Local youth a stand-in for Spivet filming

Myra Hammond, Contributor

Spivet SI Jaxon Hammond beside the actors
 chair for the Layton character, in clothes from wardrobe.
Myra Hammond photo

Jaxon Hammond, a local Pincher Creek 9 year old boy, is the stand-in (SI) for the character Layton in 'The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet', which is filming near Pincher Creek.  Jaxon was at drama camp at the Empress Theatre in Fort Macleod when his mom heard of a casting call for extras.  He didn't get picked for that but he did get chosen for the stand-in position.  A stand-in is the person who substitutes for the actor before filming, for technical purposes such as lighting.

Spivet set, Jax Hammond on
teeter-totter
M. Hammond photo

Stand-ins are helpful in the initial processes of production. Lighting setup can be a slow and tedious process; during this time the actor will often be somewhere else. Stand-ins allow the director of photography to light the set, the camera department to light and focus scenes. The director will often ask stand-ins to deliver the scene dialogue ("lines") and walk through ("blocking") the scenes to be filmed. In this way, a good stand-in can help speed up the day's production and is a necessary and valuable cast member on a film.

They must have similar skin tone, hair colour, height and build as the actor so that the lighting in a scene will be set up correctly. For example, if the lighting is set up with a stand-in shorter than an actor, the actor might end up having his or her head in relative darkness.

Initially they asked Jaxon to be the Photo Double but they haven't used him for that part yet and we assume they won't.  The actor for Layton (Jakob Davies) has always been available for this film so they haven't needed Jaxon to step in for him.  The photo double must look very much like the actor. They replace the actor of a character in any recorded visual medium in shots where the character's body is shown but the face is either not visible or shown indistinctly, or in shots where the image of the credited actor's face is joined, usually by digital image processing, to the image of the body double's body.  Jaxon has seen that happen and now we'll know which scenes in the movie have the actual actor and which are the photo-double.  Jaxon says that's kinda cool!


Jaxon has a lot of down time during his average 8 hour day on the set.  There are two kids in this movie and they each have an SI (stand-in) and one has two PD (photo-doubles) so there is a lot of kids to organize.  Jaxon has to be quiet and wear jeans and a long sleeved shirt most of the time.  Thankfully he usually finds shade or an umbrella to sit under.  When Jaxon is on set he gets treated very well and everyone is very friendly and encouraging.  They all know him by name and he thinks its "pretty cool" to know a famous director from France!  They feed him very well (and all the time).  He is playing his Nintendo DS and reading books while he isn't "working".  He has been lucky to get to know Jakob and they've had some downtime together to play.

Jaxon Hammond at the gates of the
'Coppertop Ranch'
Myra Hammond photo

Jaxon thinks it would be more fun to be the actual actor but he's learning a lot and enjoying his short time on this film.  

In Jaxon's words..."I'm getting paid to play my DS.  I'm OK with that."

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