Theater Folk

Another old blog that was stuck in "draft" status. These events happened back at the beginning of April.
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Some time in February, I was an extra in a movie. All I really had to do was sit around on the ground and cheer for a football game going on. It was quite tedious and kind of exhausting to have to cheer for several minutes at a time to make sure that they got the noise and the shots needed. But all for the sake of the film, right?

People keep asking if there are any major names in this film. It's an independent film so no A-list stars but actors and actresses that have been in various things like The Walking Dead, another had a bit part in The Blind Side. Last Thursday I got the call back for the big fight scene. We started out the day getting dirty for our parts. We're supposed to be a people living without power for a few months. There are two different camps--the good guys and the bad guys. I'm one of the good guys so I'm not too dirty. After wardrobe and makeup, most of us stand around in groups talking, eating breakfast, and trying to stay warm without wiping off our makeup.

For the first part of the morning, my new friend Naomi & I lean ourselves up against a minivan and sun ourselves like cats until we're asked to move by the owner of the car. Blah. We then head over to the other van and sit down in front of that on the cold ground. We're now amongst the other extras who seem to be theater folk. My first inkling of how these people were was when I walked to the port-a-potty with one of the other extras. She was super excited to be in the movie but was even more excited at the terrific opportunity it was for her daughter. The whole long walk to and from the port-a-potty was about her daughter who was an aspiring model and actress. I was stuck walking beside a stage mom....

Back amongst the extras camp, people are starting to break out in song and dance. The 65-year-old lady who keeps reminding us all that she is way too old to be an extra in this movie (why is she here again??) apparently has to leave at 4PM because she has to get to the theater but not before she's passed around a picture of her brand new grandson to everyone. She was in an advertisement where they had to do a country line dance for 8 hours straight with the guy that drove me to the set. He, of course, demonstrates the line dance. The daughter I heard so much about on the way to and from the port-a-potty gets up and starts demonstrating the dance moves to the play she's trying out for soon. This whole scene makes me giggle. I'm just not among my own kind, am I? LOL

Finally we get to film some scenes. Although I'm one of the good guys, I have to dress up like a bad guy to help fill in some gaps among the bad guys camp. So when the director calls "action" we have to run through an obstacle course of cars and sprint down the hill with murder in our veins. Some people have been chosen to jump over the cars...and yes the theater folk all get the parts on that because they are always the first to volunteer. Stage mom keeps putting leaves in her daughter's hair and making sure she's mussed up enough for the scene. Daughter is getting annoyed with this. I'm with her...why don't we leave that to hair, makeup, and wardrobe?

The thing that made my mouth drop open the most involved the guy that drove me to the set. He & the daughter of the theater mom have to jump over the cars so they are supposed to run first. The rest of us are behind them and we charge right when they are on top of the cars. After the third or fourth take, the director decides that we should all run in from the left instead of from both sides so he corrals us over. Man-who-drove-me-to-the-set says to theater-mom's-daughter "Not you, Allie...you're fine." Allie goes back over to the right side while the director is checking the board to make sure it's his name under "director." Theater folk...