The first six chapters were introductory for the most part. This chapter begins to discuss some of the experiences I had working as a Hollywood extra. The feature films that I've worked on include the following, in chronological order:
Working on feature films was probably the most financially rewarding per day worked of the various types of work, but for me, was the least enjoyable. The days were long, and many more takes of the scenes were shot. Without the time constraints of a TV show, an effort was made to perfect every scene. There was more down time and more boredom on feature films than on the other types of work.
SNEAKERS The first feature film I worked on was "Sneakers", which starred Robert Redford and several other distinguished actors. The scenes I was in were shot on a Saturday in an office building in Westwood, which is a community in West Los Angeles where UCLA is situated. It was my third job as an extra, preceded only by "Tales from the Crypt" and the first of many jobs with the TV series "Beverly Hills 90210". I was in two scenes. One was walking across the lobby of an office building as Robert Redford's character was entering the building. That scene resulted in my being seen from a distance for a period of time that would be missed if you blinked. The other was a scene in the hallway of the office building where another extra and myself were walking in one direction and we passed Redford's character going the other way. They must have cut that scene, because I never saw it. It was a relatively quiet day off camera. The only unusual thing I remember about that day is that one young woman extra was concerned that we wouldn't be released in time for her to get to curtain call of a play in which she was acting. As it turned out, we were released about 7:30PM and her curtain call was 8:00PM.
BODY OF EVIDENCE The next feature film I worked on was "Body of Evidence", which I worked on for 15 straight days. Chapter 8 discusses my experiences on this movie in detail.
DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN I don't remember much about "Distinguished Gentleman", which starred Eddie Murphy. I was in only one scene, shot in a banquet room in a downtown Los Angeles. I was in the deep background and was unable to find myself when the scene was shown. Off camera, Eddie Murphy was surrounded by around 5-6 bodyguards. They were polite, but firm. Nobody was to get near him, and they made a path for him as he walked from place to place.
BORN YESTERDAY Banquet scenes for "Born Yesterday" were shot in a banquet room of a museum in Exposition Park, which is between the USC campus and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. I worked there for a couple of days. The extras' holding area was in the park under a huge canopy. I was seen in deep background sitting at a banquet table, and my elbow was seen in another scene where the principal actors work walking across the room. Don Johnson was the only actor that had a bodyguard, although Melanie Griffith, John Goodman, Edward Hermann, and several other well known actors were there. There was a lot of time to visit with other extras during this job, but overall it was rather dull. Neighborhood kids broke the monotony by hustling food from the craft service table.
DAVE The next feature film I worked on was "Dave", which I worked on for 14 days over a two month period. Chapter 9 discusses my experiences on this movie in detail.
IN THE LINE OF FIRE "In the Line of Fire" starred Clint Eastwood as a Secret Service agent assigned to protect the President of the United States. It was an action adventure that included political intrigue. I worked a total of eight days on this film, the first four in early November of 1992 and the other four in early December. The scenes were shot at the Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. I discussed earlier the box lunches that non union extras were served. I was part of the hotel staff and wore a blue blazer and gray slacks as my hotel uniform. The only significant time I was seen was standing on the hotel steps as the hotel manager when the president arrived. I shook his hand, but that scene was chopped just before the handshake and all that was seen was me beginning, to extend my hand. I was in deep background in several other scenes in which I was not clearly seen, including one riding an outside elevator up and down.
Besides the box lunches, other things I remember about working on this film include a little girl approaching Clint Eastwood in the lobby of the hotel seeking an autograph but being shoed away by security. After shooting the next scene, Mr. Eastwood sought out the little girl, had his picture taken with her and signed an autograph. I thought that showed class. During this job, there was a lot of time between work where I had a chance to visit with quite a few other extras that I had met on previous jobs. The production assistant responsible for overseeing the extras was obviously inexperienced. She shouted a lot so she could be heard when making announcements and was easily frustrated when people didn't quiet down quickly enough. This annoyed many extras, that complained, although I thought they were overreacting. After having worked on "Dave", she was a creampuff to me. But one morning she was in tears and had apparently been reprimanded by her superiors because of the complaints. Then she went to the opposite extreme and no one could hear her when she made announcements.
I could have worked another day or two on "In the Line of Fire", but chose not to. I told them to give the work to someone who needed it more than I did. They were cutting down and cut the SAG extras first to save money. One SAG extra who took my place later told me that they tried to pay him non union wages, since he was replacing a non union extra, but after raising a stink, he finally was paid the SAG base.
WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT "What's Love Got to do With It" was about domestic violence in the career of Tina Turner, with Angela Bassett as Tina and Laurence Fishbourne as Ike Turner. The scene I was in was a concert scene where Tina was beginning her comeback. My "date" and I were seen getting up from a table and leaving during the concert. It was just one day, but a rather long day. Nothing really memorable about the day, except I talked with one extra who had played football with the Oakland Raiders and who said he was a cousin of both former basketball great Bill Russell and comedian Nipsy Russell.
BEVERLY HILLBILLIES I worked on "Beverly Hillbillies" on two different occasions, in March of 1993 and then again in May. In March I was in a scene outside an office building in Westwood. The scene was one in which Jethroe was to audition women to be his girlfriend. It was interesting because all kinds of different looking women were cast in this scene, including shaved heads, tattoos, snakes, motorcycles, twins in bikinis, and whatever else can be imagined. I was a businessman walking across the patio. The director was Penelope Spheeris, who has also directed "Wayne's World" and "Little Rascals", among others. In my opinion, she is every bit as talented as Ivan Reitman, if not more, in directing comedies, and shows that you don't have to be an asshole to be a good director. Because of where the ADs were situated, she directed me personally in this scene. I saw the edited for TV version of this movie and did not see myself in this scene. I hope to see the unedited version to see if I'm in the scene.
Later that day I was asked to stay for a jail house scene, while most of the extras were being released. I was to be a police detective present at a line up. As it turns out, I wasn't used in that scene, but it was interesting nevertheless. Zsa Zsa Gabor played a cameo role in the lineup, a gag referring to the cop slapping incident she had been involved with several years earlier. At our meal break, I was eating with a male extra and a female extra who were dressed as uniformed police officers. Zsa Zsa came to our table and asked the male extra if he were a real police officer. When he responded no, she said, "Good, I don't have to slap you". I had previously thought that Ms. Gabor possibly was a snob, but she is actually a very charming woman with a great sense of humor and quite willing to be the butt of jokes. After dinner as I was walking toward the set, I ran across Lily Tomlin. This surprised me because I hadn't known much about who was in this movie and it caught me off guard to see her. I blurted out something to the effect that she had to be Miss Hathaway in the movie. She responded that indeed she was. After seeing the movie, I believe that all of the casting was great.
The other day that I worked on "Beverly Hillbillies" was in May. This was a "car call" in which many of the extras brought their automobiles to be used in the movie.2 The scenes were shot on a stretch of freeway in Long Beach that had been closed to the public and signs modified to indicate off ramps in the Beverly Hills area. The whole day, except lunch, was spent in the car - a lot of stopping and starting and going around in a huge circle. One scene was when a car full of gang members brandished a weapon and Jed responded by showing his shotgun. My car was seen going by in the next lane. It took from dawn to dusk to shoot a few freeway scenes that resulted in about two or three minutes in the movie.
MAN WITHOUT A FACE "Man Without a Face" starred and was directed by Mel Gibson. The scenes I worked on were filmed at a college in Valencia on the football field and in the stands. The scenes all related to the graduation ceremony for one of the movie's characters from a military academy. In most of the scenes I was one of many in the stands, but in one scene I was seen briefly in a group of parents approaching the students at the end of the graduation. Previously, another extra and myself had agreed to bring baseball gloves and a softball to jobs, in case there was an opportunity to play catch. This was the only time it ever came about, as we were able to toss the ball back and forth for about 20 minutes on the field before filming began.
SISTER ACT 2 "Sister Act 2" starred Whoopie Goldberg, and the scene I worked on was shot in a studio in Hollywood, just off of Fairfax Avenue. I worked two days and the scene was supposedly a show in Las Vegas. I sat at a table with a young woman I had worked with before, and we were shown briefly if at all. The woman had recently moved from Atlanta and her fiancee had just moved to LA. He brought her both days and tried to get on as a "spec". He was unsuccessful so it turned out he just brought her and picked her up both days. What intrigued me about this girl, whose name is Jill, was that she looked exactly like a woman I had worked with in my "real life" career. Not only that, but she had exactly the same personality as this gal, whose name is Stacy. I eventually mentioned this to both women, and they both said they had heard every person has a double.
Whoopie Goldberg entertained the extras between takes with some raucous stand up comedy. She seems like a good natured person. The only other thing I remember about the two days on "Sister Act 2" was my brief conversation with the stand-in for one of the backup dancers. I'll go into this at the end of the next chapter, because I first encountered this gal on the set of "Dave".
WAYNE'S WORLD 2 I worked one day on "Wayne's World 2" on a scene which was a wedding scene that was a spoof of the wedding scene in "The Graduate". It was shot in La Verne, a community about 35 miles Northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It was shot at a church across the street from Bonita High School, which was closed for summer vacation. This church had also been used in the scene in "The Graduate" which was being spoofed.
I saw myself twice in this movie, both very briefly and in deep background, once in a pew in the church watching the bride come up the aisle, and the other time running in a crowd toward the rear of the church as the bride ran off with Wayne. Wayne was played by Mike Myers, and the bride was played by Tia Carrere.
There was an In and Out Burger place a couple of blocks from the church, and Mike Myers chose to have lunch there rather than the catered lunch that the rest of the cast and crew had. Between scenes I happened to be standing next to Tia Carrere, and sometimes I notice the strangest things. I noticed a tan line on her left ring finger where she usually wore a wedding ring. I visited briefly with one of her bridesmaids, who was a UCLA student working part time as an extra. I also visited with a woman who lived locally who had worked with my wife at the nearby medical clinic. She was out for a walk with her daughter and stopped by to watch the filming for a while and was surprised to see me.
I particularly enjoyed working on "Wayne's World 2" because it was close to my home. I usually had to travel anywhere from 25 to 60 miles to get to a shoot. The church where these scenes were shot is only four blocks from the medical clinic where my wife works as office manager. Better yet the gathering place was the parking lot at Azusa Pacific University, which is only four miles from my home. We were bussed from Azusa to La Verne, about six or seven miles.
GREEDY I have not seen the movie "Greedy" and don't believe I was seen, except possibly in deep background as a spectator in a bowling alley at a professional bowling tournament. Michael J. Fox was the star as that movie and was practicing bowling constantly while not actually filming. He had a coach who was helping him with his form. A number of outstanding bowlers were used as background on other lanes. The scenes were shot at a bowling alley in Long Beach and I worked two days. They were typically slow and boring days. I passed the time visiting with some extras whom I knew from before and a woman who said her last name was easy to remember because it was the same as Ted Shackleford, the actor, and Lynn Shackleford, the former UCLA basketball player.
BEVERLY HILLS COP 3 I worked for two days on "Beverly Hills Cop 3", the scenes being shot in a hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The days were even more boring than usual, because I wasn't used at all and knew very few people at the location those days. I had been fitted to be a hotel doorman, wearing my own black slacks, white shirt, and black bow tie, and being furnished with a maroon doorman's jacket and a black cummerbund. I inadvertently forgot to turn in my cummerbund at the end of the second day, and the wardrobe people didn't notice. The next day I returned to the location to turn it in, which I didn't really have to do but did because I believe it was the right thing to do. As is typical with how extras are treated, they accepted the cumberbund without so much as a thank you, even though I had driven 25 miles and paid for parking to return an item that wasn't even worth the cost of my trip. Later I'll give another example of my going out of my way beyond the call of duty.
NAKED GUN 33-1/3 "Naked Gun 33-1/3 was a good assignment because it turned out to be a six hour day and I was paid extra for their use of my car. Also it was fun watching Leslie Nielson perform. I arrived at a school yard in Hollywood in early afternoon where a different scene from the one I would be in was filmed. After that scene was finished, we had a good meal, and those of us that would be in the funeral scene moved on to a nearby cemetery. The scene was a quick one where Leslie Nielson's character and another person popped out of the empty grave, having dug a tunnel to escape from prison. My car was in the background just in front of the hearse. As it turned out, it was barely seen because a tree obscured most of it. I knew I wouldn't be seen because there were three kids between where I was sitting and the camera.
ED WOOD I worked for two separate days on "Ed Wood". The first scene was shot in Universal City. It was a typical day, about 10 hours, and I was in a wedding scene. Although I haven't seen the movie and probably won't, I doubt if I was seen, at best it would be a distant shot of the back of my head.
The other time on "Ed Wood" was three days later in downtown Los Angeles at the old Orpheum Theater. I was one of several hundred extras seated in the theater and am sure I wasn't seen. As I mentioned in Chapter 3, this was the longest single day I worked, going from 5AM till 1AM the next day. It was a financially rewarding day, though not as much as it should have been. The non union extras were not paid the daily rate for each hour exceeding 16, as they should have been, but merely double time. Another case of screw the non union extras. I had an opportunity to work the next week on the same scene, but declined. As it turned out, those that did return only worked about six hours completing the scene.
The director of "Ed Wood" was Tim Burton, who had directed "Batman". He was fairly young for a director and was good natured compared to some. He was also somewhat clumsy. He accidentally fell off the stage at one point. He was unhurt but embarrassed and made a joke out of it. The title role was played by Johnny Depp, who at one point took the time to visit with an elderly female extra sitting in the theater. Sarah Jessica Parker was also in the scene. Martin Landau was also in the movie, but not at any of the scenes I worked on. I would have liked to see him, because I met him and his then wife, Barbara Bain, at the wedding of a friend of mine in 1960. They were very congenial people when I met them.
The monotony of this long day on "Ed Wood" was broken up around dusk when a kid tried to steal something from the lobby of the Orpheum Theater. Not knowing there were hundreds of extras and a couple of dozen security people milling about, he thought he could just run and get away. One of the security people chased him down the street, caught him, cuffed him and held him for police. The look of total surprise on the suspect's face was funny. The other thing I remember about the long day was, since such a long day hadn't been expected, the catering people did not expect to have to serve an NDM breakfast plus two hot meals. As a result chicken dinners were bought for us from a nearby all night fast food fried chicken place. Needless to say, the ability of the fast food restaurant to produce was put to a major test. They did as well as can be expected, though it took two or three hours for everyone to be fed.
LITTLE RASCALS Finally, I worked one day on "Little Rascals" a feature film recalling the Little Rascals films of the 1930's and/or 1940's. It was directed by Phoebe Spheeris, whom I have mentioned before, and starred a bunch of talented kids who had been the end result of a nationwide talent search. Several stars played cameo roles in the film, as did Donald Trump. The scene I was in was shot at a Hollywood bank. As the kids, dressed as Amish and piggy back on each other's shoulders as a disguise, entered the bank in an attempt to get a loan for their clubhouse, I was seen walking on the sidewalk outside and stopping to talk with someone who was coming the other way. I was briefly seen later inside the bank, as a blur walking by in the background, but if you blinked you would miss me. In the afternoon, some outside scenes were shot at another location a few blocks away, and I was one of several extras kept around but not used.
Working with these kids was interesting and I'm sure challenging for the director. They were normal and energetic kids whose mothers were there to watch them when they were not being used. They would run all around and the mothers had their work cut out for them. Mel Brooks was one of the actors in a cameo role, playing a bank loan officer. One of the kids who had been told he would be working with Mel Brooks in the scene but not knowing who he was, upon Mel Brooks appearing yelled "There's a Mel Brooks!". When two of the kids were disguised as adults, the people on the bottom were not kids, but stunt men who were adults and were "little people", once called "midgets". They were used for all scenes that involved walking around and except for closeups. When a closeup was shot, and a kid on the bottom was to stick his head out to say his line, then a real kid actor was on the bottom. Outside the range of the camera several crew members were holding the top boy up. The safety of the kids was of primary importance.
SUMMARY To summarize, feature films were the least enjoyable for me, but other extras liked feature films because of the opportunity for a little more money. Also, per hour worked, I was less seen on feature films than on TV, partly because typically feature films there are a significantly greater number of extras used.
This page was last updated on September 13, 2003
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