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Action Jackson By JOE ZAVALA Ashland Daily Tidings He's hunched down under a tree, squinting his eyes and bending his ear toward two actors sitting on a bench in the distance. Now he's hustling, dragging lawn chairs from one shady spot to another as crew members watch and wait. Ashland High baseball player Jackson Rowe (right), an incoming senior, talks to fellow "Indigo" cast member Angelina Hess during a break in shooting last week at Bear Creek Park in Medford. Ashland Daily Tidings/DENISE BARATTA Now he's talking into a headset, one hand pressed to his right ear, the other fooling around with a channel dial. Yup, there's no business like show business for Ashland High first baseman Jackson Rowe. Entering his senior year, Rowe's a workaholic already and doesn't even know it. While most of his teenage peers spent their summer soaking in the sun and rolling out of bed at the crack of noon, the only thing Rowe soaked in was a verbal how-to-make-a-movie guide, courtesy of "Indigo" co-producer/director Stephen Simon. Simon, producer of such films as "What Dreams May Come" and "Somewhere in time," met Rowe months ago and quickly befriended the bulky, curly-haired kid who wouldn't stop asking questions. It was a perfect fit. Simon was planning on making a movie in the Rogue Valley. Jackson aspires to produce movies himself one day. Why not help each other out? "I've been around a lot of people over my life that say they're interested and then, 'Oh, this sounds like it will be fun, blah, blah, blah,'" Simon said, "but you can always tell if they really have it in their blood, and Jackson, certainly from his family and from what he's done in high school and what he is doing in high school, is really interested in this. So I said, 'Fine, we'll figure out something for you to do on the movie.'" So Rowe, son of Ashland Shakespearean actor Doug Rowe and a thespian himself, was put to work on the low budget film. During the first week of the three-week shooting schedule, which wraps up Friday, Rowe did it all: Acting, readying equipment, shouting 'Quiet on the set' before takes. Nothing was beneath him and nothing was off limits. Rowe was getting the hands-on experience he always wanted, and Simon was getting an assistant with boundless energy. "As soon as we started, Jackson was everywhere," Simon said. "The only problem with Jackson is that every department wants him." Rowe went from full-time volunteer to part-time volunteer two weeks into shooting to honor other commitments he made prior to meeting Simon - he's the AHS co-student body president and an actor in the student production "The Crucible." But the experience of working on a movie throughout the summer, he says, has provided a gold mine of information. "It has been incredible," he said, during a lunch break at a recent shoot at Bear Creek park in Medford. "I can't even explain how � I'm learning something new every day. Going from the camera department to the lighting, even little things. Yesterday, I was working with the sound department while we were doing a steady cam shot, feeding cables, making sure nobody trips over the cables. Just being there, I'm learning something new every day, and it's fun to watch. "Sometimes I hide behind a tree and watch Stephen just to see how he works. I mean, he's one of the best role models a person could have. I'm really grateful for this experience he's given me." Rowe, a movie buff who cites "The Green Mile" and "Vanilla Sky" as two of his favorites ("I like trippy endings"), has worked the stage since he was a freshman in high school. That acting experience no doubt helped Rowe earn his role as "Jimmy," but didn't quite prepare him for the surreal world behind the camera. Lesson No. 1: Same job, but completely different. That surprised Rowe. "Watching movies," Rowe says, "I was always kind of like, 'Oh, I could do that, piece of cake, no problem. I've done theatre for four years now. I could go on a movie, piece of cake, and I could kill it so easy.' And then coming into it, in rehearsals it was fine because there was nothing around, but then the first day of shooting all the couches started coming out (of the room) and the cameras started coming in and there was 20 people in this tiny little room and the camera's two feet from my face. I'm trying to say my line. I'm sitting there shaking. I had to do it four times. "I had to relax � I finally got it, but it was incredible. I have such a newfound respect for movie actors." The movie is about the relationship that develops between a man, Ray, whose life and family have dissolved following a fateful mistake, and his 10-year-old granddaughter, Grace, as they go on the run to escape a would-be kidnapper. As the website (www.indigothemovie.com) puts it, "Along the way, he discovers the power of his granddaughter's gifts, which forever alter the lives of everyone she encounters." Rowe plays Jimmy, one of the people who meet Ray and Grace on their journey. Simon is trying to get the movie into the Sundance Film Festival, where positive reviews could eventually boost box office receipts. No date has been set for the local release of "Indigo." The experience has only reinforced Rowe's belief that he will end up in the movie business. He plans on pursuing that goal in earnest next fall at Chapman University, a small liberal arts college in southern California. In the meantime, he's getting an education that money can't buy. "I'm having the time of my life," he said. "I just love it. Just being around here is a dream come true for me." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -