I was an extra in a movie

So I got to be an extra in the romantic comedy; "She's Out of My League" directed by Jim Fields staring Krysten Ritter, Jay Baruchel, and Alice Eve. The experience was exactly that; and experience. I will admit, somwhere allong the line I must have misunderstood what I was going to be cast in because I originally thought it was a Kevin Smith film... apparently not.

Through working at the Scare House this past Halloween I was on a contact list through which I was able to get in touch with Nancy Mosser casting agency. I went to a wardrobe fitting on Wednsay, May 14th where they put me in trendy clothes and signed me up. The head guy there; Tony, was kinda rude but it didn't get to me (that time).

The shoot was three nights; 6:00pm to 6:00am Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. I showed up the first night, got into wardrobe, had makeup put on me (they needed to get rid of dark circles under my eyes), had my hair done (they parted my hair on the right which I thought was terrible but whatever), and sat in a tent for the majority of the night.

As time went on they eventually told us to pair off with a member of the opposite sex (to help them balance the gender in the room). I immediately sought out the tallest female in the tent which turned out to be a beautiful 6 foot 3 inch black woman named Pamela. She was even taller than me with her high heals on. She and I and the rest of the 200+ cast of extras took a little walk for a block to line up in front of the museum. There we stood in the cold waiting to be let inside.

As we waited I found myself standing next to one of the most attractive black women I've ever seen; Marie. I normally don't find black woman attractive (it's not a racist thing, it's just my preference) but this girl was gorgious. We stood there for a while Marie reveals that she was irritated that someone had made a rude comment about her shoes. Now, I know that girls can get upset over weird shit but come on Marie... you said you'd read this and, if you do; there are way more terrible things in this world than someone telling you your shoes look like grandma shoes. If it's any consolation, I thought your shoes looked fine (though I will admit I am by no means an expert on women's shoes). I sure you will be one of the few of us who will actually be in this movie and I doubt your shoes will be visible.

We stood in the cold until some dude in a beard started going down the long line and telling some people to go to the front. He came to me, picked me (at which point I regretfully had to take my jacket back from Pamela) and sent me to the front where I stood and waited. I was in what I had heard referred to as "the A group". After a while someone came out of the Warhol Museum and told us they didn't need anyone and sent us all back to holding (the tents).

Being in the "A group" apparently means in Hollywood talk that you get to be the first one to hear you stood around for 30 minutes in the cold for no reason.

I went back to the tents where I sat and read for a bit until they served us "lunch" (lunch in movie world is served at 1:30am). I don't remember what it was but it was ok... and free... and you could get as much as you want. When I finished I went to throw my food away. As I passed near the garbage someone else tossed their food into the trash can and splattered me with god-knows-what. I was irritated but I went to go find a napkin to clean myself off. As I walked Tony (rude guy) abruptly stopped me and asked in an accusatory tone; "What did you get on my jacket?" to which I replied, "I don't know" and continued to walk to find a napkin. He stopped me again and said; "What did you get on my jacket?" to which i replied; "I don't know. What did I just say?" and stormed off to find napkins. What I really wanted to say was; "Dude, if you wanna bust my balls at 1:00 in the morning for some shit that wasn't even my fault, you can go fuck yourself. Sorry about your $5 jacket from Gabes. Thanks for your concern for my welfare though." But I didn't.

I sat in the tent for the rest of the night reading and drinking coffee. It was DEFINITELY not worth missing Lost with my girl.

The next night was far more eventful. I got through wardrobe, makeup, and hair very quickly and sat in the far corner building models. People asked me about them and I told them and continued tinkering. Around 10:00 they called us to go do something. THIS time, they sent me over, and sent me directly inside the Warhol where we sat in a theater for a bit. Before long some very nice dude who appeared to be of Asian descent placed me next to a picture hanging on a wall next to my "date" Ali Bercar; singers, songwriter, aspiring actress. When they called action we were supposed to comment on the painting, move to the next painting, comment on that, walk up the hallway in front of a sofa, stand there for a bit before passing in front of the camera at the tale end of the shot... all in pantomime.

Ali Bercar was a stimulating pantomime conversationalist. She listed to me silently drone on and on about how I think Warhol is a fucking terrible artist and I have no idea how he became famous. Her pantomime back to me was god knows what but I could tell she was intrigued with what I wasn't saying. We had 7 takes on that shot and, surprisingly, it's a tad tedious standing around pretending to be happy and lively (we were supposed t be at some party).

We were sent back for "lunch" which, again, was ok... but free... and you could eat as much as you wanted.

After lunch they sent everyone in that shot back to the Warhol. This time they had Ali and I moving in the same direction we were moving at the end of the last shot (no longer directly in front of the camera, they moved it) and stand by a different sofa across the room. This time we had 4 takes and they sent us back into the theater. Ali pantomimed how much she loved some of Warhols painting and I decided I had been overly critical of Warhol and silently admitted to liking some of his work.

They sent us back into the theater where we sat and some of us tried to sleep (me included). One woman devoted herself utterly to the task of snoring so loudly that NO ONE could actually sleep. Periodically they would pull us back into the set for this shot or that shot. Ali, by this time, was exhausted (as was I) and we did our best to appear as lively and happy as possible despite being half asleep.

We were instructed by a woman with short dark hair who was very mean. At one point I asked her a question and she gave me a smart-ass answer. I figured it was no big deal though. It was her responsibility to keep track of continuity and I'm sure she had bigger things to worry about... a little courtesy goes a long way though.

At one point I got fed up with the woman who was snoring, walked over to her, and woke her up. I lied to her and told her that they were shooting (which they were) and needed quiet (which they did). I doubt they could hear her snoring but the whole damn room sure could and I wanted sleep.

Shortly thereafter they sent us home. It was 6:00am.

On Saturday I woke up at 4:00, ate, and headed to the final day of shooting. I got through wardrobe and makeup relatively quickly but stood for 2 hours in the hair line. My wait was no where near as bad as it could have been because I was standing next to Cat and Diane who were very nice.

After the hair line I went back to my corner where I built more models and talked with Dale and Mark. Mark was a Literature teacher at Pennsylvania Culinary Institute and Dale, as I understood it, built puppets professionally. Mark was very interested in my models and I told him all about them, as well as my girl and how she and I met.

Eventually I decided to give my models a break and I played Bullshit with a few people. In the moment that someone won Bullshit I was selected again to head back to the Warhol.

This time I was paired off with a woman from Lithuania; Ramona... apparently my character is quite the player (it's in the script). We were to walk from one section of the room and stand and talk in another section of the room.

The pantomime conversation took a personal turn as I silently decided to talk about how I wanted to see my girl. I may have crossed the line on more than one occasion when I began to silently talk about the things I wanted to do with her when I saw her next. Ramona didn't seem to mind though.

After about a dozen takes they sent us back to the tents where we ate. I started building models again and talked with Mark and Dale. After another few hours they gathered some of us up again and sent us back to the Warhol. Unfortunately, when we got there, I discovered that Ramona and my position was not in the shot so we sat with a few dozen other people in the theater.

After another hour or so they called "rap" and sent us home.

The experience was unique and I might do it again down the road. The people I met were all very interesting and cool. The free food was decent as far as free food goes. I know my positions were in the shots but whether they make it into the movie or end up on the cutting room floor remains to be seen. Three 12-hour days for around $300 seems decent though.

Tagged with: Alice Eve, extra, Jay Baruchel, Jim Fileds, Krysten Ritter, movie, She's Out of My League