Fatty Dan in the Movie

by Sheron Garraway

Aloma “Fatty Dan” Codougan is usually seen, microphone in hand performing on the calypso stage, but soon she would be seen on the movie screens with her parasol in hand.

She explained that her being chosen, all started with a phone call: “I was at the office at the Peace Memorial Hall where I work and the phone rang. And someone asked if it was me and I told them ‘yes it was’. They then told me that I was chosen to do a part in the movie. I couldn’t believe it and I was like ‘true’. {{more}}

She said her day started at about 3:30 a.m. where she was picked up by the van which took the crew to the cruise ship terminal. From there they were taken to Walliabou for breakfast. “From there you stay in the holding area where you wait in different sections for the crew to make you up and put on the costumes. They would then take the different actors, whether fishermen, soldiers, villagers or sailors to the set which looked like Port Royal.”

Fatty Dan said her role portrayed a pleasant vendor at the harbour.

“I would be sitting with a parasol opened above my head and my role was just to tilt my head, smile and say hello to the soldiers, merchants and dock workers at Port Royal.”

She said she was paid $160 per day to do just that, which she did for eight days.

“We had to do it over and over so that everyone got their part right and to get the shots at different angles but it was fun. My son went along with me on some of the shoots and he was just excited to see the horses and everyone that was dressed up.”

What impressed her most about being in the movie was, “just to be among the movie stars that you see on TV all the time was really great.”

She recalled: “But what really struck me was the way they were so organised. Everybody had walkie-talkies so that they could communicate with each other whenever they were on the movie set. In the costume, crew were so helpful, I had three skirts and three tops to put on and the crew was so helpful and efficient. Everybody moved like a family they were so together and organised, really organised and I loved that.”

When the movie finally hits local cinema screens, be on the lookout for our own Fatty Dan, the actress.