BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- Have you seen "Ted 2"? When you watch it, be sure to keep an eye out for a local upcoming actor, Becki Dennis, who says working on the movie was an extraordinary experience.
Dennis, a Bedford resident, plays the receptionist Stacey Raymond at the Boston Fertility Group in the movie.
“I have a funny scene with Ted, voiced by the director, Seth MacFarlane,” she said.
She went through three rounds of auditions at Boston Casting, which saw about 50 of Boston’s most experienced actresses for three different receptionist roles. She even read for MacFarlane, who is most well known for creating and providing voices for the popular show Family Guy.
On the day of the shoot for "Ted 2" Dennis had her own honey wagon, similar to a trailer, complete with a couch, refrigerator, TV, and bathroom.
“It truly felt like I was getting the royal treatment and it was an experience I can only hope to have again in the future,” she said.
On the set during her first scene, she sat at the reception desk while Mark Wahlberg's character, Johnny, and Ted, the fictional bear, sat in the waiting room of the Boston Fertility Group.
During her next scene, she talks to Ted and says no one explained to her how the scene would be shot “with Ted being a talking bear and all.” So she says she just trusted that someone would re-direct her if she did something wrong.
Several takes from different angles were necessary, and each one needed “at least three different versions of the scene, one with a puppeteer moving a Ted stuffed animal wherever he goes in the scene; one with the same guy moving something called the ball, which helps them with the effects of a moving/talking bear somehow; and a third take with no Ted visual and just the voice.”
Dennis says the latter was the toughest to execute because “I was acting to essentially air, or an imagined presence that wasn't there, and had to keep my eyelines consistent for continuity.”
She says MacFarlane voiced Ted live, all while directing!
“That was so impressive to me and he really floored me with his talent to multi-task both roles, director and Ted, so well,” she said.
With a big, sweet smile, Dennis told me, “Many times throughout the day I wanted to pinch myself to check that this experience was, in fact, real.”
She spent some time in Tinseltown this year for pilot season in hopes of launching her career on the west coast, but has been working in the film industry for over 10 years. You may have seen her in "American Hustle" and most recently, she starred in and produced an independent feature film called "Spin the Plate."
"Ted 2" is in theaters now.
Cox Media Group
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