Hanging with Russell Crowe | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

The neighborhood grapevine kept leaking out bits of information. The movie was called "Body of Lies." It would star two-time Oscar winner Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio and be directed by Ridley Scott. Wow, we thought. That's big!

Well, movie buff that I am, I decided that clearly I had to be part of this … but how?

Work on the set? I had no talent in that area.

Act? Only fake crying to show my children that it doesn't really work. That won't do.

Something creative? If you're talking about making bunny cup cakes, I'm in, but beyond that my skill set is limited.

So stalking the production seemed to be my only answer.

Things started happening. The beautiful sod farm across from my house was abuzz. People came in and poured gravel onto the entrance. Then one day, there were trucks and lights on the field. Tents were erected, people were everywhere and funny thing, more people in the neighborhood decided to take up walking, bike riding, and running than I had ever seen before.

Being the neighborly - OK, nosey - person I am, I asked the man guarding the equipment Wednesday what was happening. He told me that filming for the movie begins tomorrow.

With little time to plan, I moved into high gear. First, the obligatory e-mail to all the friends: it's game time. After alerting the gang, I had to plan my day around my stalking - I mean watching - the production.

My film buddy told me that things would start at around 5 a.m. and go to about 8 p.m. So naturally, after getting my son on the bus and my daughter dropped off at pre-school, I decide to go for my daily (ha) exercise walk around the neighborhood.

As I casually walked, being careful not to mess up my styled hair and fresh makeup, I bumped into several neighbors staking out the shoot. At 10 a.m., not too much was happening. Eventually, I had to give up my conversations so I could make it to lunch and recess duty at my son's school. This mom stuff was really getting in the way of my movie career.

I was amazed with the all-consuming effect the movie had on the neighborhood - trucks, cars, equipment and all those people - who knew it could take so much to make a movie, or actually a tiny segment of a movie? One of the crew members said that the hours and hours of work they were doing here would end up being only about one minute film time.

But back to the action: the "let's watch the movie people" party began at 4 p.m., with many of the neighbors gathering at a house nearby to see what was going on. We got bits of information.

"Russell" - we were on a first name basis - had just left his trailer to film. Wait! Now he was back in his trailer! His car was not a limo as we suspected; it was an ordinary black SUV with bikes attached to the back (he is into fitness we learned).

While all the coming and goings of crew members was exciting, it was not enough for my friend Leah and I. Thinking we were too far from the action, we decided to walk- OK, sneak - through the woods, over to the house where the filming was taking place.

We scrambled through the grass - or really the poison ivy - but what is a bit of discomfort when you're stalking a movie star? Once on the "set" we tried to act as if we belonged.

As you can imagine, two suburban housewives looked totally at home. We stayed in the background, and sat at a table, which for some reason was quickly removed by a few of the crew guys. Was this a sign we should leave? Of course not!

I was amazed at the number of people milling around. It seemed as if there were two or three people whose job it was to yell "filming, quiet please" and then "cut." We tried to blend into the background and no one appeared to notice or be bothered that we were there.

We were amazed how nice many of the people were. The driver of the director's car came up and started chatting with us. He told us that the director "seemed to be a nice guy." Another one of the crew members came over to talk. Someone bummed a cigarette. Finally, we heard the words "it's a wrap" over the walkie-talkies and knew that the filming was done. This meant one thing: Russell would be coming by shortly.

We moved to a better location to see. A few minutes later, Russell came up the driveway. We saw him, and overheard him, in his very Australian accent, say something like "Just let me clear my head." He jumped into the front seat of his car and off he went to his trailer. As I pulled the tick out of my hair, I wondered if my 45-minute wait was worth the 45-second glance … YES! I decided.

Walking back to the movie party, we joined what seemed to be the entire neighborhood gathered on my friend's front lawn. A little while later, Russell's publicist said that he might come out of his trailer and say "Hi."

In 30 minutes, Russell (and several bodyguards) was signing autographs, chatting with folks and posing for a pictures. He asked each person their name and autographed DVD covers, grocery receipts and the like. He was accommodating, smiling and laughing with the neighbors. As he moved past me, all of my brilliant conversation starters stuck in my throat. I just smiled and said hello.

After 20 minutes of visiting, he started to head back to his car. I called out, "Russell, do you have time for one more picture?"

He smiled at me, asked where the camera was, and I pointed over to my friend's husband. She and I got on either side of him and another girlfriend jumped in. The camera's light flashed and then, I had my picture, and a little bit of Hollywood had come to Amberley.