You know, it's funny. Most of the time people involved in acting take on real jobs to survive while waiting for roles. Here lately it's been just the opposite for me and Mike. We're desperately trying to find regular paying work and in the meantime taking spots as extras to pay the bills.
Yesterday we arrived to be extras on the set of Parker knowing it was going to be an active shoot. Lots of milling about, acting like normal fairground patrons. The scene was at the Ohio State Fair (but shot at the National Guard outpost/Fairgrounds in Covington, LA). Typical fairground setup, barrel riders at the grandstands, stage full of square dancers; hot dog and cotton candy vendors, etc.
For those of you who have never been an extra, let me tell you it's hard work. We did get fed really well and paid $80 each for our time, but it's essentially like being in a union. When you work, you work hard in all kinds of environments and weather. There's a lot of "hurry up and wait" in which you're not doing anything but waiting on the director, production assistants, sound guys, etc.. In this case, we were also waiting on the pyrotechnics operator. Stunt Heather in action!
Fortunately, the base had an awning space close by the square dancers' stage so that we didn't have to go too far for shade before being called back. Here we sweated, sweated, and sweated some more. Despite getting a late start, we had the foresight to grab two insulated bottles of water as well as an umbrella for standing in the sun between takes.
The exciting part was watching the fire scene. The backdrop for the square dancers were six lengths of blue and red drop curtains that were around 30 feet high. The square dancers (who were mostly in their early fifties and sixties) were supposed to be dancing around, notice smoke, then run offstage toward the camera. The director Taylor Hackford was really good and got people motivated without resorting to being a jerk, unlike our last experience with the crew on Treme.
All day they did this; shoot a scene, wait. Shoot another scene, wait. Get put into one position or another and wait some more. The very last scene of the day was one last "curtain on fire" scene. They told everyone that they needed us to run like we had before, but this time the director would yell "boom!" and that would be our cue to panic and head toward the back side of the stage. Mike was worried I'd pass out from heat exhaustion so I went up front, but they called me up anyway. At this point, Mike was on the back side of the stage closest to where the propane tanks were and I was on the front end where the square dancers were scurrying off.
Three, two, one..."boom"? No "boom". Where the boom should have been there was a three-tier explosion! Whoosh! We got three fireballs up thirty feet of charred curtain and singed elderly! Let me tell you, the panic was real. We weren't sure if the pyrotechnics had gone wrong or what but we ran. I suspect it was a clever ruse on the part of the director for realism, because once I got out of the way of stampeding septugenarians, I paused, grinned and said "wow!".
On his end of things, Mike became a star in his own right because not only was his face right in the camera, people started following his lead when he turned and sprinted 25 yards off once the explosions started. He'll definitely have a close-up shot in the movie, so be sure and watch it when it comes out. Oh yeah, extra cool points because Jason Statham is going to be in it too.
Following the shoot, we decided to go to Taco Bell because we'd burned off lunch; no pun intended. It was a really nice one; one of the stores that's gone with the hoity-toity cafe decor. One of these additions was a four foot by three and a half foot taco related painting that was hung artfully on my side of the booth. Tired, sweaty and hungry we sat down...and the painting immediately fell off the wall and onto my head.
When I said I wanted to be in pictures, this was not what I'd anticipated.
Mike and I are mid-burrito, trying to hold up this massive canvas painting and fortunately the manager noticed and came to help us with the comment, "Well that's a first!". She removed the painting after asking if I was ok, and went back to work. As soon as she left, the lamp above us started dripping condensation. We gathered up our orders and moved to another table to finally finish dinner. I was disappointed because she didn't offer me even a free taco for the inconvenience, but it's ok. I figure karma has better for me than a complimentary chalupa.
This weekend, extras in Ricochet! Stay tuned.
Yesterday we arrived to be extras on the set of Parker knowing it was going to be an active shoot. Lots of milling about, acting like normal fairground patrons. The scene was at the Ohio State Fair (but shot at the National Guard outpost/Fairgrounds in Covington, LA). Typical fairground setup, barrel riders at the grandstands, stage full of square dancers; hot dog and cotton candy vendors, etc.
For those of you who have never been an extra, let me tell you it's hard work. We did get fed really well and paid $80 each for our time, but it's essentially like being in a union. When you work, you work hard in all kinds of environments and weather. There's a lot of "hurry up and wait" in which you're not doing anything but waiting on the director, production assistants, sound guys, etc.. In this case, we were also waiting on the pyrotechnics operator. Stunt Heather in action!
Fortunately, the base had an awning space close by the square dancers' stage so that we didn't have to go too far for shade before being called back. Here we sweated, sweated, and sweated some more. Despite getting a late start, we had the foresight to grab two insulated bottles of water as well as an umbrella for standing in the sun between takes.
The exciting part was watching the fire scene. The backdrop for the square dancers were six lengths of blue and red drop curtains that were around 30 feet high. The square dancers (who were mostly in their early fifties and sixties) were supposed to be dancing around, notice smoke, then run offstage toward the camera. The director Taylor Hackford was really good and got people motivated without resorting to being a jerk, unlike our last experience with the crew on Treme.
All day they did this; shoot a scene, wait. Shoot another scene, wait. Get put into one position or another and wait some more. The very last scene of the day was one last "curtain on fire" scene. They told everyone that they needed us to run like we had before, but this time the director would yell "boom!" and that would be our cue to panic and head toward the back side of the stage. Mike was worried I'd pass out from heat exhaustion so I went up front, but they called me up anyway. At this point, Mike was on the back side of the stage closest to where the propane tanks were and I was on the front end where the square dancers were scurrying off.
Three, two, one..."boom"? No "boom". Where the boom should have been there was a three-tier explosion! Whoosh! We got three fireballs up thirty feet of charred curtain and singed elderly! Let me tell you, the panic was real. We weren't sure if the pyrotechnics had gone wrong or what but we ran. I suspect it was a clever ruse on the part of the director for realism, because once I got out of the way of stampeding septugenarians, I paused, grinned and said "wow!".
On his end of things, Mike became a star in his own right because not only was his face right in the camera, people started following his lead when he turned and sprinted 25 yards off once the explosions started. He'll definitely have a close-up shot in the movie, so be sure and watch it when it comes out. Oh yeah, extra cool points because Jason Statham is going to be in it too.
Following the shoot, we decided to go to Taco Bell because we'd burned off lunch; no pun intended. It was a really nice one; one of the stores that's gone with the hoity-toity cafe decor. One of these additions was a four foot by three and a half foot taco related painting that was hung artfully on my side of the booth. Tired, sweaty and hungry we sat down...and the painting immediately fell off the wall and onto my head.
When I said I wanted to be in pictures, this was not what I'd anticipated.
Mike and I are mid-burrito, trying to hold up this massive canvas painting and fortunately the manager noticed and came to help us with the comment, "Well that's a first!". She removed the painting after asking if I was ok, and went back to work. As soon as she left, the lamp above us started dripping condensation. We gathered up our orders and moved to another table to finally finish dinner. I was disappointed because she didn't offer me even a free taco for the inconvenience, but it's ok. I figure karma has better for me than a complimentary chalupa.
This weekend, extras in Ricochet! Stay tuned.
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