Volume 38 Number 2 | April 2024
Claude Rector, MA, MLS(ASCP), ASCLS President
I am asked from time to time about what it’s like to be a medical laboratory scientist. My answer might surprise many who are reading this article today. I would like to share my story of the best day ever of my medical laboratory career. Just over 10 years ago, I was working my normal full-time, part-time, 60-hour weekend shift. The day began just like a usual Saturday morning with blood draws on the floor followed by cranking up the laboratory equipment for the day’s testing. But soon I was about to get an all-access pass to the filming of a movie. I was about to spend my day with Matthew McConaughey as he filmed Mud.
The production crew members were the first to arrive. The main scene being filmed at my hospital involved Mud (Matthew McConaughey) and Ellis (Tye Sheridan). The parking lot began to fill with production trucks and one RV. The RV would be for Matthew McConaughey.
My first assignment was to move my car into the front parking lot. As I moved my car, I was met by a man on a motorcycle. I had to focus, because if an accident occurred, the star of the movie would have been injured or worse. This is when I phoned my daughter to tell her about the close encounter with the one and only Matthew McConaughey.
My optimistic self had hopes of being discovered by the writer-director, Jeff Nichols. The best I was able to accomplish during the filming was getting my car into the movie. I had full access to movie magic. I was able to see Matthew McConaughey do the scene without help from the stunt double. During the one take, a motorcycle raced down the highway toward the ambulance bay. The star dismounted the bike, gathered the wrapped body of the snake bite victim, and entered the doors of the emergency room. The crowd that had gathered across the highway to watch the scene had to be disappointed that the only outside scene for the day ended with only one take. The action moved inside the hospital.
Once the filming ended for the night, Matthew McConaughey exited the hospital. He then entered the parking lot to meet and greet the fans who had gathered to watch the filming. My new role for the night was that of the official photographer. Cameras and phones, back and forth until all fans had their memories recorded. No Hollywood ego was present that night in DeWitt, Arkansas.
To finish off the night, I moved back into the hospital. This is where I got to sit with the director and watch the dailies from the day’s shoot. I thought I would give the director one more chance to see my potential to enter the movie as a cast member. Once again, no lucky break for me. But lucky for you that my failure to enter the Screen Actors Guild led to me being available to be your president this year. Before this wonderful day ended, I got time to sit and talk with the young actor on set, Tye Sheridan. He was even kind enough to take a photo and sign a note to my young daughter, Claudia.
So, the next time a high school senior asks you why they should aspire to become a medical laboratory scientist, tell them that they might find themselves in the middle of a Hollywood movie set hanging out with Matthew McConaughey. The best day ever.
Mud (2012)
14-year-old Ellis (Tye Sheridan) lives on a makeshift houseboat on the banks of a river in Arkansas with his parents, Mary Lee (Sarah Paulson) and Senior (Ray McKinnon). He sneaks out early one morning to meet his best friend, Neckbone (Jacob Lofland). Neckbone, also 14, lives with his uncle, Galen (Michael Shannon), who makes a hardscrabble living diving for oysters. The two boys set out to an island on the Mississippi River, where Neckbone has discovered an unusual sight—a boat, suspended high in the trees, a remnant of an extreme flood sometime in the past. They climb the tree and into the boat only to find fresh bread and fresh footprints. Realizing that they are not the only ones who have discovered the treehouse boat, they decide to leave. When they reach the shore, they find the same footprint in their boat. And that’s when they meet Mud (Matthew McConaughey). Mud is a gritty, superstitious character; his clothes are dirty, his tooth is cracked, and he needs help. He tells the boys he will give them the treehouse boat, his current hideout, in exchange for food. Neckbone is reluctant, but Ellis brings food to Mud, and they develop a tentative friendship. Ellis learns that Mud has killed a man in Texas, and police and bounty hunters are looking for him, but Mud is more concerned about reuniting with his longtime love, Juniper (Reese Witherspoon). Ellis, who has recently developed his own crush, agrees to help Mud escape with Juniper. Ellis and Neckbone carry out bold schemes in an effort to protect Mud and relay messages to Juniper, who is holed up in a fleabag motel, under constant surveillance by Carver (Paul Sparks), a Texas bounty hunter. Carver and his gang are intent on capturing Mud, on orders from the cold-blooded King (Joe Don Baker). As the boys risk everything to reunite these seeming mythical lovers, Ellis’s own ideas about love and romance are challenged by the strains in the relationships closest to him: his parents’ marriage is dissolving while he himself falters in his efforts to impress May Pearl (Bonnie Sturdivant). Through it all, Ellis struggles to look for an example of love that he can believe in, learning about the unspoken rules and risks of love and the reality of heartbreak. —IMDB.com
Claude Rector is the Director of Laboratory and Respiratory Services at St. Bernards CrossRidge Community Hospital in Wynne, Arkansas.