstorms, and then we shot when it was hot on the plains fraternity members were auctioned off to perform various services. of California,” he says. “We had tons of animals in that movie, too. “Muddy and I were purchased by the Phi Mus,” recalls Horn It taught me a lot because there was so much going on at once.” of the Elon sorority. “We had to dress up in long, white, flowing Waters enjoyed working with Mortensen, who he describes skirts and clean their houses. We had such a good time Elon made as “a great actor and a nice guy.” He also enjoyed working with Al it policy never to have that happen again. It was good humiliation Pacino while filming “The Insider.” for charity!” “It was fun to work with Al Pacino because he’s such a professional,” Waters says. “It’s great to see him just turn it on. He’ll be talking to somebody PHOTOS and then we’re rolling and he’ll just turn around and C be the character.” OURTESY Waters has worked alongside many big-name D AVI stars who instantly command attention and respect D of everyone on the set. WATERs ’93 “There are a couple of actors I’ve worked with who walk into a room and everybody knows they’re there without even looking, like Jack Nicholson or Tom Cruise,” Waters says. “You know you’re working with a big celebrity when they walk on the set and the entire crew shuts up. Usually it’s pretty hard to keep an entire film crew quiet.” Making ‘We Are Marshall’ One of the most touching films Waters has worked on (l-r) David “Muddy” Waters, and Waters with assistant director Rich Cowan, director Joseph Nichol, known as “McG,” was “We Are Marshall,” which chronicles the plane and assistant director Hillary Schwartz on the set of the movie “We Are Marshall.” crash that killed 75 players and coaches on Marshall University’s 1970 football team. The film required years of preparation to ensure that the event was portrayed accurately. In addition to a sense of humor, Waters was known for his talents “Movies have two taglines,” explains Waters. “They can either as a piano player. While editing video projects on campus, he would be a true story or they can be based on a true story. Most movies set up his synthesizer and compose music to fit his productions. are based on a true story, but ‘Marshall’ actually says ‘a true story’ Elon opened its state-of-the-art School of Communications and in the opening credits. That means it has to be as factually correct added a film concentration to the communications program after as possible, and the families involved usually have to approve it.” Waters graduated. Yet Waters credits his alma mater with preparing Waters says that despite some initial apprehension, residents of him to succeed in a challenging, constantly changing industry. the town of Huntington, W.Va., where Marshall is located, embraced “When I first went to Elon, I was kind of shy,” Waters says. the film, which was released last year. “There were a lot of activities at Elon. There was a great Greek system, “Everybody in the town had some connection to the tragedy, and I did a lot of intramurals. It really helped bring me out socially and all the townspeople were in the movie at some point as extras,” and helped me understand how to work with people.” Waters says. “We used real football players from Marshall. It was Personable, artistic and driven, Waters is humbled –– and great to incorporate real people in the movie.” surprised –– by his success. The most recent films released with Waters in the credits are “My film career has been such a whirlwind that I haven’t had “Georgia Rule,” starring Jane Fonda, Lindsay Lohan and Felicity a chance to sit back and look at it,” he says. “It is pretty crazy that Huffman, and “Blonde Ambition,” starring Jessica Simpson, Luke someone who didn’t go to film school, knew nothing about movies Wilson and Willie Nelson. and had no real connections in the industry is now in Los Angeles working on studio feature films. The three things I know that helped me get where I am are luck, tenacity –– and my credit cards.” MAGAZINE OF ELON 15.

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