Anyone Been An Extra/Background Actor in Anything?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Scotian, Nov 17, 2021.

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  1. Scotian

    Scotian Amnesia Hazed Thread Starter

    Let's face it, background actors are as low as you go on a movie set. The conditions are either too hot or too cold & a 14 hour day consists a lot of the time doing something interesting for a half hour & sitting on your butt waiting to be called the rest of the day. You're basically getting paid to take up space in a scene.

    On the other hand, its a great way to see up close how films are shot & what the process is, you get to see some celebrities (sometimes) & the food for the most part is pretty good.

    Since I retired, I've got the flexibility to do more stuff like this. I find its more fun to look back on than the actual time you were there. Anyone else done this? Have any stories from it?
     
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  2. Blues Brothers 2000

    Remember being thrilled taking direction from John Landis

    Also, I made an audible crack at Dan Aykroyd and got a big laugh from the extras

    Luckily, I've never seen the film
     
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  3. twicks

    twicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    I have not, but a friend went out to L.A. in the late '90s to visit some school friends who were working as extras. They ended up getting him on a new movie from the director of Seven called Fight Club...a year later I was in the theater watching him share the frame with Brad Pitt. Not bad!
     
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  4. Scotian

    Scotian Amnesia Hazed Thread Starter

    I said hi to Sigourney Weaver one time & she looked like she was going to call security. Apparently you're not suppose to speak to the actors. I didn't know that at the time but didn't really care anyway. A simple hi back is easy.
     
  5. majorlance

    majorlance Forum Resident

    Location:
    PATCO Speedline
    A friend of mine was an extra in the original BB movie, which had several location shoots in & around Chicago in the summer of 1979. He played a cop, as I recall.
     
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  6. somnar

    somnar Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC & Amsterdam
    Sixteen Candles. Can't see me in it. Here's the only thing of note that I remember: there was a scene involving break dancing that got cut out. I sat in the school gym bleachers next to Julia Louis Dreyfus - exciting because she was already on SNL and was super friendly - and we all watched them shoot it. The scene seemed ridiculous even then.
     
  7. Jack Lord

    Jack Lord Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Not me.

    But once I rode Greyhound up to New York and chatted with the dude next to me. He was an actor moving up there and told me he had been in one scene in Diner. I notice him every time I see the movie.

    A childhood friend is in Jungle Fever- the Yuppie coming down the stairs in the crack house.

    Years and years ago, I did some temp work in New York between semesters. That industry has a lot of up and coming actors who are in between gigs. Fun to hear the scenes they were in- Law & Order was a big employer.
     
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2021
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  8. sbeck201

    sbeck201 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wreay, Cumbria, UK
    I had a school friend who was in the crowd behind The Beatles in A Magical Mystery Tour.
     
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  9. I auditioned to be a zombie in a locally-shot movie called "Fido". Unfortunately I couldn't go the night they wanted to use me because I had a gig. It was also my birthday - can't think of a better way to have spent it than walking around in full zombie makeup.
     
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  10. Scotian

    Scotian Amnesia Hazed Thread Starter

    I spent a week on the set of The Sinner this summer shot in Lunenburg. Chatted with Bill Pullman a few times. A very down to earth & nice guy. He spent a lot of time chatting with the extras.
     
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  11. LaserKen

    LaserKen Senior Member

    Location:
    Avon, Indiana
    I pop up in the Jason Reitman/Hugh Jackman film, 'The Front Runner,' but it's 1987 me. They pulled a clip from my YouTube channel, as explained here:
     
  12. RhodyDave125

    RhodyDave125 Streetwalkin' Cheetah

    I was in a crowd scene at Fenway Park around 1988 or so. They were making a baseball movie and a friend and I skipped class (college) to go be extras in this movie. We sat in the crowd and were given prop beers and hotdogs. We had to cheer a few times and we came up with the idea to stand and high-five each other so we would be able to see us better.

    I think the movie was going to be called "The Rules of The Game" or something like that, but as far as I know was never released. And I could have been famous!! :D
     
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  13. musicfan37

    musicfan37 Senior Member

    My dad was the white haired gentleman sitting on the bench at the train station in the movie, Continental Divide. John Belushi runs right past him.
     
  14. Scotian

    Scotian Amnesia Hazed Thread Starter

    It certainly gives you an appreciation for the work that goes into TV & movies. The whole first day I spent on the set of the Sinner was the first episode when Bill arrives at the island by ferry. We spent probably 14 hours on several scenes that ended up to be a couple of minutes before the opening credits.
     
  15. A Grain of Sand

    A Grain of Sand Forum Resident

    Location:
    Riverside, CA
    In 1978 they were shooting a movie about the upcoming Moscow Olympics at my local community college stadium. They did up the stadium to look very Russian. They filmed women’s running events. I was paid $20 for the day.

    It turned out that the US boycotted the Moscow Olympics, so the movie was never released to my knowledge.
     
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  16. rockerreds

    rockerreds Senior Member

    Not an actor but I helped set up the tables in the firing scene in Philadelphia.
     
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  17. I participated in a fashion show when I was in my mid 20's.
    I was outfitted in my Navy dress blues, full medals style, and stood at the front of the runway, stage right from the audiences perspective.
    My job;
    Prior to the shows beginning I was to be stationed, at parade rest, in position by the runway....a living prop if you will.
    Each time a model would finish her run I would come to attention, reach out my helping hand, and escort her down the few stairs where she would finish her run with a slight pass directly in front of the audience, then exit for a wardrobe change.
     
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  18. ZippyPippy

    ZippyPippy Forum Resident

    Had a chance to be one for Major League II for the parts filmed at Camden Yards, which was doubling for Cleveland’s Jacobs Field. However, it specifically called for dressing like an Indians fan and rooting for them. Didn’t want to do that even in jest, so I declined.
     
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  19. ognirats

    ognirats haruhist

    Location:
    Serbia
    Television news
     
  20. larryk

    larryk Senior Member

    Location:
    Central PA
    Not me, but a friend was an extra for several episodes of "House Of Cards" where he played a senator (he looked the part) and also fed lines to Michael Kelly, who played Doug Stamper.

    He also played a similar part in "Veep" when it filmed in Baltimore, and said Julia Louis-Dreyfus was funny and pleasant to work with.
     
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  21. badfinger54

    badfinger54 Senior Member

    Location:
    Victoria, TX USA
    Some of us Superman comics folks got to be extras on an episode of LOIS & CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN. I'm on there for about a second (just as well) and our editor Mike Carlin got a nice close-up. It was the episode where Superman got the key to the city. Michael Caine was eating a sandwich in the commissary when we were there. He had his hair dyed jet black for a Steven Seagal movie. Looked fakey in person, but fine onscreen. I did not approach him (I was told to 'not be obvious' as I had to turn around to get a look at him).

    It was a memorable day.
     
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  22. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    Once. A crowd scene in a made for TV film called Word Of Honor starring Karl Malden and Rue McClanahan, and produced by Alex Karras and Susan Clark. Got to see them all. The scenes were filmed in Plymouth Michigan, and I was in the Plymouth Theater Guild.
     
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  23. Mister Charlie

    Mister Charlie "Music Is The Doctor Of My Soul " - Doobie Bros.

    Location:
    Aromas, CA USA
    I was an extra on the Doors movie. The Warfield (in San Francisco) was dressed up to be the old Fillmore.
    Wish I had bought the crew hat for ten bucks that was available when we broke for lunch.
     
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  24. Carl Swanson

    Carl Swanson Senior Member

    A public TV series on personal finance and money management was shot at my workplace around 1982. We had to sit at our desks and pretend to be working.

    I later saw the narrator guy on a cop show playing an arms dealer.
     
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  25. Paul Gase

    Paul Gase Everything is cheaper than it looks.

    Location:
    California
    I was an extra “doctor” on an episode of ER back in the George Clooney/Juliana Marguiles days. I was in a scene as a doctor walking around the hallways during one of those single camera walking shots, walking in and out of the shot.

    And I was in a scene featuring George and Juliana where I was in the background consulting with Mariska Hartigay (when in fact she was actually telling me what she was going to have for lunch).
     
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