“Tell me about the time you worked in movies” the little girl said to me.
“Movies? Me?” I answered. Well I had worked on one movie, technically, two The Matrix 2 ad 3 of which I’ve told you about the audition process. But I wouldn’t say that I worked on a lot of them. However, I do have some interesting tidbits to share with you about my time on The Matrix 2.
The first thing, and this may sound silly but I was just an extra this was thrilling to me, was that they took an hour to do my hair every single day. I wasn’t anyone important in the scheme of things, nor would anyone care about my hair. But someone had decreed that I was to have my hair in an elaborate bun. From my vantage point, which was facing the mirror, I could see plenty of pins going into the back of my bed. I had to admit, they did a wonderful job and having this done to my hair meant that I could sometimes go into the hair and makeup section in the studio building with the big names, rather than the trailer outside.
The first time I walked in and to my left were Carrie-Anne Moss and Jade Pinkett Smith. Carrie-Anne greeted me with a friendly smile and a bright “hello!” while Jada simply looked me up and down and deciding that I wasn’t interesting or important, looked away. It didn’t bother me, Ms Smith already had quite a reputation around the set (sorry to any fans out there but it’s true!) and it was that ceiling to floor look every time any time anyone walked past her. The makeup, well that was disappointingly minimalist, just a bit of foundation, no mascara, eyeliner or lipstick. I thought I looked kind of dead. Every day girls and guys would sneak some makeup on to make themselves look more presentable.
Every day was the same, and I mean really the same because we spent one week filming the same scene from different angles. Lunch was fine although costumes were so tight that you couldn’t eat much, and snacks were essential to keep energy stores up. We were given plenty of Pringles to eat along with jubes and lollies and fresh fruit. Nowadays, I can’t look at a tube of Pringles but jubes, well I didn’t eat enough of them to get sick of them.
In fact, I was contemplating jubes the other day as they were given to me as a snack while travelling. Could you make them yourself I wondered? I had made jelly beans so surely jubes could be made. I could also stack them on top of each other like a Rubik’s cube, that fabulous toy from the1980s. And if there’s something I love, it’s a bit of retro with my sweet selection (especially since I hadn’t gorged myself on them while filming like I had Pringles). The jubes required quite a bit of testing – the key was the amount of gelatine leaves that was needed. Once this was figured out, it was a cinch (and required no special equipment, just the merest illusion of sanity! 
Back to the movies…. do you want to know the nicest star encounter? On the last day of filming, my time working on the movies was coming to an end and I had a proper job interview. The pins in my hair were sticking into my scalp so loosened some once ‘it’s a wrap’ was called. It looked messy so the hair ladies washed my hair in the sink and I blow dried it and tried to make myself look less corpse like by putting on my make up. I came out wearing a skirt, top and heels and felt like myself again. At that moment, Lawrence Fishburne turned up on a motorcycle looking ridiculously cool and a smile spread across his face “Hey! You look different!” he said to me. I was shocked that I had even registered to him as an entity. “You look like Miss America, girl!” he said before roaring off on his bike.
Yep, ok I’m helplessly Team Carrie-Anne and Team Lawrence, but Team Jada? Hmmm maybe not
So tell me Dear Reader, which celebrities would you like to share the screen with? And if you could have worked on one movie, what would it have been? And did you ever have a Rubik’s Cube? I had one, couldn’t solve it and ended up changing the stickers 
Rubik’s Cube Jubes
An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Resting time in fridge: overnight
Cutting and rolling time: 30 minutes
- 2 cups boiling water
- 2 cups white sugar plus an extra cup of sugar for rolling the lollies in (you don’t need caster or superfine sugar for this recipe)
- 9 titanium strength gelatine leaves
- non stick oil spray
- Five even sized containers with straight sides (to make cubes) or fill silicon molds too!
- food extracts and colourings (orange, green, blue, red and yellow) I used LorAnn’s extract oils from Glasshouse Cakes & Supplies
- 100g dark chocolate (plus a teaspoon of copha, optional)
1. Place water and sugar in a heavy based saucepan and dissolve the sugar. Then simmer this for about 25-30 minutes stirring regularly.
2. Meanwhile, about 5 minutes before it is ready, soften the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water. Prepare the containers by spraying them with the oil spray-be generous, the last thing you want is for them to stick.
3. When the gelatine leaves have softened, squeeze them gently of water but be sure to get the water out and then add the leaves to the hot sugar syrup. Stir until combined well. Then using a ladle, divide the sugar syrup between the five containers making sure the height and quantity of each is the same if you are making a Rubik’s Cube. To each container, add colouring and flavourings and stir well. Allow to cool and then place in fridge overnight.
4. The next day, take a large plate with rim and coat with half of the remaining sugar. Using the tip of a sharp knife, cut around the edge to separate the jube from the container and gently remove it from the container-it is quite firm at this point and not like jelly. Using a sharp knife, cut into cubes and roll in the sugar. As you can see, my containers were rounded and weren’t ideal so I had to trim them to get cubes. At this point, you can just serve them like this and they will keep in an airtight container for 2 weeks.
5. If you want to make a Rubik’s cube, make sure the cubes are cut to the same size or thereabouts (you can see I was a bit Swedish chef in the way I did mine). It’s really best if you line up your colours first. You will have three layers of 9 cubes in each layer so lay them out so that the colour alternate.
6.Then melt the chocolate in a microwave or in a double boiler and add the copha to help it become a bit more dippable (and besides, who doesn’t have a lump of copha in their fridge from years ago-yay I finally found a use for it apart from chocolate crackles!). Dip the sides of the jubes in the chocolate and affix together. Do each layer separately and refrigerate each layer until set. Then dip one layer into the chocolate and affix together.
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71 Comments | Add your own
I love Lawrence Fishburne even more now.
You always look like Miss America/Australia/Universe to me, darlin’!
I have that stubborn Rubik’s cube, and got as close to solving it as all but one side. My son does it in less than a minute! I envy him. I guess mail’s brain works different from female’s… I need to show him this creation of your’s, he’ll love it!
These are just gorgeous, you did a fantastic job! I lived in Hollywood for a year so I’m not that interested in celebrities – I’d love to meet George Clooney though
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Wow,those look so pretty!
OMG this is the cutest idea in lolly history!!! Are you serious, it looks absolutely gorgeous
I love how simple making jelly is at home, never realised that and you idea of a rubiks cube rocks!
May I say one thing though- this is one cube I would never even try to solve because I would end up eating it
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Interesting recipe, Lorraine. I wonder if these can be made from fruit juice.
What I really want to know is could you spot yourself in the final films? Love your jube cube. I feel like I may need to make jubes one day and now I know how
Thanks!
Your jubes are gorgeous Lorraine and I would never have thought to make my own. What a fun time you had on set. A friend of mine was an extra on MI II and he had to sign a contract saying he would not make eye contact with Mr Cruise. I take it Mr Cruise is a bit like Ms Smith. My husband did scenes with Dennis Hopper and Melanie Griffith in ‘The Night we Called it a Day’. Melanie was wonderful but as for Mr Hopper, very difficult and poor Carl had dialogue scenes with him. He made it very difficult for Carl to work with him xx
LOL – a fun story, and the jubes look yummy.
those cubes are the cutest things ever!! they would make excellent gifts in a stationary-themed hamper!!
Tom Hanks! One movie I would love be in is Harry Potter! HAHA smart move changing the stickers, I had a few but could never solve them
Your jubes look amazing! Better than store bought jubes IMO.
You worked in MATRIX??!!!!
Oh My God!! I KNOW a celebrity. Yay!!!
Fishburn is so cool, and I am so glad you had that encounter.
Jada Smith looks a little….I don’t know…uppity?? That lady has issues.Did you get to meen Keanu Reeves too??
A few years ago we lived in Burbank, CA. My closest encounter was Arnold S. and Brendan Fraiser.
Arnold looks old, and different. Too craigy. But Brendan…..he is so hot!! Un-freaking-believable. His good looks don’t really translate onto screen that well.He is smashing to look at up, close and NOT so personal, ;p
How exciting being in a movie. I have watched the matrix movies several times, if I watch them again I will look out for a ghost with a tight bun lol
How cool is Laurence Fishburne! What a great experience and I am glad these jubes were inspired by this!
I love the Rubik’s Cube Jubes~! So Colorful, Fabulous & Fun <3
Omgggg, Jada sounds like a real Snotty Bit#%!! She's not even all that, man.
You are so much Prettier. She was jealous as hell! that's all I'm sayin'
Xxx
I love it! My dad loves jubes so I might just have to make him some for Father’s Day. I’ll have to think of a twist for him cause he’s not much of a rubix cube man.
I would love to be in a series like Friends or Desperate Housewives (although all the extras seem to get killed off on DH so maybe Friends).
Very impressive and doable, wonderful technique, good on you, h
Oh Lorraine, I love that you’ve glued these together with chocolate. That makes them so much more interesting than the old ’80′s cubes!
You are SO clever Lorraine
I have never thought of making my own jubes…but i don’t understand why…it doesn’t seem as difficult as i thought it would be!
AND OMG I have a whole box of titanium gelatine leaves that i need to use up YAY
Oh yummo!! I have everything but the gelatine leaves in my pantry!! Must put on shopping list this week!!
How do they taste Lorraine?
Oh these look so beautiful! How clever you are
I have always wondered what celebs would be like in person, Now I wonder what Will Smith is like hopefully forthcoming enough for both parties! I
I adore fruit jellies and jubes so I must try! Thank you always interesting.
Ahhh so cute! I love your retro jubes! I’m probably not crazy enough to try making them myself though
If I could share the screen with any actor it would have to be Hugh Jackman, in a song & dance romance number *swoon*
I’m bookmarking this! so adorable.
Well, I’m a sucker for How I met your mother and if I could share the screen with Neil Patrick Harris I might faint. He is so damn cute. (thou it not technically a movie)
I hate cubes! Can’t solve them, Can’t figure it out. My Dad loves them and strangely find enjoyment in finding the cheats on the internet and memorize it and acted like he’s the one who invented the cheats! hahahaha
I probably won’t make these even though they are lovely but THANK YOU for mentioning the strength of Gelatine leaves that should be used. So many recipes just say ‘gelatine leaves’ and I immediately disregard them for fear of it not working!
Looks divine NQN! Might add that to my list of things to make with my stepsons! If I could have been in any movie it would have been Out of Africa or Moulin Rouge….sigh……divine!
Hi Sally! I know, the strength of the gelatine leaves is very important! It can mean success or failure really
I did the same thing with the Rubik’s cube L. And once, I almost got all of it except, one side!!! It is a great game though from the 80′s, so nostalgic.
Great idea! I’ve carried on my mother’s tradition of making “French Jellies” for schools fetes (now my daughter’s!)that are made with Aeroplane powdered jelly crystals; extra gelatine & sugar (a cheats version of yours ;D )
But I might try yours for more sophisticated palates!
You’re a clever lady Ms NQN! xx
I want someone to do my hair every day! That sounds so posh. I’m embarrassed to say that everyone I can think of to work with is pretty much a lanky brit. James McAvoy, Cillian Murphy, Rob Pattenson (shut up). I have a type, I guess. With the gals I guess I’d be more interested in being an extra on a cooking show. I want to hover near Ina and Nigella!
How cool is that? Did you ever see Keanu Reeves? He’s Canadian!
That is very impressive that you can make jelly beans and jubes, jelly sweets are one of my weaknesses. Perhaps I’ll give these a try in the spring for easter, they are so colourful!
Hehehehe what a great story! I love Lawrence Fishburne! Lucky lady!
These jubes look perfect! I love the idea of a Rubik’s Cube!
Cute jubes, even better story
! Yep, had more than one Rubik’s cube: if I had to wait somewhere it would be fun to take it out of the handbag and fool around! Am not the old magazine on the table reading type!! Did quite a few films in my teenage years for the Education Dept in Sydney – hardly made me a global star 
! Actually I love to meet celebs quite quietly at a dim dinner table – relaxed, with good food and a glass of wine. One learns much more in a convivial atmosphere.
PS Quite a bit has been said on this post about ’50 Shades of Grey’, so I hope all of you who can access ABC in Oz, were watching the most marvellous episode of Q&A last night – even Federation Square in Melbourne was filled with deckchairs for the tweeters from the theatre overflow. ’50 Shades’ and what real writers [including Germaine Greer and Simon Callow] think of the ‘phenomenon’ – absolutely hilarious, but you have to go to abc.net.au/qanda!! And weren’t Anthony Bourdain and Sean Penn inspiring on ‘No Reservations’?
I love those jubes, but I’m mega impressed with those flavours you used- champagne, cheesecake mango… Jubes never tasted so good! Love your quirkiness Lorraine
But I’d love to be in one of the new Sherlock Holmes series- they are fantastically bizarre!
My favourite actress is Sandra Bullock, and I like the looks of Brendan Fraiser and Jason Statham
You must have a LOT of patience, TRUE!
As ONLY NQN can do!
These cubes would make GREAT Christmas pressies in cellophane!
Driving the young one HOW to move the blocks with chocolate on them…insane!
Have been in a number of movies, commercials, print ads too!
Long hours, hard work and if food orientated, you get to the point (after MANY shots) that you come to dislike what you are promoting re eating too!
Rubix cubes were beyond frustrating to me.
This is the cutest idea! Fantastic blog post, I’ve always wanted to be a movie extra it sounds like you had a ball! I’m Team Keanu myself
The Rubik’s Cube has always been a mystery to me, I couldn’t solve one for the life of me. I always get close but no cigar…
I’ll end this comment with a fun fact:the fastest time to solve a Rubik’s Cube is 6.24 seconds!
Clever idea number two thousand. You’ve done it again.
I can imagine that it must have been thrilling to be in Matrix! Never mind if Ms Smith’s attitude was less than sterling–Lawrence Fishburn, classy man, great actor, more than made up for it. I want to watch the movie again and see if I can spot you!
Wow, these look amazing! I loved my rubik’s cube but now I can no longer solve it
that is genius – imagine how impressed lawrence would have been if he had known of your creative talents as well as your looks – he probably would have swept you up onto the back of his bike and ridden off into the sunset with you
Tom Cruise, for sure!
Btw, you jubes are really gorgeous and you are so clever for stacking them like a rubik’s cube. Looks amazing!
What a lovely story! And those jubes look delightful. I think I’d like to share the screen with Hugh Jackman, he always seems to be pretty down to earth.
Love!
Awesome story! Thanks for that – I really enjoyed the read.
I’d love to share the screen with Michael Caine! Such a classy man with oodles of talent.
This is so cute! What a great idea
I would love to share the screen with Samuel L Jackson, he just cracks me up (maybe not a good thing if one needs to be in character!). I never solved a rubix cube.. I didn’t have the patience for it 
I need to get some gelatine sheets so that I can make these STAT for my dad for fathers day!!
Now that’s definitely a cute confection!
I did have a Rubik’s Cube as a kid, though I never got around to solving it. (My mother did, though.) And, if I were to act, I’d like to star with my favorite Scotsmen James McAvoy and Gerard Butler!
Oooh I so want a handful of these right now! They look delicious & fun
What a brilliant idea! You are so talented Lorraine! Very well executed I say!
Wow I love jubes!!! What an awesome story!! I would love an encounter with Brad Pitt- I still have a teenage crush! Love that they spent an hr a day on your hair as an extra- woulda made me feel awesome too.
Great story, must have been quite an experience
Never had a rubiks! Had a few barbie dolls and some hot rods cars
Hahaha loved your 5 minutes of fame story
very cool 
My claim to fame is that Keanu’s jacket from The Matrix is in a cage at Movie World and no one’s meant to touch it. But this one time (at band camp), I reached in and TOUCHED IT. I INDIRECTLY TOUCHED KEANU lol. Anyway, you are so hardcore for making your own jubes!
Hi,
What an interesting read. I have shared with some Indian celebrities(Bollywood actors). While in India , I used to model. I did a lot of campaigns and in one of the ads(Wrigley’s chewing gum) I acted with Madhavan(famous Indian actor) who was an absolute sweetheart to work with. Today I wish I could meet Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten).
The jubes look fantastic!
Your Rubiks cube is so cute! I never solved one, but I loved playing with them. I think I even had one in pastel colors. So cool that you were in The Matrix 2!
I want the blue one, I want the blue one!!!
I just saw a rubik that day again, was going to buy it, I think so I ll get it, cause I love playing with this thing.
Movies… I wouldnt do a shoot anymore. Its boring… Everywhere the same. just that some pay better and have a better buffet then others. ^.^
I lovee what you’ve done here Lorraine. Your home made jubes cubes loooooooook perfect! And I love how you made them into a rubix cube. Super cute idea!
Wow I am impressed Lorraine! Gorgeous jube cubes. You have surpassed yourself with these offerings. I too swapped the stickers on my short lived rubiks cube and am pleased to hear you did as well. What a waste of time they were, but an amazing creation nonetheless. Movie stars – well I am glad you rubbed shoulders with Lawrence, I would love to work with Gene Hackman, he is such a cool, talented character. Now I HAVE to make rubik jube cubes! x
Long, long time ago I had a Rubik’s Cube and I learned how to solve it, I was very popular because of that, but now I can’t remember the clues do to so, and today my son has one and couldn’t show him how smart I am
I love these jubes!! What a clever cookie you are. I don’t know as I would have attempted it but I’m glad YOU did.
As for who I’d like to be with in a film – I can’t think of anyone that would get me googly-eyed.
Love this! I’d love to try it out for my neices and nephews.
My son asked me a few weeks ago he wanted to get Rubik’s Cube. I said nah (for now – it’ll be broken before he probably knows how to play) but if I could ever make this… I think he’ll be thrilled. I loved your movie stories!
If only the jube Rubiks cube was functional – hah, I kid. They look fantastic! Gotta love the ’80s. 8D
OMG, Lorraine, what a fabulously exciting life you lead!!! Being an extra on a movie sounds like such a fun experience — definitely Team Carrie-Anne and Team Lawrence!
Loved playing with Rubiks cubes growing up…this is such a fun idea!
Now I’m disappointed. I always thought Jade Pinkett Smith would be fun to hang out with. Guess I need to eat some of your fun, colorful jubes to console myself. I’m sure Lawrence got it right! xoxo Mum
Yum!!! I have to admit to all the other readers that I was lucky enough to sample these cute little jibes and they were delicious!!
I loved the perfectly squishy texture and the delicious flavours. Thank you for the surprise present Lorraine, and thank you for the recipe … I have already finished them all :0
i don’t have the patience to work out a rubik’s cube, but this is extremely clever! i’d rather eat than fiddle with a puzzle anyway.
Lorraine I’m so intrigued by these. My grandfather used to adore jubes, so I always think of him when I see them. I think I need to try these!
How fun is this?!? I never could solve a Rubik’s cube, but at least I could eat this one:)
Great story!
That’s such a great story. Apart from everything, I love having my hair and makeup done professionally.
These jubes look amazing. Can’t wait to try
That’s so cool that Laurence Fishburn toke a great look at you! Waw!
I had a Rubiks cube when I was a kid & nailed it every time. It isn’t that difficult. Your new recreation, but the edible one is looking like a real treat! You are a genius in so many ways!! xxx
I also have heard that Jaden Pink Smith is a bitch!
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