Extra Experience

Posted on 09. Mar, 2010 by annie in Notebook

I hope everyone enjoyed the Oscars.  And speaking of quality movies, I thought I’d take the opportunity to tell you about a movie I was “in” last month in Nashville and perhaps to dispel some myths about what it means to be an “Extra.”

But first, a description of the movie:

Plot Summary for

Love Don’t Let Me Down (2010) More at IMDbPro »

A drama centered on a rising country-music songwriter (Hedlund) who sparks with a fallen star (Paltrow). Together, they mount his ascent and her comeback, which leads to romantic complications involving her husband/manager (McGraw) and a beauty queen-turned-singer (Meester).

Gwenyth Paltrow                                                                               Garret Hedlund
Tim McGraw                                                                                       Leighton Meester

The movie is basically your typical love triangle (or in this case square) featuring the classic manager-husband (McGraw) and his struggling singer-wife (Paltrow) and the drama that thusly ensues.

How I managed to get cast as an extra:

I was contacted in the middle of our break by a Sugarland fan (Sarah) who had come across an email from the casting office looking for people in Nashville with flexible schedules to be extras for the film.  I’d also recently watched “Yes Man” and had adopted an attitude of saying “yes” to just about anything that came my way.  So I filled out the form, including my measurements, past experience, (I didn’t know if country music award shows counted but I wrote them down anyway) attached a picture and got a phone call 2 days later letting me know I’d been cast! Woohoo! When the lady on the phone said “I think everyone should be an extra at least once in their life” I probably should’ve had second thoughts…

But what about those myths I promised to dispel?

Myth 1. Actors and Actresses have fancy dressing rooms.

Reality: We were corralled at an abandoned strip club.

No joke. The production company needed to find a facility to house, feed, and store the possessions of about 50 extras for the 12-14 hours a day that we were on the set. What better place to do so than the old, abandoned strip club “Cocktails” located right off the interstate downtown? Cocktails had plenty of seating, a buffet downstairs, mirrors where we could do our makeup, and even a pole in the middle of the room where we could stretch out. Needless to say, I didn’t touch anything.

(My friend Eddy gives the pole a try)

Myth 2. I’m going to be in a movie!

Reality: The back of my head is going to be in a movie.

I was placed in several scenes where I was asked to pretend to engage in an animated conversation with other extras while one of the principal actors walked down a hallway backstage. I was always placed with my back to the camera. So you’ll probably get a good idea of what the back of my head looks like if you happen to see this movie.

Myth 3. I’m going to become best friends with Tim McGraw!

Reality: Despite the fact that I was placed in a scene where Tim, a makeup artist, and I had to wait in a room a little bigger than a utility closet together and walk out into a hallway on cue, I never mustered up the courage to introduce myself to him.

Here’s the set up. Gwyneth has just performed. Tim walks through a door (presumably from the stage or an office – not a utility closet) and into a hallway backstage to shake hands with the promoter. After Tim’s line, I walk out of the same door, carrying an armful of manilla folders with a look of hurried determination on my face like I’ve got someplace really important I’ve got to go with these papers. (I actually just walk across the hallway out of the shot which then cues 2 other extras to walk back across the hallway into the closet Tim and I just left.)  We had to tape this scene over and over again. Which meant that I was in this tiny room with Tim waiting for the crew to reset the scene over and over again for almost an hour.

And I didn’t have the nerve. I couldn’t find an “in.” I was too chicken to just say, “Hey man, I’m Annie, a fellow Louisiana native and Sugarland’s bassist.” Instead I just stood around smiling in between takes as Tim sang songs, whistled, and put water bottles in Garret Hedlund’s footpath to trip him up as he came bursting out of another door behind Tim at the end of the scene. The water bottle prank was pretty freakin’ funny actually.

Will I ever be an extra again?

I’m pretty torn to be honest. The whole experience was so bizarre. There was so much sitting around, waiting to get picked for a scene that it made me feel like we, as extras, were like dogs at the pound, hoping someone would come along and pluck one of us from the pack and take us home. Every time the casting director would walk into the room, we’d all look up hopefully from our seats in our folding chairs, holding our breath, keeping our fingers crossed. The reality is that extras are really nothing more than walking, talking props – and that’s not the greatest feeling.

On the flip side, I met a lot of great people, made a little money, and will probably get to see the back of my head in a movie.

Extra Perspective:

I found this article called “Love Don’t Let Me Down’ needs extras in Nashville” asking for folks to volunteer as extras and come to the auditorium for a big crowd scene. But more importantly, the discussion beneath the article pretty well sums up the 2 different ways you can view being an extra. Here are the words of 2 people who were extras in the big concert scene…

Ron February 10, 2010 at 12:14 am

This was the climactic scene, however, the majority of the crowd footage from Feb. 2nd will be dubbed over with footage that was filmed on the 3rd with paid extras. Being an extra is boring work, and the chances of showing up in the finished product are slim to none. The only benefit to the role of extra is if you get paid the standard $58/8 daily rate…free $$$, and they might feed you at least once during the time you’re there on set.

Tony February 13, 2010 at 12:46 am

I’ve been a paid extra for 2 years now and “yes” it’s boring.”yes” i got paid.”yes they fed me.”yes” some of my scenes were cut while others were not.   And “YES” it was the most fun the best learning experience, and least “work” that i have done EVER!

It’s not about getting paid or even making it past the cutting room floor. It’s about being part of a project with hundreds sometimes thousands of people.

You wont get rich being an extra but you will meet some of the most brilliant, talented, fascinating people on the planet, and some of those people are in a position to find you other work that does pay very well.

I guess I tend to agree more with Tony. Keep an eye out for the back of my head when “Love Don’t Let Me Down” hits the theaters!

Tags: annie clements, Extra, Tim McGraw