Author: Fair
Date: 10-01-05 11:13
As most were aware, there was a call for thousands of extras to appear as part of the crowd for some of the "big game" scenes in the film over a couple of weekends. A few journalists were sent to experience part of that action. This article is one journalists take on what is sometimes "glossed over" about any film production.
But... it is an interesting read from the Fayetteville Online website... and we do have a few more "cast in action" production photos to add to the collection. If interested, there is also this brief article about the experiences from another extra... which pretty much reflect this article. To be sure, the film industry is not for everyone... you really have to love what you do. 
Anyway... on with the show...
Published on: Monday, Sep 26, 2005
A take on movies
By Rodger Mullen
Staff columnist
GREENSBORO - About six hours in, I'm remembering why I vowed never to do this again.
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Staff photos by David Smith
Haley Joel Osment, in yellow, talks to actress Danielle Panabaker while shooting a scene in the Michael B. Fleming gymnasium on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Rodger Mullen, top left, was an extra during the filming of the movie.
I'm sitting in the stands of the Michael B. Fleming gymnasium on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
It's hot, my back hurts and I'm hungry. And I'm not even halfway through my ordeal.
At my editor's suggestion, I agreed to be an extra in a movie, "Home of the Giants,'' starring Haley Joel "I see dead people" Osment.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Right about now, I'm wondering why I didn't plead illness or insanity or both.
I've got a little experience with this sort of thing. In fact, I'm something of a movie-extra veteran.
In 1978, while traveling the country with a couple of friends, I was an extra in the Los Angeles filming of "The Rose,'' starring Bette Midler.
We were featured in a concert scene during which the Bette Midler character suffers an on-stage collapse. If you look real hard, you can see me. Oh, who am I kidding, you can't see me at all.
Then in 1987, as a newly minted feature writer at the Fayetteville Times, I was an extra in something called "Collision Course,'' a movie so bad it was barely even released on video.
In "Collision Course,'' which starred Jay Leno and Pat Morita, I'm featured in the pivotal "batting cage'' scene. So pivotal was this scene, in fact, that it ended up on the cutting-room floor.
Now it's 18 years later, and my career as an extra resumes. If only I'd left well enough alone.
Although filming doesn't start until 1 p.m., I arrive at 11:30 a.m., hoping to score some interviews. Joke's on me - aside from a few UNC-G students milling about jabbering into cell phones, there's nobody there to interview.
An hour or so later, the other extras start to arrive. We sit in the gymnasium stands watching the crew set up the scenes, which depict a pep rally for a high school basketball team called the Giants.
Because the movie takes place in Indiana in the winter, we've all been instructed to wear long pants, long-sleeved shirts and jackets. The gym's air-conditioning, if it's even working, provides less and less comfort as the day goes on.
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An assistant director positions extras before filming a scene in ‘Home of the Giants.’
Around 3 p.m., the filming finally starts. Osment, looking a good deal shaggier than in his "Sixth Sense'' days, appears as if by magic with co-star Danielle Panabaker.
In the first scene we shoot, Osment and Panabaker climb the steps into the stands among all us extras. It's fun the first time we do it; the 10th time, it isn't.
Assistant director Ryan "Flash'' Bennett barks out orders to the extras through a megaphone. "Everybody here today is now a Giants fan,'' Bennett says. "Action!''
Then: "Cut, cut. Reset. We're going to do it again.''
There's a long break while a new shot is set up, during which time I get to chat with some of my fellow extras. They are a mixture of UNC-G students, aspiring actors and just plain curious folks.
In the next shot, Osment and Panabaker have finished their thrilling ascent into the bleachers and are now sitting in said bleachers. They have a short conversation while the extras pretend to watch the pep rally.
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Actors and extras act during filming of a scene of the movie.
The directors are recording the actors' dialogue, which means we extras have to be quiet. So we're pantomiming.
I'm paired with an extra named Jerry Wilhelm, who I learn is a Fayetteville native. Our job is to silently greet each other in the bleachers like two old friends, then pretend to have a conversation.
This turns out to be one of the most awkward things I've ever done. There are few things more uncomfortable than pretending to be old friends and having a silent "conversation'' with someone you met three seconds ago.
More scenes of cheering from the bleachers follow. By early evening, fatigue and hunger are setting in big time.
Around 7 p.m., it's time for dinner, or as it's called for some reason on this movie set, "lunch.'' We line up like cattle for our Wendy's burgers and salads.
Then it's back to filming. The big evening scene involves the high school coach introducing the basketball team to the gymnasium full of cheering fans. Actor Ryan Merriman, playing the team captain, steps to the microphone to say a few words.
Again, we pantomime. The cheerleaders in the scene cheer silently as the rest of the extras quietly shake the pennants and pom-poms we've been handed as props.
Around midnight, I am selected along with a group of other extras to film a scene in which we enter the gymnasium and stop to buy cupcakes at a bake sale just inside the doors.
Obviously, the directors have taken note of my acting skills in the "pretending to be old friends with a guy I don't even know'' scene.
At 1:30 a.m., filming ends, and we extras are dismissed. A good thing, too, because by this time, everyone is too exhausted to summon up any fake pep. We just want to go home.
As I begin the two-hour drive to Fayetteville, one thought is in my head: Never again.
Only this time, I mean it.
An interesting article, and sometimes we might forget just how many "takes" there might have been to get that perfect shot. Of course there are the stories of Stanley Kubrick and how sometimes he would do 40, 50, 60+ takes... just waiting for "something" to happen. Truly a very unique and fascinating world. "Home of the Giants" should be released sometime in 2006.
Haley is the best.
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