Behind the Scenes on Election Day 2000

Anne Spencer - Jackson County Floridan

Politics are ignored as Stacey Mayo Gilliland talks about the soon-to-be aired made-for-cable movie "Recount."

The movie tells some of what happened behind the scenes from Election Day 2000 through to the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, a time of history that ended with George W. Bush being named the winner in the presidential race and not Al Gore.

Stacey and her daughter Meghan Gilliland are among the 300 extras in the movie, part of which was filmed in Tallahassee last week.

The HBO movie stars Laura Dern as Florida's secretary of state at the time, Katherine Harris, who played a key role in the decision about the election.

Oscar winner Kevin Spacey plays Gore's chief of staff, Ron Klain. Other stars in the movie are John Hurt, Denis Leary, Bob Balaban and Ed Begley Jr.

Oh, and Stacey and Meghan, who live in Marianna.

Stacey works in the appliance store owned by her parents, Doug and Martha Mayo, and is fairly well known locally as a singer. Meghan is a junior at Marianna High School.

Stacey said she got the part through her agent, who also suggested her daughter. They were in Tallahassee three days for the shooting.

"We were supposed to be Gore supporters, but when we got there we were Bush supporters," Stacey said. "Meghan was being filmed quite a bit with Kevin Spacey. We were walking with signs as if it were a real situation."

Ironically, three in the supporting cast had actually been protestors when the presidential election count was being debated, according to Stacey. She said they wore the same clothes for the movie that they'd worn that day at the Florida Supreme Court.

"It was something," Stacey said. "I'd been in a movie before, but for Meghan to be in it and for it to be with Kevin Spacey, it was really something.

"For Megan, at 16, it's really neat. I'm so glad for her," the mother said.

The two had to be in Tallahassee for the film at 6 a.m. their time, and they didn't get home till about 9 at night. They had only a half hour for lunch and the rest of the time they were on their feet.

"They say that's normal for a film, to work 12 to 16 hours a day," Stacey said. "It is work, not all fun and games."

Another uncomfortable part, she said, was wearing layered clothing to portray the fall day.

"It was cold that morning, so that was OK, but it got warm that afternoon and you could not shed any clothes; you had to keep them on all day."

They were, however, paid well for their work, she said.

Each extra had to have three sets of clothing in case what they were wearing when they showed up wasn't acceptable. But Stacey said that after she and her daughter went through the wardrobe check, what they were wearing passed muster so they didn't have to change.

The other movie Stacey was in was about two years ago. It was about the boxer Roy Jones Jr. and was titled "Do It Big."

She played a psychiatrist and had two days' work.

Stacey said she still sings and has formed a country band. Their most recent appearance was at the Marina Civic Center in Panama City in September.

She said the music is "not about drugs, sex and violence. It's more positive country."

(Editor's note: According to the Graceville News, the St. John AME Church near Campbellton was the scene of two days of shooting for an independent film, "Skip Tracers," a comedy being made by an outfit from Dothan, Ala. No other information was available.)

(Media General News Service and The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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